Editors Reads Verdict
Amis's masterpiece — the most comprehensive literary portrait of the 1980s money culture in English fiction. John Self is a character of genuine grotesque grandeur, and the novel's comic energy is sustained across 394 pages without flagging.
What We Loved
- John Self's narrative voice is one of the most sustained comic achievements in postwar British fiction
- The novel's formal structure — with a character named Martin Amis appearing as a minor character — is daring and entirely successful
- The 1980s money culture is rendered with satirical precision that has not dated
Minor Drawbacks
- The novel's relentless excess can be exhausting — Self's compulsive consumption is the point but also the price
- Some readers find the misogyny in Self's worldview difficult to tolerate even as satire
Key Takeaways
- → The 1980s money culture was not just an economic phenomenon but a mode of consciousness — Self thinks in money, perceives in money
- → The unreliable narrator who is unreliable through excess rather than discretion is a specific literary achievement
- → Satire requires a genuine affection for its subject's energy — Amis gives Self a vitality that makes his degradation compelling
| Author | Martin Amis |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin |
| Pages | 394 |
| Published | January 1, 1984 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Literary fiction readers who enjoy formal ambition alongside satirical energy, and anyone interested in the definitive literary portrait of 1980s excess. |
John Self
John Self is 35, English, and making a film. The film has American stars (Doris Arthur, Lorne Guyland, Fielding Goodney is producing), a budget that keeps changing, and a script that may or may not exist in a form anyone has agreed to. John flies between London and New York, eating, drinking, fighting, watching pornography in hotel rooms, and spending money faster than he receives it.
Amis narrates Money in Self’s voice — a prose instrument of extraordinary comic energy, full of neologisms, brand names, television references, and a self-awareness about Self’s own degradation that does not diminish it. The voice is the novel. Everything else — the film plot, the financial manipulation, the appearance of a character named Martin Amis — is subordinate to the voice.
The Formal Trick
A character named Martin Amis appears in the novel as a minor character whom Self befriends. Self asks him to look at his screenplay. The appearance of the author as a character within the text is one of the boldest formal moves in postwar British fiction, and Amis carries it off because he does not make too much of it — it is a provocation, not a manifesto.
Money was published in 1984, the year that defined the decade it dissects. Along with White Noise (published the same year in America), it marks the moment at which literary fiction began to process the specific consciousness of the money era.
Our rating: 4.3/5 — Amis’s masterpiece; John Self is one of fiction’s great comic monsters.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Money: A Suicide Note" about?
John Self, an English director of beer commercials, is flying between London and New York trying to make a film. He drinks, overeats, watches pornography, fights, spends money he does not have, and is being manipulated by forces he cannot see. Amis's monstrous comedy of the 1980s money culture — narrated in a prose of extraordinary comic energy by one of fiction's great unreliable slobs.
Who should read "Money: A Suicide Note"?
Literary fiction readers who enjoy formal ambition alongside satirical energy, and anyone interested in the definitive literary portrait of 1980s excess.
What are the key takeaways from "Money: A Suicide Note"?
The 1980s money culture was not just an economic phenomenon but a mode of consciousness — Self thinks in money, perceives in money The unreliable narrator who is unreliable through excess rather than discretion is a specific literary achievement Satire requires a genuine affection for its subject's energy — Amis gives Self a vitality that makes his degradation compelling
Is "Money: A Suicide Note" worth reading?
Amis's masterpiece — the most comprehensive literary portrait of the 1980s money culture in English fiction. John Self is a character of genuine grotesque grandeur, and the novel's comic energy is sustained across 394 pages without flagging.
Ready to Read Money: A Suicide Note?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: