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You Can't Do Both

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( 197 ratings, 17 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Robin Davies is a sharp observer and a dynamic participant in a vivid coming-of-age story from schooldays to Oxford. Set against the backdrop of pre-war South London, the novel explores his journey through rebellion, self-discovery, love, seduction, and commitment. You Can't Do Both embodies classic Kingsley Amisβ€”witty, audacious, socially perceptive, yet tender and deeply autobiographical.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers who appreciate richly drawn characters and socially nuanced, humorous fiction with autobiographical depth. Suitable for fans of classic British literature and those interested in pre-war youth experiences.

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Robin Davies knows how to look after number one. 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.

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

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

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 Amisβ€”brilliantly funny, outrageous, and alive to every social nuance; it is also tender, compellingly insightful, and strongly autobiographical.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its acute and poignant observations, the book is celebrated for being finely judged and vividly conceived. Reviews highlight its humour, emotional depth, and evocative portrayal of a bygone era, marking it as a brilliant and sharply crafted addition to Amis's work. It’s described as funny, touching, and brilliantly written with characteristic aplomb.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780099461029

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 July 2004

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 245g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Kingsley Amis was born in south London in 1922 and was educated at the City of London School and St John's College, Oxford. After the publication of Lucky Jim in 1954, Kingsley Amis wrote over twenty novels, including The Alteration, winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, The Old Devils, winner of the Booker Prize in 1986, and The Biographer's Moustache, which was to be his last book. He also wrote on politics, education, language, films, television, restaurants and drink. Kingsley Amis was awarded the CBE in 1981 and received a knighthood in 1990. He died in October 1995.

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