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jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
Trigger Warning: Incest
I've read a few McEwan books in the past, my favorite of which is his most popular: Atonement. So cliche of me, I know.
The Cement Garden is a novella originally published in the 1970's. It features a lower class family living in a run down house in a run down neighborhood in England. Their neighborhood is edged by newer high rise residences. The father dies and soon thereafter the mother gets sick. The story is told from the perspective of the 14 year old son. He and his siblings, Julie, Sue, and Tom, start taking care of themselves and after their mother dies they decide not to tell anyone. Without adult supervision they do whatever they want, including completely inappropriate behavior.
It's not too much of a spoiler since it occurs in the first handful of pages of Chapter 1, but the oldest 3 siblings have some incestuous behavior. Our protagonist tells everything in such an offhanded way, whether talking about his masturbation habit or beating up a kid who bullies his little brother. It's disturbing that he doesn't seem to express any true regret or strong shame for some of the stuff he and his siblings do. I think this helps set the tone of the story as a portrayal of how awful childhood can be for some.
I've read a few McEwan books in the past, my favorite of which is his most popular: Atonement. So cliche of me, I know.
The Cement Garden is a novella originally published in the 1970's. It features a lower class family living in a run down house in a run down neighborhood in England. Their neighborhood is edged by newer high rise residences. The father dies and soon thereafter the mother gets sick. The story is told from the perspective of the 14 year old son. He and his siblings, Julie, Sue, and Tom, start taking care of themselves and after their mother dies they decide not to tell anyone. Without adult supervision they do whatever they want, including completely inappropriate behavior.
It's not too much of a spoiler since it occurs in the first handful of pages of Chapter 1, but the oldest 3 siblings have some incestuous behavior. Our protagonist tells everything in such an offhanded way, whether talking about his masturbation habit or beating up a kid who bullies his little brother. It's disturbing that he doesn't seem to express any true regret or strong shame for some of the stuff he and his siblings do. I think this helps set the tone of the story as a portrayal of how awful childhood can be for some.
flelix's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
fishykaja's review
5.0
what the hell have I just read... I am traumatized and I have to read another of his works that is supposed to be unsettling as well... I am disturbed, don't talk to me
josettep's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Incest
eileenthecrow's review
2.0
I had to read this for a class. Normally I wouldn't bother reading it to the end. I thought about giving it one star but then again the writing was decent.
The problem I have with this is that it made me extremely uncomfortable and that's not because the story is disturbing itself but because it has nothing interesting in it to make all those disturbing stuff worth reading. What was interesting about Jack's character? Nothing. He was just a dirty, disturbed kid. How did he become that way? Who knows. What were their parents like before they died? Who cares. Tom was interesting but then again he was a five year-old kid and barely the focus of the story.
The whole book was just 100 something pages of 'this happened and then that happened.' Yeah, so? There's no reason to care for any of the characters. Not a reason to even dislike any of them for doing the things they do because they simply don't matter. What I would expect from a book like this as a reader is for it to create some kind of impact on me. There is a Greek movie called Dogtooth (Kynodontas) which is more or less about the same thing, a couple of kids isolated from the outside world. The siblings have an odd, insestious relationship and they have an even more disturbing relationship with their parents. Watching it was a great experience and actually made me think about the message it was trying to give, it's one of my favorite movies to this date. This book, however, left me asking "So what?" over and over again.
The problem I have with this is that it made me extremely uncomfortable and that's not because the story is disturbing itself but because it has nothing interesting in it to make all those disturbing stuff worth reading. What was interesting about Jack's character? Nothing. He was just a dirty, disturbed kid. How did he become that way? Who knows. What were their parents like before they died? Who cares. Tom was interesting but then again he was a five year-old kid and barely the focus of the story.
The whole book was just 100 something pages of 'this happened and then that happened.' Yeah, so? There's no reason to care for any of the characters. Not a reason to even dislike any of them for doing the things they do because they simply don't matter. What I would expect from a book like this as a reader is for it to create some kind of impact on me. There is a Greek movie called Dogtooth (Kynodontas) which is more or less about the same thing, a couple of kids isolated from the outside world. The siblings have an odd, insestious relationship and they have an even more disturbing relationship with their parents. Watching it was a great experience and actually made me think about the message it was trying to give, it's one of my favorite movies to this date. This book, however, left me asking "So what?" over and over again.
hhh_111's review against another edition
4.0
I like the weird, uneasy atmosphere. I think the last 5 pages pushed it too far though. Really like the writing still and the concept.
b0hemian_graham's review
4.0
3.75/5 better than Atonement. This was rather creepy and disturbing, while Atonement just annoyed me. makes me wonder if the incest was more than just one generation given the illnesses (physical and mental).
mr_snilloc's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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