Inside Story: A novel by Martin Amis
This is a novel, but could be mistaken for an autobiography. The author relates many events relating to his life and the life of others (like Saul Bellow). There is also a fictional Phoebe that gets lots of coverage. The problem with all this is it feels like "inside conversation" that is not very relatable externally. There were a few bits about Nabokov and some discussion about writing and style that were interesting. However, these good bits were lost in the blah.
Desmond is being raised by his gangster jerk uncle Lionel Asbo. Desmond is "taught" by his uncle a lot of the scummy underclass norms, though he is trying to escape this society. Alas, while in prison Asbo wins the lottery and becomes a minor celebrity.