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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
Clever. There's a thin veneer of a spy story, but that's not really what this book is about. None of the characters are especially likeable, but they are all telling stories and some of the stories are about themselves. We know some of the stories are untrue, and others we wonder about. Even though I didn't like the characters at all (well, there was one marginal character I liked for his authenticity who was absent for most of the story), I wanted to know what was going to happen in their stories and what they would make of themselves.
I don't know what it was but I found this book so dry and hard to read. I just kept waiting for something to happen that would grab my attention and it never did. It was like pulling teeth just to force myself to finish it.
Author seemed to be trying too hard, using big words and complicated phrases! Didn’t work for me!
Great read, but the plot often became distracted with Serena's reception of Tom's stories. Whether this is a comment on their relationship I do not know, but it is clear this book shows the relations between writer and reader quite literally.
adventurous
emotional
funny
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:
Yes
ha, this was a pretty good book. it got slow at times, but overall it was engaging, and the best part is really what happens at the end. i listened to it on audio and the reader was fantastic. this is only my second ian mcewan so i can't really comment on how to compares to the others
I'd give it 2.5. I didn't like it, but for something I didn't like it sure held my attention. I definitely cared about what happened and wanted to keep reading- just didn't like it that much.
What a disappointment.
I love McEwan and actually waited on the hold list twice, but what a colossal waste of time. I wanted to like Serena, as she was a fellow voracious reader, but there was nothing to her, she was like a piece of decision-less cardboard in every scene. There was a lot of pomp in the beginning of the book that made it appear to be headed one way -- MI5 work during the Cold War, some discussion of British history that I was too lazy to try and understand, a lot of affairs -- but as it all started to come together at the very end, and you begin to see why Serena is such an annoying character to hold this all together, I began to hate it very much. I came for the spy story, but it was the flimsiest excuse for one I'd ever heard. Why would the government waste money on a novelist? I should have ended reading there.
I did enjoy this line: Reading was my way of not thinking about maths.
I love McEwan and actually waited on the hold list twice, but what a colossal waste of time. I wanted to like Serena, as she was a fellow voracious reader, but there was nothing to her, she was like a piece of decision-less cardboard in every scene. There was a lot of pomp in the beginning of the book that made it appear to be headed one way -- MI5 work during the Cold War, some discussion of British history that I was too lazy to try and understand, a lot of affairs -- but as it all started to come together at the very end, and you begin to see why Serena is such an annoying character to hold this all together, I began to hate it very much. I came for the spy story, but it was the flimsiest excuse for one I'd ever heard. Why would the government waste money on a novelist? I should have ended reading there.
I did enjoy this line: Reading was my way of not thinking about maths.
Usually I don't mind McEwan's slow-moving, intensely descriptive writing style, but it irked me here. Maybe because this was sold to me as a spy novel, so I was expecting more...hijinks? Mystery? I don't know. It never felt like much was at stake here, and maybe that's because I didn't really care for any of the characters. The female perspective felt somewhat unnatural, which I guess is explained, but. Ho hum. I've heard criticisms that this book is misogynistic and I sort of get that. I am glad I didn't give up on it as I sort of wanted to from time to time, as I did like bits of the end.
Not my favorite of McEwan's books, but a very enjoyable quick read. Serena is a "secret agent" in 1970s MI5 tasked with signing a young novelist up for a pension secretly funded by MI5. The idea is for him to write pro-capitalist prose. The mission is meant by the author to be pointless, but his writing is quite good, the story entertaining, and the characters fairly intriguing. Also got lots of good ideas for future reading from novels/authors mentioned throughout, including Iris Murdoch and Ray Bradbury. So far am still a big fan of McEwan's.