Description

‘Utterly compelling’ Guardian

Life…is shapeless, it does not point to and gather round anything, it does not cohere. Artistically, it’s dead. Life’s dead.

So begins a love letter to life, a resuscitation of sorts, encountering vibrant characters from Saul Bellow, to Philip Larkin to Iris Murdoch and Elizabeth Jane Howard, and to the person who captivated Amis’ twenties, the alluringly amoral Phoebe Phelps.

Amis addresses our burning questions: how to live, how to grieve, and how to die?

Publisher Review

Warm, generous and deeply moving... This is not only the best book Amis has written in years; it is up there with Money and London Fields as the finest work he's produced. -- Alex Preston * Observer * World-class talent... With the life-giving warmth of his brilliant, generous, sometimes unsparing critical writing... Martin Amis is my favorite living writer and Inside Story is his most beautiful book. -- Richard A. Chance * New York Times * For my generation of fiction writers, Amis has become like a granite headland, a navigational marker for our collective endeavour. And here...are all the reasons we still love him... Inside Story gives us access to a turbulent, flawed but exceptional writing life. -- Rose Tremain * New Statesman *Books of the Year* * Another work of genius to remind us that he is the best... Amis writes better than anyone. What a book! -- Susan Hill * Spectator *Books of the Year* * One of Britain's greatest living writers... With each sumptuous sentence he proves his credentials... For fans of his work, Inside Story is a victory lap; newcomers will be steered towards his rich back catalogue. * Economist *