893 reviews for:

Miele

Ian McEwan

3.34 AVERAGE


3...3.5....4....uhmmmm....é uma ideia inteligente, muito bem escrito como seria de esperar, com um bom final (o que é sempre difícil!)....mas não sei bem porquê não me diz muito...a ver se ainda me lembro da Serena daqui a uns meses...

Miele mi ha letteralmente lasciata senza fiato. [...]
Miele è una storia d’amore e di spionaggio, un ritratto degli anni Sessanta e della guerra fredda, ma soprattutto, come ha scritto Marta Perego, è una gran prova della maturità narrativa di Ian McEwan. Serena Frome, laureata in matematica e avida lettrice, si ritrova agente segreto del MI5; alla sua prima missione speciale, deve segretamente ingaggiare Tom Haley, giovane scrittore di Brighton, perché sostenga la cultura e i valori dell’Occidente attraverso le sue opere. Non era previsto, però, che Serena e Tom diventassero amanti, né tanto meno che su una menzogna crescesse un amore, forte, vero…
Insomma, una trama intrigante, che unisce l’amore e la passione con la suspense e il mistero. Ma Miele è molto di più di una bella storia, McEwan sa usare le parole mirabilmente, ogni frase è un piccolo capolavoro di stile misurato e levigato, bello da mozzare il fiato. Così per la prima volta forse nella mia vita di lettrice, provo il desiderio di rileggere, tornare su quelle frasi così delicate, sulla cura di ogni parola, sulla forza esplosiva di una semplicità apparente.
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Tratto da LaPantofolaDigitale.wordpress.com

Just didn't grab me like his other books.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

So, I re-read Sweet Tooth for my book group, forgetting I had read it just two years ago. Ouch! Not that it wasn't memorable, I remember liking it but I just didn't remember it. I think McEwan was nodding to all the flack he got for Atonement in this book. Lots of twists and turns and telling you in the very beginning that is doesn't end well, or does it? Such a great writer. "he would sit a knight's move ahead of me and to the left". No one really writes like that today. He is special.
adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was rather disappointed by the characters in this novel. Something about it just didn't click for me. I prefer characters that are, if not likable or identifiable, at the very least compelling, and Serene Frome (or any other characters, really, save for Shirley Shilling, who we hardly get to see) was none of the above. Her circumstances, as well as her job as an M15 agent, were lackluster, and I couldn't stand any of it. I found it boring, and just about everybody associated with M15 rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps it's my distaste for the paranoia and claustrophobia that the Cold War era in general gives me, but this story was just not for me. I will admit, though, that the ending did make me re-evaluate the story bit. I considered giving this three stars instead of two, but I disliked the rest of the novel so much that I couldn't do it. I wouldn't recommend this story to anyone. Personally, the whole thing left me with a vague sense of alienation and dissatisfaction.

Pretty obvious conclusion, though still a page turner because you have to know/confirm what you think.

I have mixed feelings about Sweet Tooth. I can't decide if the female protagonist is really weak or really strong, really smart or really dumb. At the same time that she felt herself sort of blazing trails as one of the first female "field agents" for MI5, she seemed to define her entire existence around the series of men with whom she fell in love.

It terms of the writing, I appreciated it but I didn't love it. I found myself skimming through the endless political passages. The narrative structure was really interesting. My favorite chapter was the last one, written from the point of view of one of the male characters in the form of a letter.