Don't read this until you read something else by Amis that you like. I read Lucky Jim first and it's good and funny, so that's okay; and The Old Devils, which he wrote much later, is great. But in between, Amis went through a long emotional meltdown and the result is really painful to read; by the end, this book is basically a street-corner rant on how women are, by nature, literally unable to tell right from wrong and are all manipulative liars. We know this because Stanley, a guy with no distinguishing characteristics, is jerked around by his ex-wife, and his new wife, and a female psychiatrist who's just no good; the only good woman is his new girlfriend, but she's okay because she hates women too. Unfortunately, buried in there is a really good novel about how Stanley and his wife try to cope with his son's descent into schizophrenia.

Comics readers may be familiar with the similar spectacle of Dave Sim, who went off his nut about boys vs. girls in a similar way, but could still write a decent scene and a real human character when he remembered to. ( )

Excellent writing of course, but so deep in distorted misogyny that I couldn't enjoy it at all. Don't read this unless you believe all women are absolutely insufferable and untrustworthy - compared with Amis I must have been incredibly lucky with the women in my life! ( )

Having spent a great deal of time in the company of women, I'm more in favour of this book than some reviewers. Stanley has several women in his life, and would greatly prefer to co-operate with them than contend with them. But being a man of his time and education he hasn't a lot of tools for the task. Also, the women, would often rather fight than actually solve the problems. They have a number of roles they find more comfortable than actually engaging with another human being, just as he has. So, this novel is a report on a mess, just as most of our lives are. ( )

ככל שאמיס מזדקן, נושאיו משתנים ומזדקנים אתו. הפעם הוא מטפל בשני נושאים עליזים. סכיזופרניה ואוזלת ידם של הפסיכיאטרים ונשים. סטנלי מאבד את בנו למחלה, את אשתו הראשונה למפיק שתוי ואת השנייה לטרופה הסמוי. המסקנה של הספר - המטורפים האמיתיים של העולם הן הנשים - כגזע. נדיר לקרוא בימים אלה ספר שונא נשים בצורה כה גלויה. כתוב היטב. ( )

3 1/2 stars for style and some terrific sentences. Not for it's startling viewpoint. ( )