The Information (Audiobook)

Synopsis: How can one writer hurt another where it really counts? The answer: attack his reputation. This is the problem facing novelist Richard Tull, contemplating the success of his friend and rival Gwyn Barry. Revenger's tragedy, comedy of errors, contemporary satire - The Information skewers high life and low in Martin Amis's brilliant return to the territory of Money and London Fields.

Review: This is a really dark satire about life in the literary world, practically everyone is unlikeable. The main character, writer Richard Tull is definitely unlikeable, he's absolutely riddled with envy over his friend (and I use the word 'friend' in it's loosest sense .. you wouldn't want a friend like Richard) Gwyn Barry's recent literary success.

Richard's own literary career is somewhat depressing, he is now reduced to vanity publishing and reviewing biographies for 'The Little Magazine', biographies about long dead and largely forgotten people. He has written quite a few novels and early in his career he was moderately successful, but he wasn't able to build on that success and for a few years now his career has been on the downward slide. He lastest book is actually called 'Untitled' (amongst other titles Richard thinks it may just as well be called 'Unread'), indeed as far as he knows he has a readership of one (there is a running gag about his latest book giving anyone who attempts to read it a crushing migraine, no-one can get past the first few pages). The worst part of all is that the novel that has made Gwyn so famous, rich and successful is the biggest pile of politically correct horsesh*t that Richard has ever had the misfortune to read, it's absolute tripe. And it's mystifying because, in Richard's view, he is the more intelligent and creative of the two. They have known each other since university and it was always supposed to be he that went on to greater things.

To say that Richard is bitter is an understatement and his greatest desire now, far outweighing his previous desire to write a bestseller, is to screw up Gwyn Barry's life. He hits upon various schemes, he tries to seduce his wife, he tries to discredit him with the judges of a literary prize, he arranges to have him beaten up (and rather helpfully Richard's readership of one turns out to be a screwed up sadistic ex-con), found with a prostitute, found guilty of plagiarism, he will in short stop at nothing, until he has covered Gwyn in dishonour and disgrace and seen him stripped of his prizes.Now you may think that you'd feel sorry for Gwyn but you don't because he is an obnoxious, jumped up, puffed up little twerp who believes all the hype.

It's viciously dark, Richard is going through a bit of a mid-life crisis (to put it mildly), apart from his jealousy regarding Gwyn, he has problems at home ... his wife is exasperated by his lack of motivation (for anything involving work), he's impotent, he's middle aged and feeling it, he smokes, drinks and takes drugs and now he's involved with a gang of extremely ruthless people. But for all the spite and vitriol it's also very funny (in the blackest way), you can't help laughing at some of the scrapes Richard gets himself into or at some of his innermost thoughts which are scathingly cruel but hilarious.

For the most part enjoyable, I always enjoy Steven Pacey's narrations, but, though it is undoubtedly clever, I though it was too wordy and verbose at times and at 17 hours and 19 mins ... too long.