Money

1st edition (Jonathan Cape)

Money (full title: Money: A Suicide Note) is a 1984 novel by Martin Amis. Time Magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.^[1]

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 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 which he eventually wants to re-name 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 strict Christian, Spunk Davis (whose name is intentionally unfortunate), is asked to play a drugs pusher; 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, and so on. The character of Lorne Guyland was based on Kirk Douglas^[2]

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 father Barry (who makes his contempt for his son clear by invoicing him for every penny spent on his upbringing) and pub doorman Fat Vince. Self discovers 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."

The novel's subtitle, "A Suicide Note", is clarified at the end of the novel. It is revealed that Barry Self is not John Self's father; his father is in fact Fat Vince. As such, John Self no longer exists. Hence, in the subtitle, Amis indicates that this cessation of John Self's existence is analogous to suicide, which of course, results in the death of the self. A Suicide Note could also relate to the novel as a whole, or money, which Self himself calls suicide notes within the novel.

After learning that his father is Fat Vince, John realises that his true identity is that of Fat John, half-brother of Fat Paul. The novel ends with Fat John having lost all his money (if it ever existed), yet he is still able to laugh at himself and is cautiously optimistic about his future.

2010 BBC Television Adaptation

On November 11, 2009, The Guardian reported that the BBC has adapted Money for television as part of their early 2010 schedule for BBC 2.^[3] Early word on the casting includes Spaced/Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz actor Nick Frost set to play John Self^[4], and will also feature Vincent Kartheiser. Emma Pierson is cast to play Selina Street^[5], and Jerry Hall is set to incarnate Martina Twain^[6]. The adaptation is to be a "two part drama" and is written by Tom Butterworth and Chris Hurford^[7].

External links

• Martin Amis discusses Money on the BBC World Book Club
• Brian Finney's alternative interpretation of the novel's subtitle
• Veronica Geng's review in the New York Times, 24 March, 1985 (pdf file)

Footnotes