| House of Meetings | |
|---|---|
1sr edition cover |
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| Author(s) | Martin Amis |
| Illustrator | Peter Mendelsund and Chip Kidd (USA edition) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape[1] |
| Publication date | 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 198pp |
| ISBN | NA |
House of Meetings, by Martin Amis, is a 2006 novel about two brothers who share a common love interest while living in a Soviet gulag during the last decade of Stalin's rule. This novel was written by Amis during a two year long self-imposed exile in Uruguay following the release and tepid reception afforded to his 2003 novel Yellow Dog. The writing of House of Meetings "precipitated (another) creative crisis" for Amis,[2] which Amis reflected upon in 2010:
“You see those Posy Simmonds cartoons of people by the pool having cocktails and saying into the Dictaphone, ‘On the second day, the last child died,’” he says. “And I was in Uruguay, with my beautiful wife and beautiful daughters, living a completely stressless life. So I had to do my suffering on the page and, Christ, did I do it. I was very nervous about that book.”[2]
Contents |
The novel centers around the modern-day (2004) recollections of the unnamed narrator/protagonist of his time spent in an Arctic gulag and the years that followed. The recollections are presented in the form of a memoir sent to the narrator's American stepdaughter, Venus. One of the primary plot elements is the complex relationship between the protagonist and his younger half-brother, Lev, who later joins him in the camp. Through many difficult revelations and trials, they eventually survive the harsh conditions of the camp and then must face a further challenge: re–acclimatizing to everyday life.
The novel's release was greeted with generally positive reviews; see, e.g., The Economist's October review.[3]
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