A review by escape_through_pages
Black Dogs by Ian McEwan

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

📖 REVIEW 📖

 '... 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛; 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚.'

Ian McEwan, I believe to be my most-read author. Some of his books, sit on my all time favourites list (Atonement and On Chesil Beach) while others leave me scratching my head not really sure what’s going on (The Child in Time). 

What really draws me back time and again to his work though is his unparalleled ability to detail how a single moment, a single decision or misunderstanding, words felt but unsaid, can change the course of a life completely. I live for those stories. The consequences are often tragic and McEwan always tells it so well.

In Black Dogs, our narrator is constructing the memoir of his elderly mother-in-law. He is particularly keen to learn more about how an encounter with a pair of black dogs on honeymoon affected her to the degree it changed her view on life, setting her in a new direction and altering the future for her husband and future children too.

Faith and idealism versus frank reality and pragmatism, the fall of the Berlin Wall and decline of communist support feature in the story of this couple’s estrangement. 

Unfortunately, the central event that was built with an air of mystery, fell a bit flat in the reveal and overall the themes felt far from fleshed out. However, I read a review that mentioned similar feelings and a (quite patronising) commentator replied that the reviewer ought to go back and read it in a few years, stating Black Dogs is a masterclass in subtlety. Maybe that applies to me, I can certainly believe that it is quite possible that I have missed the point, McEwan isn’t for easy reading.