This is the long way around of saying that I was fundamentally unprepared for what happens in The Innocent. The back of the novel makes vague mention of “a terrible evening,” and McEwan doesn’t skimp on the “terrible” part. So if you’re looking for a nice, star-crossed romance with some complications to love and a poignant end, look elsewhere. Find out why I was so surprised at Pop Culture Penalty Box. [no spoilers, I promise.]
“But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.”
Fiona Maye has had a long and successful career as a High Court judge. She works in the Family Division, deciding what is best for children in messy divorce cases and matters of religion. Professionally, Fiona is “almost ironic, almost warm,” and she is respected for striking a balance between compassion and distance, understanding and objectivity. But after years of parents “dazed to find themselves in vicious combat with the one they once loved” and children used as “bargaining chips,” Fiona has become ever so […]
Worst John Le Carré book ever.
I feel like I’ve been screwed over twice. First by the publisher, for advertising this as a spy story, and then by the author, for the way he wrote this entire fucking book. Seriously, want to know what Ian McEwan thinks of you, his reader? Especially if you happen to be a lady reader? Read Sweet Tooth right to the fucking end and find out. Serena Frome (rhymes with “plume,” as she tells us) is the smart, beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop. Raised in a loving family, she has been spared from […]
Just Stay Home
There are no doubt piles upon piles of books that make you want to travel, and there’s probably no shortage of books that make you want to visit Venice in particular. Then there’s Ian McEwan’s The Comfort of Strangers, the book that makes you dread just the thought of Venice. Or really any travelling. After finishing this book, you will want to stay home forever, and lock all the doors to keep the outside world and its evils at bay. Mary and Colin encounter those […]
Another fascinating book by McEwan
Time is running desperately short, so please find my review (coming very soon) of The Children Act on my website here.
The Children Act (.)
Ian McEwan gets it. He understands the complicated nature of the human heart, the means by which we process love, loss, faith, loss of faith, life and death. His later novels are especially interested in human nature, not as an abstract concept, but as a reality. A solid, concrete, beating heart. And it’s to this material that he again returns with The Children Act. The novel’s title is a pun of sorts, deriving both from The Children Act of 1989, and a short, declarative sentence. […]