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Other People
From “one of the most gifted novelists of his generation” (Time), Other People is a tale about a woman’s path toward self-actualization.
A woman wakes in an emergency room and remembers nothing—not even her own name. She hears a song about a “Mary” and a “lamb,” and decides to call herself this—Mary Lamb—until she can discover more about her past.
While trying to unravel the mystery of herself, Mary meets a host of characters—a troubled woman named Sharon, a police officer named Prince who seems to know who she is, a man who works at the same café as Mary and is deeply infatuated with her. But Mary doesn’t know whom she can trust—if anyone at all.
In this luminous, electrifying novel, Martin Amis crafts a brilliant metaphysical mystery about the destruction and creation of one woman.
A woman wakes in an emergency room and remembers nothing—not even her own name. She hears a song about a “Mary” and a “lamb,” and decides to call herself this—Mary Lamb—until she can discover more about her past.
While trying to unravel the mystery of herself, Mary meets a host of characters—a troubled woman named Sharon, a police officer named Prince who seems to know who she is, a man who works at the same café as Mary and is deeply infatuated with her. But Mary doesn’t know whom she can trust—if anyone at all.
In this luminous, electrifying novel, Martin Amis crafts a brilliant metaphysical mystery about the destruction and creation of one woman.
224 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2025
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About the author
Martin Amis
98 books3,047 followersMartin Amis was an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His works included the novels Money, London Fields and The Information.
The Guardian writes that "all his critics have noted what Kingsley Amis [his father] complained of as a 'terrible compulsive vividness in his style... that constant demonstrating of his command of English'; and it's true that the Amis-ness of Amis will be recognisable in any piece before he reaches his first full stop."
Amis's raw material is what he sees as the absurdity of the postmodern condition with its grotesque caricatures. He has thus sometimes been portrayed as the undisputed master of what the New York Times has called "the new unpleasantness."
The Guardian writes that "all his critics have noted what Kingsley Amis [his father] complained of as a 'terrible compulsive vividness in his style... that constant demonstrating of his command of English'; and it's true that the Amis-ness of Amis will be recognisable in any piece before he reaches his first full stop."
Amis's raw material is what he sees as the absurdity of the postmodern condition with its grotesque caricatures. He has thus sometimes been portrayed as the undisputed master of what the New York Times has called "the new unpleasantness."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 8, 2025
What an interesting, challenging little novel. A woman wakes up in a hospital with a total memory loss and is instructed to go and find her way and to be good. What follows is our FMC, Mary Lamb, attempting to rebuild her life and her understanding of the world. And she encounters some really shady men, and a few dubious women as well, we see her navigate her new reality, constructing a new identity for herself. However, a policeman named Prince, finds her and tells her she is actually Amy Hyde, a very bad woman who' been murdered. Mary eventually resumes her life as Amy and we get further ruminations on the nature of life and death. There's an omniscient narrator who pops in from time to time to provide discourse on the events. And add some additional pieces of the puzzle.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed this novel but I know I'll need to listen again because there's a lot of ideas bouncing against each other. Some of the outright cruelty against Mary made me uncomfortable but I guess that means the book did its job. I haven't read any other Martin Amis and based on this novel alone, I think I'll definitely explore his oeuvre further.
TL; DR: Other People is a disorienting experience where the normal world becomes a terrifying puzzle, seen through the eyes of someone who doesn't know the rules, forcing a re-evaluation of what's real and who we are.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listening copy!
Ultimately, I really enjoyed this novel but I know I'll need to listen again because there's a lot of ideas bouncing against each other. Some of the outright cruelty against Mary made me uncomfortable but I guess that means the book did its job. I haven't read any other Martin Amis and based on this novel alone, I think I'll definitely explore his oeuvre further.
TL; DR: Other People is a disorienting experience where the normal world becomes a terrifying puzzle, seen through the eyes of someone who doesn't know the rules, forcing a re-evaluation of what's real and who we are.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listening copy!
Displaying 1 of 1 review