House of Meetings

by: Martin Amis

Published by: Vintage International

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

I gave House of Meetings several shots at trying to seduce me into reading it. I read the Wikipeda entry for Martin Amis (“Amis’s raw material is what he sees as the absurdity of the postmodern condition with its grotesque caricatures.”).

Still, I was at a loss for what this book is about. I perused the synopsis on Amaazon.com and went “huh?” I understood that the narrative was a letter to the narrator’s daughter, but that Venus was an “American stepdaughter” was news to me. In the end, I read to page 80 on four separate occasions before I gave up and can honestly say I have no idea what this book is about. Or maybe the plot line is just too abstract for me.

I don’t give up easy, but House of Meetings was just too out there for me. The dust jacket says the action takes place in a slave camp above the Arctic Circle in 1946. Got it. It is a Russian gulag. Got it. Two Jewish brothers are in the gulag, but why I have no idea. But on the other hand, I never understood exactly who the “pigs,” “urkas,” “leeches,” “facists,” “brutes,” “bitches,” and the two echelons of “shiteaters” were or what they represented.

For most of what I read, the narrator is railing about the Russian government. I think. The two brothers are in love with the same woman, Zoya. I think. The House of Meetings is a place for conjugal visits. Pretty sure that’s right. The narrator’s brother, Lev, didn’t have his wedding night until seven years after he married. Pretty sure that’s right too.

There were brief moments when the interaction between the brothers captured me. At least I think it was between the brothers. House of Meetings was an Amazon Significant Seven selection for March 2007. That makes me feel stupid. Publisher’s Weekly called it “Amis’s disappointing latest.” That I agree with.

Armchair Interviews says: Heed this reviewer’s comments.

Author’s Web site: http://www.MartinAmisWeb.com