Time's Arrow

 This was quite a unique experience: a story where time is going backwards. I was captivated by that premise. Sadly, that enthusiasm lasted only for the first three chapters. After that, the narrator's perspective started to seem a little disingenuous, seeing that he could analyse and have good observations about certain aspects of Odilo's life but at the same time could not figure out that the "good" things that were happening were actually just the opposite. This was a very short book, and it would have been a mistake to make it longer. Just as it was a mistake to have the last chapter talk about Odilo's childhood. Especially because nothing interesting was said. It was so disconnected from everything else in the book. Such a shame, because I started reading the book with very high hopes and ended up feeling a little disappointed. I do recognise that writing something like this must have been very hard. And I must admit that the good parts in it were really good. The thing Martin Amis did with the dialogue between characters—which had to be read backwards (from bottom to top) to make sense—was truly finely done.