Continues to be quite brilliant on literature and dreadful on politics. ( )

I saw Martin Amis at the American Writers Museum last year and found him to be an engaging speaker. I read his book a bit at a time, as I do most collections of essays. He covers a wide swath of topics and is at his best when writing about literature or politics. ( )

I am reading in the review below that Martin Amis is pretentious.
I am reminded of the episode he shares (I think in his autobiography) where the press learned that he came to America for a very expensive dental treatment. It was an emergency that had to be attended to immediately, and he debated first whether to get this major procedure done in the UK or in America. The end result was he didn't pick a dentist in his native country.
It's a few years ago that I read his autobiography, and I remember him saying that the press in the UK felt he did it out of movie-star-like vanity, similar to getting a face-lift or plastic surgery.
We have all had dental work done that was deemed to be essential. I say leave him alone and the topic of vanity trips to the dental or plastic surgery clinics.

That's a whole different story.
Anyway, what about this book?
I didn't discover any pretention.
I think that he writes honestly and forthrightly about every topic that he covered in this book, without pretentious attitude.
If somebody doesn't like Martin Amis's style or attitude, that's one thing, but then every author and public figure has to rest at the end of his/her labours and realize that nobody is always happy with the result. Some will like it and some won't.

This is a rich collection of essays on a wide variety of topics with emphasis on literature (Bellow, Updike, etc) and politics. There are also insightful looks at the World Series of Poker, the pornography industry and the rise and fall of soccer star Diego Maradona. All is done with quality writing and deep intellect. Amis is at the top of his game and shows why he has enjoyed such a long and respected career as an author. The fruit did not fall far from the tree as his dad is Kingley Amis was highly revered novelist of the mid twentieth century. A very smart read. ( )

The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump: Essays and Report… by Martin Amis in a word is pretentious. ( )