Martin Amis almost made me cry.

I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent. I have a Masters Degree, so that must count for something, right?

Not so, my friends. Not so.

The Dude recommended London Fields to me. He said that it "just blew him away," and I try my best to read the books that The Dude recommends.

It took me over a month to read London Fields. During that time I grew so frustrated with it, that by the time I got to the end, I didn't care. Amis gives us this supposedly Earth-shattering plot twist, and I wasn't the least bit surprised nor did I really care much. I'd grown so tired of having these characters in my life that I would have been just as happy if the book had turned into a Shakespearean tragedy with all of the characters dead.

That isn't what happened, by the way.

This isn't to say that London Fields wasn't good, because it was. I enjoyed meeting this eccentric cast of characters: Nicola Six, the batshit crazy heroine; Keith, the darts player whose penchant for drink and for promiscuity threaten his game; Guy, a family man who gets pulled into this world of wanton debauchery by Keith. There's also a huge supporting cast who help move the drama to its conclusion, albeit at a snail's pace. It seems good that Amis can put the story on the collective shoulders of his characters, considering that this novel comes off more as a character study than a plot-driven work of fiction.

My trusty friend Wikipedia claims that Amis' writing style influenced Zadie Smith. This intrigues me, as I enjoyed what I read of On Beauty and intend, one of these days, to finish it. It seems, though, that Smith does a way better job of using her characters to drive her plot. One can have his character study and a plot, too, it seems.

London Fields reminded me a lot of Irvine Welsh's book Trainspotting. It, too, made me crazy and it, too, was a worthwhile read. Though their plots aren't anything alike, the tone and language struck me as quite similar.

So, if you're into character studies and characters obsessed with the Postmodern Condition, check this out.