- Paperback
- Publisher: Knopf Canada (2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 037570115X
- ISBN-13: 978-0375701153
- Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.2 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #997,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clever stuff, if sometimes too clever,
By
This review is from: Heavy Water and Other Stories (Paperback)
Heavy Water is Martin Amis' second collection of short stories. He's really better at novel length, but the stories included here a still enjoyable reading. As we expect from Amis, the prose is very stylish, very clever, very self-aware. A story like "Let Me Count the Times" isn't very "deep" at all, but it's neat just to see Amis ring all the changes he can on his main subject. Even a nominally more serious story such as "Straight Fiction", about a world in which gays dominate and heterosexuals are oppressed, is mostly interesting for the careful inversion of the language.I was most impressed by "The Coincidence of the Arts", in which an aristocratic English painter takes up a mysterious affair with a silent black woman, a beautiful Amazon. Amidst the jokes and the cleverness Amis builds to a subtle and telling moral about race and class. This isn't a collection of great stories, or a great collection of stories, but it's consistently fun and involving, and every so often it's even better.
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting Collection by a Talented Writer,
By
This review is from: Heavy Water and Other Stories (Paperback)
What's up with all these negative reviews? This is a strong collection that certainly does not deserve these pans. Each story in Heavy Water contains an interesting premise that Amis runs with and makes a successful story out of. For instance, in Career Move, the pop culture value of poems and screenplays have been reversed. It's an interesting idea and a funny story. The last piece, What Happened to Me on my Holiday is narrated by an 11 year old who is hard to understand. I think Amis did it this way because he did not want the story, a heartbreaking tale of the sudden death of a young boy, to be taken lightly, to be breezed over. This is an interesting collection. Give it a try if you are at all interested in Amis' work
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Believe the hype,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
People talk about this Martin Amis as though he's the be-all and end-all of modern literature, like he's the Michael Jordan of fiction (only not retired). Well, guess what? They're right. It's hard to imagine anyone thinking they were truly in touch with literature today not having read Amis. He does push the envelope, the very limits of the form, dazzling with every page. But what, I would ask detractors, is wrong with that? Isn't that what great writers are supposed to do? And, this collection is no exception, showing Amis to be, for the most part, in top form. In fact, some of the pieces in the collection, such as the moving and funny 'State of England', in which a yob struggles to find his place in modern England, rank among his best work in any format. Not to mention, 'What Happened to Me on My Holiday', 'Coincidence of the Arts', and 'Janitor on Mars'. All great great great. Don't think, either, that Amis is all about the writerly pyrotechnics he so handily summons. As other reviewers have noted, Amis' writing lately is displaying a lot of, well, heart. There is empathy and compassion in these stories, mixed in with all the brilliance. Any one who thinks otherwise has probably not actually read them. You might even be a little moved by some of them, in between bouts of being dazzled. Imagine that. Highly recommended. You'll no doubt want more of Amis, so go from HW to 'Money', 'London Fields', 'The Information' and 'Times' Arrow'.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A pretty good yard sale,
By stmartin@charlotte.com - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Heavy Water: And Other Stories (Audio Cassette)
Short stories aren't Martin Amis' thing. It's just impossible to compare Heavy Water to London Fields, Money, The Information and all those other muscular big-budget novels that I find myself dipping into when I need a bit of a lift. Amis' two books of non-fiction are more entertaining. Still, to the dedicated Amis fan, Heavy Water proves that even his cast-off stuff is better than most writers' best; the book displays a tremendous elasticity of style from the hilarious role reversal of the poet and screenplay writer in the first story to the somber and technical science fiction of the 'Janitor on Mars.' Heavy Water is worth the cash outlay, but after this and Night Train, I'm ready for another meaty five hundred pager marinated in the BO of Keith Talent or BS of John Self. And I probably speak for most Amis fans.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Spans The Range,
By taking a rest - Published on Amazon.com
The first story is clever and witty until it is repeated in an altered form later on. And the final story will be passed over by some readers, as it is at best annoying and at worst worthless. Mr. Martin Amis clearly is talented and quick with clever prose and he demonstrates this in his book, "Heavy Water And Other Stories". In between these extremes there are a variety of works than taken as a whole are quite good, however these are interrupted by other stories that are not up to the company they keep."Career Move", is the first and one of the better installments. The Author takes an aspect of life that everyone can relate to, changes it into an absurdity, and delivers a very funny and clever piece. "Straight Fiction", is a variant on the theme, and it not only seems familiar it diminishes the first story as well. The latter of the two is a bolder change of society, as we know it, for only the heterosexual need to be concerned about their being "outed". Not only does the Author tread a familiar path in his own book, but many others have played the what if game with major demographic changes at the center of their work. The issues are also quite real, and as such require a much more delicate touch, more sardonic than caustic. "What Happened To Me On My Holiday", is a complete mystery to me. If torn from the book nothing would have been lost from this reader's experience. It may be there is an event that the story was associated with at the time it was published that would decrypt why it should amuse rather than annoy. If there is I am unaware of it. I will read more of this writer's work but it will be as I find it, not as I spend the days searching. |
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