it's a long wait....

really really slow start.... does get interesting in the last hour or so of listening but not going to be everyone's cup of tea

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Very funny and very sad book.

I can’t express the Steven Pacey narration enough. He is, to me, by far the best narrator I enjoy to listen.
The book and the way it was written was quite puzzling at the start, but it worked it’s way around and started to move as the story rolled (backwards). Very, very good.
Don’t miss this one.

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Very clever, funny and sad.

I suspect you will either love or hate this book.
I did not find the reverse telling of it hard to follow. Many times in the first half of the book the backwards nature gives rise to hilarious situations. Later on of course the book becomes very sad. Steven Pacey, always an excellent narrator, is sublime here.

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Can you escape your past? Or your future?

Deeply unsettling and brilliantly conceived, but requires full concentration and an intellect greater than mine to follow at times. Dark and powerful enough in its study of banal cruelty and evil to give me vivid nightmares

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1 person found this helpful

Brilliant, difficult listening

This is a difficult book to listen to but it is worth persevering. When I finished it, I started again from the start. The novel is told backwards as is probably known to most people but even forewarned, it takes some getting used to and it develops very slowly at first, perhaps to give us time to get used to the backwards motion of the narrative. The most difficult bits are the conversations because we hear them in reverse - like a very black version of an old Two Ronnies' sketch (which I'm sure is no accident - the book is bleakly/blackly funny in parts). Steven Pacey's narration/performance is brilliant and really gives it life, Listening a second time, I can hear all the subtle hints that are dropped in the earlier, more innocuous-seeming parts of the novel. It's profoundly moving by the end and can be a hard read/listen but well worth the effort.

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powerful & disturbing - needs concentration!

This is a story told backwards. It takes a bit of getting used to; you need to concentrate much harder, particularly with dialogue. The mysterious narrator, however, does not know that he is telling the story backwards, and his increasingly grotesque misinterpretation of events is both painfully funny and increasingly disturbing - particularly as it is all expressed in Martin Amis' quite brilliant prose. A very powerful and thought provoking book. Steven Pacey, who has narrated several of Ammis' books, turns in a tour de force - absolutely superb.

In short a disturbing book, but a very worthwhile book. I would strongly recommend it, but it is not a light listen!

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5 people found this helpful

Superb dark brilliance..

As ever Mr Amis has impressed. What a mind he has, to create such dark yet poetic marvellousness. Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

cracking

awesome book. thought provoking and highly original.
well worth a listen.


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Hard going

I tried hard it found this novel difficult to comprehend. I suspect he was nominated for a Booker because the judges were equally baffled and did not want to appear dumb

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Not meant for audio format

As its backwards, conversation are awkward to follow, in print you would read it back

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1 person found this helpful