You Can't Do Both

Robin Davies knows how to look after number one. Raised in a bland suburb of South London in the 1930s, Robin longs for the freedom to do what he wants. When he escapes to study in Oxford, he meets Nancy Bennett, a young woman even less worldly than himself. As Robin stumbles through his rites of passage to adulthood, involving rebellion, self-discovery, sex, war, seduction and the threat of commitment, we come to realise just how far he will go to have his cake and eat it.

Robin Davies is both a shrewd observer and an energetic actor in a drama that takes him from school to Oxford. With him we live through all the pangs of a pre-war adolescence in South London, and on through his rites of passage to adulthood, involving rebellion, self-discovery, sex, seduction and commitment. You Can't Do Both is classic Amis - brilliantly funny, outrageous, and alive to every social nuance; it is also tender, compellingly insightful and strongly autobiographical.

Vorwort
'Has you moved to tears. Amis amazes at every turn - A masterpiece from a master' Mail on Sunday

Autorentext

Kingsley Amis

Klappentext

'Amis amazes at every turn... A masterpiece from a master' Mail on Sunday

Robin Davies knows how to look after number one. Raised in a bland suburb of South London in the 1930s, Robin longs for the freedom to do what he wants. When he escapes to study in Oxford, he meets Nancy Bennett, a young woman even less worldly than himself. As Robin stumbles through his rites of passage to adulthood, involving rebellion, self-discovery, sex, war, seduction and the threat of commitment, we come to realise just how far he will go to have his cake and eat it.

'The very best post-war English novelist, bar none' Guardian

See also: The Alteration