Lionel Asbo Lionel Asbo

Lionel Asbo

State of England

    • 3.8 • 54 Ratings
    • $11.99

Publisher Description

By turns outrageous and touching, an exuberant Dickensian satire of crime, celebrity, and modern culture from "one of the most gifted novelists of his generation” (TIME)

“One of Amis’s funniest novels.” —The New Yorker

Des Pepperdine is a boy out of place. He lives on the thirty-third floor of a London housing project; while his peers pick fights, Des retreats to the public library. What’s more, Des’s uncle and guardian, Lionel Asbo, is one of the most notorious petty criminals in the city.

Yet Lionel, full of inept devotion to his nephew, dutifully teaches Des the essentials of becoming a man (always carry a knife; pornography is easier than dating; pit bulls should be fed Tabasco sauce). To survive these lessons, Des seeks solace in a covert romantic union that would fill Lionel with rage. But just as Des begins to lead a healthier life, Lionel wins £140 million in the lottery. The money ushers in a public-relations firm for Lionel, along with a cannily ambitious topless model–poet.

Through it all, Lionel remains his vicious, oddly loyal self, and his problems, as well as Des’s, only seem to multiply.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2012
August 21
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
272
Pages
PUBLISHER
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
6.9
MB

Customer Reviews

jesus da lord n savia ,

Amis amen

I have been a huge Martin Amis fan for 20 years. London Fields, Dead Babies, Money, The Information ... all pure genius. But lately he is way off his game. The Pregnant Widow was unreadable. I gave him one more chance with Lionel Asbo, which is a total piece of crap. Martin, enjoy your new life, new family, lovely Brooklyn brownstone. Just please, please stop polluting English literature with any more books. Let us remember you for the good stuff.

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