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Money (full title: Money: A Suicide Note) is a 1984 novel by Martin Amis.

Plot summary

Money tells the story of, and is narrated by, John Self, a successful director of commercials who is invited to New York by Fielding Goodney, a film producer, in order to shoot his first feature film. Self is an archetypal hedonist and slob; he is usually drunk, an avid consumer of pornography and prostitutes, eats too much and, above all, spends too much, encouraged by Goodney.

The actors in the film, which Self originally titles Good Money but Goodney wants to call Bad Money, all have some kind of emotional issues which clash with each other and with the parts they are asked to play - the principal casting having already been done by Goodney. For example, the ageing hardman Lorne Guyland has to be beaten up, the motherly Caduta Massi, who is insecure about her body, is asked to appear in a sex scene with Lorne, whom she detests, the strict Christian Spunk Davis (the name is intentionally unfortunate) is asked to play a drugs pusher, and so on.

Self is stalked by "Frank the Phone" while in New York, a menacing misfit who threatens him over the telephone, apparently because Self personifies the success Frank was unable to attain. Self is not frightened of Frank, even when he is beaten up while on an alcoholic bender (unable to remember how he was attacked). Towards the end of the book Self arranges to meet Frank for a showdown, which is the beginning of the shocking denouement (the book is similar to London Fields, written two years later, in having a major plot twist).

Self returns to London before filming begins, revealing more of his humble origins, his landlord stepfather Barry (who makes his contempt for his stepson clear by invoicing him for every penny spent on his upbringing) and pub doorman Fat Vince. Self is convinced that his London girlfriend, Selina, is having an affair with Ossie Twain, while Self is likewise attracted to Twain's wife in New York, Martina. This increases Self's psychosis and makes his final downfall even more brutal.

There are some hilarious set pieces, such as when Self wakes to find he has skipped an entire day in his inebriated state, the tennis match and the attempts to change Spunk's screen name. The writing is also full of witty one-liners and silly names for consumer goods, such as Self's car, the Fiasco, and the Blastfurters which he snacks on.

Amis writes himself into the novel as a kind of overseer and confidant in Self's final breakdown. He is an arrogant character, but Self is not afraid to express his rather low opinion of Amis, such as the fact that he earns so much yet "lives like a student". Amis, among others, tries to warn Self that he is heading for destruction but to no avail. The New York bellhop, Felix, becomes Self's only real friend in America and finally makes Self realise the trouble he is in: "Man, you are out for a whole lot of money."

Although the novel is subtitled "A Suicide Note", the introduction makes it fairly clear that Self's suicide attempt will be unsuccessful, and, it transpires, amusingly anticlimatic - he wakes up, feels terrible and just "pubs it out" for the rest of the day. The novel ends with Self, having lost all his money (if it ever existed), still able to laugh at himself and cautiously optimistic about his future.

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Books - Money

Plot summary

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