THE PREGNANT WIDOW by Martin Amis (Knopf), 373 pages, $32.95 cloth. Rating: NN
Martin Amis’s new novel is about the sexual revolution of the late 60s and early 70s, so it’s no surprise that readers have been awaiting it with excitement. Too bad The Pregnant Widow is so detumescent.
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Amis’s intention is to show the damage the revolution wreaked on women – a worthy aim for sure – but he tells the story from the point of view of 20-year-old English lit student Keith. He’s vacationing in an Italian castle with two female friends, one his girlfriend, the other the object of his lust, and they entertain a series of visitors as the summer of 70 rolls by.
They talk about literature – in freakish detail only a lit snob could care about – their sexual escapades and daily adventures, taunting and pushing each other to take more and more sexual risks. Every word they say is unbelievably boring, in contrast to the excellent descriptive writing surrounding them. An expository section in which Keith must wait three days for his tryst with the major object of his desire is superb. It makes you wish all the characters would just shut up.
The title refers to Russian writer Alexander Herzen’s comment that a revolution creates not an heir but a pregnant widow. The baby called change can’t come without major violence, and even then it takes some time to arrive. It’s an apt title for a book that, having done some time shifting from 1970 to 2003 throughout the narrative, makes us wait 250 pages for an update on the characters that brings us into the 80s, 90s and the present.
That’s when we see the immense talent that’s wasted here on 20-year-old characters who act – and talk – their age.
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