A review by jonezeemcgee
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

3.0

2.75

While this was a well-written book, I can't say that the characters were well-rounded, or that much about the family's life before was probed to explain character actions. While I can say these are definitely realistic personalities, and that there are some realistic reactions, I don't know enough about them to do much than make an educated guess. The story weaves in and out and around the characters, but it never really fully touches us, with the exception of young, motherless Tom.

I am not new to disturbing material. I read Cormac McCarthy and Lolita is one of my literary favorites for crying out loud. But what Cormac does with his characters to bring light to their eyes, McEwan left a dull shine. While Lolita has you in the psychological torment of Dolores and bashing your hands against your head wondering when Humbert will discover he IS the bad guy, these characters left nothing but holes to fill. The only thing I was left pleading for, was an end.

Now, I am not unused to some of the most disturbing subject matter. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, Flowers in the Attic, and Forbidden have seen to that. But those books did much better with the subject matter than I feel this offering did. This felt like I was reading a bloated edgy short story written by an English Major in his last year of Grad School. I also feel like a lot of people would have clapped. LOL

I feel that if the penultimate moment of this story needed to be some form of closure much bigger than what we received in the end. If it had then this would be a different story worth a different rating. Unfortunately, it read as if the most disturbing and salacious bits were the true thing the author had on his mind. As if to say, "Look at you, see, more disturbed by the incest than the dead." I think I am supposed to think this is clever. I don't. I do however think it will take up residence in my brain for longer than I would like, and for that, well, the author won.