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waynediane's review against another edition
3.0
Not one of McEwan's best works. Interesting perspective looking from the inside out - a fetus commentary and the affair of the mother and lover plot from within.
milukiko's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
katengler5's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Based on the premise, I was super excited to read this book. After the fact, I find myself not too sure of my overall feelings on it. It definitely wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but it’s hard to pin point why.
It is a very unique book, where the unborn baby of a woman is the narrator, taking us through his witness of his mother and her brother-in-law (turned lover) planning the murder of his father, as he is a helpless bystander. I wasn’t sure how Ian McEwan was going to pull this off but was definitely intrigued. The type of narration the unborn baby was giving threw me off instantly though. The baby’s narrative is as if he is a fully formed adult, and at that likely one who studied sociology with some philosophy sprinkled in. To me, this was a bit jarring, and I don’t know if I ever quite came around on it.
Another weak point to me is the character of his mother (Trudy) and uncle (Claude). They are in a relationship, however they don’t seem to like each other all that much, let alone be in love and trusting enough of each other to commit a murder together. It was also unclear why Trudy would want to murder her husband, as they are already separated. The motive is that she wants to keep the house (which belongs to her husband), but this motive is weak for me to believe two people who aren’t criminals would be willing to commit murder for. Because these characters aren’t fleshed out as much, some of the plot points that are meant to surprise the reader end up falling flat.
For the good though, the story was quick enough paced where I wanted to read chapter after chapter to see how everything played out. I was also really interested to see how the baby would be able to make any moves in this case, since the whole book long he is saying he needs to do something (at first to help his father, however his motives to assist different people change throughout the book). There were some funny moments and some that genuinely did surprise me.
All in all though, I think Ian McEwan was trying to do something with this book that he didn’t quite accomplish, although I’d say it was valiant effort. It’s a very quick and different read, so I’d still give it a recommendation, but I wouldn’t say to go out of your way to do so.
It is a very unique book, where the unborn baby of a woman is the narrator, taking us through his witness of his mother and her brother-in-law (turned lover) planning the murder of his father, as he is a helpless bystander. I wasn’t sure how Ian McEwan was going to pull this off but was definitely intrigued. The type of narration the unborn baby was giving threw me off instantly though. The baby’s narrative is as if he is a fully formed adult, and at that likely one who studied sociology with some philosophy sprinkled in. To me, this was a bit jarring, and I don’t know if I ever quite came around on it.
Another weak point to me is the character of his mother (Trudy) and uncle (Claude). They are in a relationship, however they don’t seem to like each other all that much, let alone be in love and trusting enough of each other to commit a murder together. It was also unclear why Trudy would want to murder her husband, as they are already separated. The motive is that she wants to keep the house (which belongs to her husband), but this motive is weak for me to believe two people who aren’t criminals would be willing to commit murder for. Because these characters aren’t fleshed out as much, some of the plot points that are meant to surprise the reader end up falling flat.
For the good though, the story was quick enough paced where I wanted to read chapter after chapter to see how everything played out. I was also really interested to see how the baby would be able to make any moves in this case, since the whole book long he is saying he needs to do something (at first to help his father, however his motives to assist different people change throughout the book). There were some funny moments and some that genuinely did surprise me.
All in all though, I think Ian McEwan was trying to do something with this book that he didn’t quite accomplish, although I’d say it was valiant effort. It’s a very quick and different read, so I’d still give it a recommendation, but I wouldn’t say to go out of your way to do so.
stephxsu's review against another edition
I hated this bizarre, pretentious, and disconnected book so much. I never believed that McEwan wrote in the voice of the fetus and not his own voice conveniently through the mind of an unusual character so that we could have no preconceived notions about how fetuses are supposed to think and sound like so it could just become a tool for whatever McEwan wanted to share about his own views on the world.
nono_cmbmrl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
karinlib's review against another edition
2.0
I thought the premise of this book was interesting: the narrator is an unborn baby, narrating from the womb. The book is well written as always with McEwan, I just didn't like any of the characters
estelessa's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25