Inside Story cover art

Inside Story

Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Inside Story

By: Martin Amis
Narrated by: Alex Jennings
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.24

Buy Now for £15.24

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

This extraordinary novel gives the listener the heart-to-heart testimony of one of our finest writers - a wonder of literary invention and a boisterous modern classic.

His most intimate and epic work to date, Inside Story is the portrait of Martin Amis' extraordinary life, as a man and a writer. This novel had its birth in a death - that of the author's closest friend, Christopher Hitchens. We also encounter the vibrant characters who have helped define Martin Amis, from his father Kingsley, to his hero Saul Bellow, from Philip Larkin to Iris Murdoch and Elizabeth Jane Howard, and to the person who captivated his 20s, the alluringly amoral Phoebe Phelps.

What begins as a thrilling tale of romantic entanglements, family and friendship evolves into a tender, witty exploration of the hardest questions: how to live, how to grieve and how to die? In his search for answers, Amis surveys the great horrors of the 20th century and the still-unfolding impact of the 9/11 attacks on the 21st - and shares all he has learned on how to write.

The result is one of Amis' greatest achievements: a love letter to life that is at once exuberant, meditative, heartbreaking and ebullient, to be savoured and cherished for many years to come.

©2020 Martin Amis (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Biography Heartfelt Witty Thought-Provoking
All stars
Most relevant
Inside Story takes you to the heart of writing with beautiful prose, insightful observations, , appreciation of other great authors and thoughts on friendship and loss. I found myself making notes as I read.

Like attending a creative writing class.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Alex Jennings narrates this book so well, you can feel Martin Amis, the Hitch, Saul bellow eve Philip Larkin... I felt enriched by the depth of love and richness of language and intelligence. Thank you

I feel enriched by this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I really enjoyed this book, having been a fan of Kingsley and a huge fan of Elizabeth Jane Howard as well as a reader of some of Martin Amis's books, I loved Money for instance but I can't read them all. I thought the narrator was perfect.

Kept me entertained for days

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This is a highly entertaining warts and all meander through Amis's life and loves. He doesn't spare himself as he reflects on and reimagines events and dialogue from his past. It is expertly read by Alex Jennings and most poignant on the passing of Hitchens, Bellow and Larkin. I also enjoyed the references to Nabokov as well as Kingsley Amis. I look forward to the promised new works.

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Amis is brilliantly voiced by Jennings, and I feel somehow enhanced and better for listening to it, privileged by Amis’s experiences. Thank you.

So good I’m going to listen to it again, now.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews