It takes a lot for me not to like a book enough to say it was ok. This book was not even that. The characters’ behavior throughout was infantile and lacked conscious. I could excuse one, maybe two characters, but the whole cast! To me, the message gained from Amis’s story should be “just say NO,” otherwise you may fall into a similar trap.

It is hard for me to believe that anyone would really act so extreme or carry things to such an excess. In this setting the weekend party seems a challenge for all to see who can outlast the other.

Amis crafted a purely dysfunctional group that seems to live only for instant gratification. Individuals from the group seem to get off with each opportunity to shock others.

Then there is the human cruelty factor. Keith, the one character not socially accepted because of his appearance, receives the end of all jokes. If any of them deserves sympathy I guess he’d be the one.

In the end things turn quite nasty as the abuse of numerous drugs and overindulgence of alcohol take their toll and one dangerous, actually murderous character makes an appearance. Dead babies … title is true to the end. ( )

Odd one. Martin Amis strikes me as quite a nasty piece of work, and not just because some of the things in this book (the first of his that I've read) are exactly that. Misanthropy comes off the pages in waves, flavoured by affection for the English upper class and, maybe anachronistic this, but little fondness for women or other ethnicities.

Giles was the character I loved - his speech and dual fixation combine to great comic effect. His introduction to Skip, one of the American visitors to the drug-soaked Appleseed Rectory, had me laughing uncontrollably in an unremarkable London pub.

Not sure I really understood what Amis was trying to do with the ending; not only that, but I'm sure I was meant to infer more than I did from the characters' various backgrounds. No matter, I read the whole thing in a few hours, propelled on by equal parts intrigue, comedy and disgust. ( )

This book is well and stylishly written, but I remember wishing I could have unread it, once I was done it. I know, it's a book called Dead Babies, so what did I expect? I usually don't mind stories that are a little lurid, actually, but I can't take the lurid in combination with an almost clinical approach to the characters. Amis seemed to enjoy vivisecting some of his characters. I've read and liked other Amis books since, but I doubt I'll ever re-read this one.