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A review by jennjohnson
The Innocent by Ian McEwan
3.0
An espionage novel for the first half, and a crime cover-up for the second. It may have flowed better if the first half hadn't been entirely dropped in favor of the events of the second. It's a story of loss, but without any direct consequences.
A certain level of paranoia, of not knowing who everyone truly is around you, was introduced, and then went nowhere. Our hapless main character suffered a severe head injury and seemed to be making poor decisions and falling asleep a lot as a result, but that also never materialized into anything.
Maria becomes a prominent part of the story, but we don't ever get to know her well until the very end, long after it's too late to make amends.
It's odd to say that a book was well-written while the pacing and plot were both lacking. The horror of the circumstances came through, but not the gravity. Too much was thrown in and then never came up again. It may have been better as two different books, one about the CIA/MI6 operating in Germany post-WWII, and the other about a budding new relationship in peril.
A certain level of paranoia, of not knowing who everyone truly is around you, was introduced, and then went nowhere. Our hapless main character suffered a severe head injury and seemed to be making poor decisions and falling asleep a lot as a result, but that also never materialized into anything.
Maria becomes a prominent part of the story, but we don't ever get to know her well until the very end, long after it's too late to make amends.
It's odd to say that a book was well-written while the pacing and plot were both lacking. The horror of the circumstances came through, but not the gravity. Too much was thrown in and then never came up again. It may have been better as two different books, one about the CIA/MI6 operating in Germany post-WWII, and the other about a budding new relationship in peril.