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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
I am not sure why I read this. I don't really like Ian McEwan's writing, but I thought I would give it a try as it was on my kindle. UGH. First, the story is just bizarre, Ian seems to hate women casting the main character as completely without depth or insight, there are several stories mixed in (it is a story about an author) which were just distracting and annoying. I felt like Ian had some short stories he wanted to tell and threw them in here.
The end did have an interesting twist, but still... so depressing...
The end did have an interesting twist, but still... so depressing...
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The twist at the end wasn’t nearly good enough to resuscitate this book. I mostly had no idea where it was going and couldn’t really bring myself to care about the main characters at all. It felt like McEwan took the most boring possible bits of being a spy and wrote a book about them..
I felt while I was reading this that I was hanging out with a firend who had a really interesting life, but every time she opened her mouth to tell her story, it was as if it was the most boring thing I'd ever heard. Should have been more interesting than it was, is what I'm trying to say. So either McEwan is off his game or based on the ending he's a freakin' genius because Or McEwan just dropped the ball. Either way, Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Spoiler
since Tom Haley was actually telling the story, Haley has revealed himself to not be quite the genius Serena thought he was because he managed to make her story dull. So Haley, whose short stories were sublime (according to Serena), who was failing as a novelist (also according to Serena), has now shown us, the reader his true talent or lack thereof.
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Redeemed itself, but too little too late. this book was a great idea and framework for an interesting and gripping novel, but was ruined by clunky and overwrought storytelling. Could have been edited down to a thrilling short story or novella.
Ian McEwan really is the male Jane Austen, and this book proves this better than any of his others. His characters are always erudite and well-spoken people of middle or upper class circumstances. His talent is both an amazingly supple facility with words and an awesome ability to live inside the psychology of his creations. From the very first sentence to the twist at the end, the reader is meant to wonder what these characters are up to when the book is closed and one is not reading them. The protagonist is a female who appears to be written so fully that I was constantly marveling at McEwan's feat. This twist at the end (it's not a huge one) makes this all the more interesting. The one knock against this great book is the Cold War setting. It certainly makes sense for the spy vs. spy setting, but Cold War novels always seem about what might happen, not things that actually happen.
I would have enjoyed the book more if not for the gimmicky ending. It didn't ruin the book for me, but it did disappoint.