“Who does a bullshitter bullshit when he is alone?” Had the Sphinx asked this of Oedipus it wouldn’t probably wouldn’t have ended up eating itself. Now, millennia later, Martin Amis provides an answer for this ages-old quandary: a bullshitter alone will bullshit the reader, at least when he’s narrating a story. While there have been many exercises in showcasing the importance of reliability in point of view and narration, Amis pulls out all the stops and adds a twist to this tale by having not just one bullshitting narrator, but a pair of untrustworthy chum-scrubbers. Sometimes when new ground is broken it seems to have been done by a backhoe crew on amphetamines, other times it could be accomplished by a rhesus monkey with a spork; Amis appears to shoot somewhere in the middle, a novel concept that doesn't quite make a great novel.tThe story goes a bit like this: a chronicle of a pivotal year in the contrasting lives of Terrance Service and Gregory Riding, provided on a month-by-month basis, with both Terry and Greg taking turns recounting their notable experiences during the elapsed month. This awkward pair of narrators are foster brothers; Terry has lived a pretty fucked-up life, growing up in near-squalor and having witnessed his father kill his sister (and his mother was also buried when he was quite young, an affair his father is also suspected in having a hand in) and Greg is the scion of the wealthy family that adopts the orphaned Terry. The young duo failed to grow up close companions, and now in their twenties, the two are living together in London during the tumultuous year which they are alternately narrating.tTerry is pretty much a loser; can’t get laid, has some crappy dead-end job, and is quickly losing his ugly ginger hair. He also functions as a pillar of honesty in this book, as he admits his shortcomings and also announces that his whole intention is to get the reader to hate Gregory (honesty optional). While Terry is on the level in these matters with the reader, his associations with Greg are a tangled knot of half-truths and utter bullshit, hoping to somehow appear on equal ground with his thoroughly reprehensible roommate. Gregory, on the other hand, is completely full of shit from the giddy-up, embellishing everything as far as he sees possible, and generally taking every opportunity to favorably compare his ‘mighty teeth’ to Terry’s gnarled and yellow chompers and his gorgeous locks to Terry’s rapidly-disappearing and disheveled ginger straw. While Terry drinks alone in empty cafes so he can arrive back at the flat with some fabricated account of what he’s been up to, Greg is busy laying the wood in a phenomenal manner to everyone inhabiting the British Isles capable of surviving through his gymnastic gamut of pleasure-giving.tOver the course of the year, the reader is slowly informed that things aren’t what they appear to be, which isn’t surprising when looking at the amount of misinformation being passed along from both narrators. In many cases, the same events are covered by both narrators; Terry tends to stretch the truth in making everything seem twice as horrible and unfortunate as it actually is, and Gregory makes sure to fib in just how awesomely he managed to come out of the same situation. As the story progresses, the brothers slowly begin to look at the world through the other’s eyes; Terry finds it within himself to begin looking past the negative and embracing what is slowly beginning to go right in his life, and Greg begins to dwell on minor failures he is subjected to, slowly spiraling into a feeling of ennui he’s previously never ever suspected he could fall victim to. Two events seem to spur on the dual changes, the first being a 180 in the matter of their social status; Terry starts to find himself appreciated at work and, finally finding success somewhere, is able to quit obsessing on his lacking sex life, and Gregory’s previously ‘prestigious’ job at an art gallery is exposed to be menial and completely ridiculously low-paying, basically being a glorified ‘gopher’ for the owners while his family’s once-immense wealth gradually diminishes. The second major element comes from outside their troubled relationship, concerning their sister Ursula. Whereas Greg once enjoyed Ursula’s affections (and apparently indulged in them a wee bit too much; read incest) it appears that his neglect for her during his self-indulgent lifestyle has pushed her away, and she begins shacking up with Terry, who has been jerking off over this fantasy for a decade.tI’d like to mention that Amis’ use of Ursula as little more than a neurotic, brother-humping cum-dumpster to prod the story along is one of the major drawbacks of the book. “Success” would have probably been better if this character had been completely left out; I felt that the slowly-changing social/class status of the brothers and their mettle being tested in the face of adversity was enough to get the point across; sister-swapping was just a gratuitous mess that didn’t seem like much more than a hasty idea for shock-value. I hate to say it, but it meant a lot more to see a character’s response to a situation as a means of conflict resolution than it was to highlight Terry and Greg’s varied ups and downs based on which was currently buggering their kid sis.tOther negatives about this book include the predictable outcome (which is pretty apparent by the “June” chapter) and the uneven tapering off in narration as the year progresses. As the climax approaches, it seems odd that the characters have seemingly less and less to say about their reversal of fortunes, with the last two months of the year taking up a mere 20 pages which