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A review by peggyd
The Innocent by Ian McEwan
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
First read of 2024 and it was a doozy! I am generally not a McEwan fan and a friend of mine loaned me this book to "change my mind" about this. Here's the thing: I can tell that this is a well-written, tightly plotted novel with a lot of layers. And yet, it was a struggle for me. I found it easy to put down and sometimes had to force myself to pick it up. And also it gets gory. Incredibly gory in a hideously detailed way that goes on for MANY PAGES. When I tell you my stomach started to roil with those descriptions I mean it. The theme of the body in this book is truly rich and interesting but also extremely tough to work through at a certain point (if you've read this, then you KNOW).
To backtrack: this is the story of 25 year-old Leonard Malman, and British officer stationed in Berlin in 1955 on a highly classified (and true) project to tunnel to East Berlin and wiretap the Russians. Leonard is the innocent of the title--he still lives with his parents so this assignment is his first real foray into the world. He's a virgin and has no sense of himself, his views, or his emotions. Even stating he's never had a strong feeling in his life. Thus, Leonard has a lot to prove and this top secret gig enlarges his sense of self while also heightening his insecurity about how others perceive him. He runs through potential responses in conversation to try to land on what will make him seem the most worldly and confident but honestly has no idea how people see him.
Then Maria arrives. She's German, 30 years-old, and divorced. She suffered during the war and sometimes her ex comes around to take her money and beat her up. But in Leonard she finds someone she can guide in life and in the bedroom and she thinks her luck has changed. Here is where the book really shines: the bodily descriptions of being in love and discovering the secrets of your lover's body along with your own. We see this unfold and we see that Leonard is perhaps less innocent than we assumed as he discovers a desire to dominate and intimidate Maria during their most intimate encounters. It goes as you think.
When they reconcile, we think Leonard has grown out of his innocence and into a better sense of himself and Maria's needs. And then something terrible happens and everything gets peeled away: what is innocence, after all? We are all capable of awful things.
For me, the most interesting aspect of this novel is the juxtaposition of bodies in love vs bodies in violence. Both deal with intimacy, fluids, powerful emotions, and heightened awareness but with the most disparate outcomes. McEwan makes this point in minute, often hideous, detail. And indeed I had to skim several paragraphs to make it through but it's an eloquent point all the same.
Yet I never felt that I understood Leonard; did he change, grow, learn? I don't know. And after all that happens in this novel, that feels like a letdown. It all gets explained away in a postscript letter from Maria, but that doesn't enlighten the reader to Leonard's journey at all. Maybe there wasn't one. I'd like to know, though.
To backtrack: this is the story of 25 year-old Leonard Malman, and British officer stationed in Berlin in 1955 on a highly classified (and true) project to tunnel to East Berlin and wiretap the Russians. Leonard is the innocent of the title--he still lives with his parents so this assignment is his first real foray into the world. He's a virgin and has no sense of himself, his views, or his emotions. Even stating he's never had a strong feeling in his life. Thus, Leonard has a lot to prove and this top secret gig enlarges his sense of self while also heightening his insecurity about how others perceive him. He runs through potential responses in conversation to try to land on what will make him seem the most worldly and confident but honestly has no idea how people see him.
Then Maria arrives. She's German, 30 years-old, and divorced. She suffered during the war and sometimes her ex comes around to take her money and beat her up. But in Leonard she finds someone she can guide in life and in the bedroom and she thinks her luck has changed. Here is where the book really shines: the bodily descriptions of being in love and discovering the secrets of your lover's body along with your own. We see this unfold and we see that Leonard is perhaps less innocent than we assumed as he discovers a desire to dominate and intimidate Maria during their most intimate encounters. It goes as you think.
When they reconcile, we think Leonard has grown out of his innocence and into a better sense of himself and Maria's needs. And then something terrible happens and everything gets peeled away: what is innocence, after all? We are all capable of awful things.
For me, the most interesting aspect of this novel is the juxtaposition of bodies in love vs bodies in violence. Both deal with intimacy, fluids, powerful emotions, and heightened awareness but with the most disparate outcomes. McEwan makes this point in minute, often hideous, detail. And indeed I had to skim several paragraphs to make it through but it's an eloquent point all the same.
Yet I never felt that I understood Leonard; did he change, grow, learn? I don't know. And after all that happens in this novel, that feels like a letdown. It all gets explained away in a postscript letter from Maria, but that doesn't enlighten the reader to Leonard's journey at all. Maybe there wasn't one. I'd like to know, though.