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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sad and Funny- A Poignant, Worthwhile Read,
By oe (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Old Devils: A Novel (Paperback)
This book is about everything-- How can you sum up life near the end? Is it possible to change, and if so, is it worth the bother? etc. It left me with shivers. It seemed an innocent, comic enough read at first, with devestating insights tossed casually in among descriptions of curmudgeonly drunkenness and inter-sexual miscommunication. By the end, it has turned into something else, a book about death and love imbued with humor. I found it much more meaningful and poignant in the end than Martin's postmodern gimmickry and suspect it will stay with me for some time.
28 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
rare is the book,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Old Devils (Hardcover)
Rare is the book that leaves one red-eyed with laughter. Rarer still the book that turns the same embarrassing trick (I try to avoid reading this book in public), after a dozen dog-eared readings. The aging Weavers, also-ran poet Alun and trophy-wife Rhiannon, return to a small Welsh hornet's nest after fair-to-middling success in London. Rakish Alun, with enough of his hair left to engender envy, but lacking the stature that would safely have hoisted him above the slings and arrows of envy's snipery, is asking for it. Kingsley Amis (the millionaire's father), apparently as cynical a wit as ever there was, masters his prose as well as he shepherds his readers' use of it, wise to the fact that no fool is half so funny as a loved one. The reader is made to love the titular devils, logy duffers all, of "The Old Devils", giving the lie to the very concept of so-called "identity fiction" (i.e.: WASPS prefer reading about WASPS; Gay Blacks about Gay Blacks). These doddering Welsh cranks could hardly be less like this particular reader, but Amis fits their false teeth in my mouth and wedges their swollen ankles into my shoes with clubby, back-patting authority. Peer through his microscope into this acre or two of Wales and you will be jarred with a salutary sight: life as we know it. He was an old enough devil himself to pull the trick off. (That there also seem present autiographical clues to Amis' own less-than-placid second marriage is beneath our concern, correct?)
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What is it like to be old?,
By fadensonnen (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Old Devils (Paperback)
Kingsley famously is said to have never finished any of his son Martin's novels and even to have thrown one against the wall in exasperation. As a fan of both father and son, I have always thought that the reason was because Martin's prose is more colloquial and has more spontaneous energy than his father's, i.e. is more modern. Well, Old Devils shows me that Kingsley can be extremely colloquial, even rambling, while showing off his customary wit and rancor. You will grin and reread moments as you trek across Wales, learning what is it like to be old and full of regret. If you love Lucky Jim, try this. Otherwise, go to Lucky Jim first.
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