serve only to gloss over the highest peaks of the mountains of changes in their respective landscapes. tAs far as the positive’s go, I do think that Amis does an excellent job writing, he is almost always deliciously eloquent (even while trolling in the doldrums narrating as Terry) and his arrogant writing in the vein of Greg should be preserved through the ages for all future narcissists to admire and learn from, I would certainly not object to giving another of Amis’ books a chance. Even though I think this story seemed to lose steam towards the end (where it was most important to keep the momentum), I prefer to think that perhaps Amis was aiming for a quick one-two punch knockout ending, which I may simply not have enjoyed, hoping for a little more substance on the narrators’ behalf than Terry’s snide “ha ha, chumps of Riding Manor, thanks for being a stepping-stone on my way to prosperity for lodging my ungracious ass instead of letting Uncle Creepy feel me up in the orphanage” and Greg’s complete retreat within the confines of his own defeated and sullied soul. Overall, however, even if I found the outcome rather weak, I was generally pleased with the way that Amis managed to tell the story through two distinct and captivating points of view.tJust as a sidenote, there’s a blurb on the back cover which is relatively interesting in describing Amis’ ‘voice’ as: “rising above the pseudoprofundo babble of his competitors”. While this was written before the names I’m about to drop, in considering this book I couldn’t help but realize the large number of contemporaries that I feel are obviously influenced by Amis: to a reader 30 years after publication I got the impression it was a pastiche of Palahniuk (when narrating as Terry), Augusten Burroughs (the troubled Service and Riding families), and Bret Easton Ellis (narration style and the snobbish faux-high-society fuckery and debauching).
I was afraid to continue reading Success after I finished the first two chapters. I was afraid of when I would eventually see myself in Gregory, and much, much more frightened of when I would see a piece of Mike Hart stretching out in Terry’s pasty monochromatic skin. Not only were my fears realized, they came out at the most inopportune time. I found myself in Greg as his slide hit the slipperiest slope and began its downhill tumble at an alarming pace: “I used to love the man I would become. I don’t any longer. Look at him, look at him.” Still, that is seemingly standard quarter life angst. When Terry found a way to capsulate my life, it was much more personalized:“And I can see, too, that I’m going to have to change the way I am. My calculations about how to stay alive and sane on this particular planet have clearly been at fault. Lots of people are plenty uglier and poorer than me without seeming to mind, without the self-hate and self-pity – the sentimentality, in a word – that makes me such a quivering condom of neurosis and ineptitude. I have never been nice, but from now on, boy, am I going to be nasty. I’ll show you.”In a dark, dank, down-and-out place, I wanted to hurt people. Indelibly. And for Amis to understand that, and render it so clearly, it is upsettingly poignant. Many a critic has said that there is no one quite like Martin Amis. And for that I am thankful. If every novelist could peer into my soul like this man, reading books would be a much more harrowing experience.
What do You think about Success (1991)?
I'm not saying this isn't a good book -- it's funny and satirical, especially on issues of class in the UK. I am saying that I didn't particularly enjoy it. It's the story of two foster brothers, one a posh golden boy and the other a workaday drudge; the problem is that while part of me was rooting for ginger Terry to surge ahead and posh Gregory to get his comeuppance, it was difficult to bother much about what happened to either of them. Also, perhaps when this was written in the 70s, characterizing people largely by their various sexual obsessions may have been fresh and new, but it just made both narrative voices kind of tedious.
—Catherine Siemann
I bought this secondhand about 6 months ago; there seems to be a pretty much unending library of Martin Amis books to read, every time I think I've got the measure of them I find another one I haven't heard of.Then I lost it in the house and just found it again before reading it. I think it's my favourite Martin Amis book. (!). The point-of-view story of two foster brothers, polar opposites and each one equally unpleasant. They start to go through a series of experiences that begin to tip their fortunes, one on the way up, the other on the way down. You need to read this to see how convincing the convergence of the characters is.I think the reason this appealed to me is that it resonates so heavily with the warped, over-confident persona I often assume when writing and interacting on the internet. There are passages in this book I want to cut out and keep, and feel like they were written directly for the asshole I keep trying to project. A justification for a sense of humour I was not sure was entirely legitimate.This book is so black and so good.
—Pierce
"Success" is Martin Amis' third novel. It didn't impress me as much as some of his later works, such as "London Fields," "The Information" and "Time's Arrow." It concerns two brothers: Gregory, from the upper class and Terrance, from the working class, who is adopted by Gregory's family after a tragedy.The book is written in first person over the course of a year, alternating between the brothers. Gregory is spectacularly successful financially, socially and romantically, while Terry is spectacu
—Steve
