The Pregnant Widow

I’m a huge fan of Martin Amis. This devotion has become increasingly difficult of late. Whilst I was disappointed with the “Koba The Dread” reading “The Second Plane” put me in free-fall - It was like catching a favourite uncle jack-knifed over kiddie porn. Add to this his recent intemperate outbursts on the Muslim community (that Terry Eagleton rightly described as “like the ranting of a BNP thug”) and this worship begins to become almost untenable.


However I’m enough of a Trotskyist to put the politics of an author aside so I ordered “The Pregnant Widow” anyway. Although his take on the “Feminist Revolution” of the 70’s is different to mine it’s a perfect foil for his usual concerns. Lisa Allardyce, who chaired the launch event last night at the Martin Harris Centre counted (Judging from her contribution she should have spend less time counting and more time reading!) something like 80 instances of tits and arse, or variations thereof, which should give you a flavour? It's also peppered with literary references and reflections as Amis burlesques his way through 480 pages.

If you’re not fan already there’s probably little here to change your mind but if you liked “London Fields” you should be running to the nearest bookshop.