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A review by madmooney
Nutshell by Ian McEwan
5.0
"Mother, you have my father much offended."
-Shakespeare
An unborn, unnamed in-utero protagonist leads this story, providing us the eyes from his amniotic podium, sharing his own sensations and perceptions (as well has his mother's) with the audience.
"I like to share a glass with my mother. Yopu may never have experienced, of you will have forgotten, a good burgandy decanted trhough a healthy placenta. I feel it on my face like the caress of a summer breeze, sets me turning and tumbling across my secret sea, reeling off the walls of the bouncy castle that is my home."
-MacEwan
But ho, his mother has found a new lover in his father's brother, and the secret of the cuckolding is only shared between Trudy (his mother), Claude (his uncle) and himself. Cuckoldtry soon leads to conspiracy, and so our narrator becomes a silent protestor to the events as they unfurl.
"O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"
-Shakespeare
For yes, this is Hamlet being re-enacted upon a new stage, with our prenatal prince's inaction coming in the form that he has not yet been born. His fatal flaw of being able to make mouths of the corrupt events around him, but not being able to take part of protecting and then avenging his father (as in Nutshell, he is present as Trudy and Claude are planning the potent poisoning).
“Revenge may be exacted a hundred times over in one sleepless night. The impulse, the dreaming intention, is human, normal, and we should forgive ourselves. But the raised hand, the actual violent enactment, is cursed. The maths says so. There’ll be no reversion to the status quo ante, no balm, no sweet relief, or none that lasts. Only a second crime. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves, Confucius said. Revenge unstitches a civilisation. It’s a reversion to constant, visceral fear.”
-MacEwan
The plot turns a bit MacBeth in the final act, as the repercussions of lustily planning a murder take the main stage (regret, guilt, and a turn with the authorities).
"Wretched queen, adieu."
-Shakespeare
Definitely a quick an satisfying read!
"The rest is chaos"
-MacEwan
-Shakespeare
An unborn, unnamed in-utero protagonist leads this story, providing us the eyes from his amniotic podium, sharing his own sensations and perceptions (as well has his mother's) with the audience.
"I like to share a glass with my mother. Yopu may never have experienced, of you will have forgotten, a good burgandy decanted trhough a healthy placenta. I feel it on my face like the caress of a summer breeze, sets me turning and tumbling across my secret sea, reeling off the walls of the bouncy castle that is my home."
-MacEwan
But ho, his mother has found a new lover in his father's brother, and the secret of the cuckolding is only shared between Trudy (his mother), Claude (his uncle) and himself. Cuckoldtry soon leads to conspiracy, and so our narrator becomes a silent protestor to the events as they unfurl.
"O, from this time forth, my thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"
-Shakespeare
For yes, this is Hamlet being re-enacted upon a new stage, with our prenatal prince's inaction coming in the form that he has not yet been born. His fatal flaw of being able to make mouths of the corrupt events around him, but not being able to take part of protecting and then avenging his father (as in Nutshell, he is present as Trudy and Claude are planning the potent poisoning).
“Revenge may be exacted a hundred times over in one sleepless night. The impulse, the dreaming intention, is human, normal, and we should forgive ourselves. But the raised hand, the actual violent enactment, is cursed. The maths says so. There’ll be no reversion to the status quo ante, no balm, no sweet relief, or none that lasts. Only a second crime. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves, Confucius said. Revenge unstitches a civilisation. It’s a reversion to constant, visceral fear.”
-MacEwan
The plot turns a bit MacBeth in the final act, as the repercussions of lustily planning a murder take the main stage (regret, guilt, and a turn with the authorities).
"Wretched queen, adieu."
-Shakespeare
Definitely a quick an satisfying read!
"The rest is chaos"
-MacEwan