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Article: The Bad Smell of `Success';Martin Amis' Scatological Tale of Decadence
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- September 16, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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SUCCESS
By Martin Amis
Crown. 224 pp. $15.95
Martin Amis' third novel, "Success," published in England in
1978, appears in this country for the first time thanks to his new
publisher, presumably as a way of welcoming Amis to its list and
demonstrating its support for his work. That's a fine gesture, one
for which authors invariably are grateful, but in this case it seems
rather a counterproductive one. "Success" is a bad book, a nasty
little piece of juvenilia that can do nothing to enhance, and much to
diminish, Amis' standing among American readers.
It is in fact quite difficult to believe that the same person
who wrote "Success" is also the author of "Money," Amis' fifth book. ...