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The Rachel Papers (novel)

The Rachel Papers AuthorMartin AmisCover artistKeith DavisCountryEnglandLanguageEnglishGenreFictionPublisherKnopf (US)Jonathan Cape (UK)1973ISBN0394491432Followed byDead Babies
The Rachel Papers is Martin Amis's first novel, published in 1973 by Jonathan Cape.

Plot
The Rachel Papers tells the story of Charles Highway, a bright, egotistical teenager (a portrait Amis acknowledges as autobiographical) and his relationship with his girlfriend in the year before going to university. Narrated by Charles on the eve of his twentieth birthday, the novel recounts Charles's last year of adolescence and his first love, Rachel Noyes, whom he meets in London while studying for his entrance exams into Oxford. Charles meets Rachel at a party and vows to win her over with his wit and wisdom. Unfortunately, she is seeing an American visiting student named DeForest, and Charles must employ a variety of meticulously calculated schemes to steal her away.

The title is an allusion to one subset of notes that Charles works on diligently throughout the novel � detailed instructions on everything from how to convince his Oxford don of his brilliance, to how to pick up and seduce girls. Instead of studying for his exams, Charles pours most of his time into these narcissistic chronicles, and after he meets Rachel, "The Rachel Papers" become the primary outlet for his neurotic brilliance. Gradually, however, these notes evolve beyond a set of conniving machinations geared toward getting Rachel into bed with him, and into a sincere story of their brief but passionate romance.

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