One Fat Englishman

Many are the artist's rendering of Roger Micheldene, one of the most despicable characters in all of literature. By my eye, the above illustration captures the odious, lecherous louse in all his inglorious glory. Dastardly, dreadful, disgraceful - upon reading Kingsley Amis's novel, you will surely......more

This book offers a quite remarkably negative self-portrait. The most obvious explanation is that Amis was disgusted with himself for leaving his first wife in such a callous manner, but few people would have gone this far. There's an interesting question of chronology here, which I remember discussi......more

Strung with the same gauge strings as Catcher in the Rye but played by a ham-fisted drunk there's no reason anyone should like this but I'm fairly confident almost everybody with an ear for humor will take delight. Now and again I read something so visceral that I'm ashamed to be holding a book inst......more

Roger Micheldene is a fat, slothful and lusty Englishman visiting America and some friends. He is having an affair with Helene the wife of Ernst his friend.Roger seduces women with words and has no morality except to enjoy himself and hates all things American. He is a snob with a great opinion of h......more

Hilarious and fascinating: a youngish, and still-reputedly-socialist Kingsley Amis predicts his future as an obese bigoted alcoholic womanizer with astonishing accuracy. Kingsley rarely wastes his words, and his ability to put across comic situations is peerless (well, except for his son Martin). He......more