Heavy Waters and Other Stories

Many of Martin Amis’ usual types — a gleefully soulless onanist, a ruminative yob, effetely depraved Brits — pop up in this slender sampling of the author’s short fiction from the past 20-plus years. Amis also delivers inverted worlds (poets firmly in the jet set for whom ”first class was just business as usual,” gay actors in fear of being outed — as straight), a standard dose of America gazing, and his often jaw-dropping verbal virtuosity. In his novels, Amis’ misanthropic trills don’t derail the development of, and our concern for, his characters; but in these wispy tales, he doesn’t seem to care what we think about them. Think of Heavy Water and Other Stories as the Martin Amis Snack Pack — a variety of piquant flavors and chewy, juicy bits, but not enough of any single taste to provide long-lasting satisfaction. B