Changes

|title=Lionel Asbo

|author=Martin Amis

|publisher=Jonathan Cape

|date=June 2012

|website=http://http://www.martinamisweb.com/

|summary=When the violent thug, Lionel Asbo wins the lottery while serving time in prison, life changes for him, but his ward and nephew remains in dread fear of his uncle finding out about his affair with Lionel's mother. This was probably more fun to write than to read, but is saved by some delicious Amis touches.

}}

Martin Amis can be relied upon to create some pretty nasty, self-centred central characters. Usually they are upper class cads and bounders but in ''Lionel Asbo'' his central character is at the polar opposite in terms of class. He's violent, uncouth and ignorant. He's a criminal whose usual sidekicks are a pair of vicious pit bulls. His 'manner' is a fictitious down trodden area of London called Diston Town where he lives in a tower block with his nephew, Des, who in fact is the central character in the book. Des, in contrast is far more sympathetic - intelligent and kind, that is if you overlook the fact that as a 15 year old he had an affair with his grandmother, Lionel's mother. Hey, no one's perfect.

Yet for all that, there are moments of pure Amis class in the writing. He has a fine ear for conversation and some of his descriptions of atmospheres are superb. I found myself smiling more at these than at the comic moments in the story though. This is largely my problem with the book: it's well constructed and often told with great skill, but the story itself is not particularly edifying or enlightening. Ultimately, Lionel Asbo is too much of a caricature and not enough of a character, while Des is more of a rounded character, but I just didn't believe in him in the context of his environment. I had the feeling that the best medium for Lionel would have been the pages of ''Viz'' rather than a Martin Amis novel. It also suffers from a slightly fizzled ending but endings have never been an Amis forte in my view.

For more varied London-based state of the nation fare, [[Capital by John Lanchester]] is thought provoking and touches on some similar areas while for more imaginative urban dystopia, [[City of Bohane by Kevin Barry]] is riotously innovative stylish and funny.