Amsterdam

Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian Mcewan

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

November 19, 2003

[Warning: this review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.]

While McEwan's brilliant "Atonement" moves along at a snail's pace, "Amsterdam" is here and gone in the blink of an eye. It's not that the novel is fast-paced or a page-turner--there just aren't many pages. I finished the book over the course of 3 lunch hours at work and it wasn't that there was a lot of exciting stuff going on in the novel.

The story is about two friends and a politician who all loved Molly Lane, who we never actually see because the story begins at her funeral. Vernon, the editor of a stodgy newspaper, receives some revealing pictures taken by Molly of the politician--who is in line to become the next prime minister--from Molly's widow. At the same time, Vernon's friend Clive is writing a Millennial Symphony and inadvertantly witnesses a rape in the mountains that he doesn't tell the police about. Clive is incensed when Vernon runs the pictures, because he feels it disgraces Molly's memory. Vernon is angry at Clive because Clive is angry with him and Vernon figures out that Clive witnessed the rape and didn't go to the cops. When the pictures come out, the politician is able to win the support of the people but is blackballed in political circles.

So then, for reasons I still don't understand, Vernon and Clive poison each other in Amsterdam and are put to death by Dutch suicide doctors. Huh? Did they mean to kill each other or was it just an accident? A case of mistaken identity or something? That's what my first reaction was, but now I'm pretty sure they both meant to do it. Maybe I'll have to reread the book at some point (when I have a couple of free hours).

The entire problem with this novel is that it's too short. There's simply not enough of a build-up to provide adequate reason for why two lifelong friends would decide to bump each other off. Granted they had difficulties, a couple of rows (as they say in England), but that wasn't reason enough for murder. Both guys were under quite a bit of stress, but would it really drive them to whack each other? I don't think so.

Maybe it's because this book is British, but I know in America people would not be so forgiving if they found out a top politician was dressing as a woman and posing for pictures. Just because the man's wife comes out and says, "I know about it and I'm cool with it" doesn't mean everyone is going to instantly forgive him and call for the head of the newspaper editor who would dare to run the pictures. Thinking of recent presidential transgressions, people are more apt to shrug and say, "Well, it's OK as long as it doesn't affect him getting the job done." but an angry mob wouldn't storm the newspaper like Dr. Frankenstein's castle or anything. The entire scenario seemed contrived to me.

To get on my soapbox for a minute, I think what would have really helped this book were some flashbacks. Don't just TELL us how much Clive, Vernon, the politician, and the widow cared for Molly, SHOW us through some flashbacks of the time they all spent with Molly. That would have not only fleshed out Molly, but also would have given readers a better understanding of why two old friends were willing to kill each other over her memory and it would have better defined her relationship with the politician so that we might know why he posed for those pictures in the first place. On the whole, I think that would have really helped the story by adding some useful length.

McEwan's writing is competent as always, but having read "Amsterdam" and "Enduring Love", I'm really not impressed with his work other than "Atonement". I certainly wouldn't have given this book the Booker Prize (the British equivalent of a Pulitzer).

"Atonement" was like a haunting, beautiful melody that sticks with you long afterwords (with its slow build-up I always think of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" you know, that song they used in "Platoon") while "Amsterdam" is a quick little pop song that went in one ear and out the other (like a Britney Spears song). It's too short, too underdeveloped to make it worth the purchase price.

Enduring Love

Enduring Love: A Novel by Ian Mcewan

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

October 21, 2003

The problem with "Enduring Love" is that there isn't much here that you or I haven't already witnessed at our local cineplex. Ordinary guy Joe (he even has a dull name) becomes the target of a mentally-ill stalker named Jed Parry after they both try to rescue a child trapped in a balloon (that part at least is original), wherein the cops of course can do nothing while Jed becomes more and more obsessed, leading to a final confrontation where of course Jed takes Joe's wife hostage. Yawn. The story is not exciting enough to be a thriller and not really profound enough to be literary gold. It's a sort of dull Anybook anyone could write after reading an article on de Clerambault's syndrome. Having just read McEwan's brilliant "Atonement" I feel this effort is unworthy of him.

The only thrill in reading this book is wondering whether Joe is really being stalked, or if it's all some elaborate trick of his imagination. It was, to me, like watching an old "Twilight Zone" episode, wondering if what I was being presented was the truth or just an illusion. Unfortunately, the endings I concocted in my head were better than the straightforward, cookie-cutter ending the author presented.

Overall, I liked McEwan's writing style, simple enough to read and understand that it doesn't detract from the book. Average Joe the narrator was not exciting or interesting, but the entertainment was in watching him become obsessed about being obsessed about while everyone else doesn't believe him. I had to agree with Joe that his wife came off a little selfish and whiny--they're both almost killed and she's mad because he wasn't "letting her in" emotionally and didn't give her enough sex? Give me a break.

The big positive of "Enduring Love" over "Atonement" is that at least "Enduring Love" doesn't take long to get going. The problem is that it doesn't seem to get very far. There's enough here, though, to recommend this book for a few hours of enjoyable reading. Just don't expect any surprises.

Atonement

Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

October 14, 2003

Here's how I can best illustrate the feeling of reading this book: imagine Game 7 of the World Series, top of the ninth, the home team up by a run, bases loaded, the count is 3-2 to the hitter at the plate. Everyone is waiting for that last pitch to decide the game one way or another. The pitcher gets ready to throw, the crowd holds its breath...and the pitcher throws to first base. Then he walks around the mound to gather his thoughts, has a meeting with the catcher, gathers his thoughts again, shakes off a few signs, and then just as the crowd can take no more, he rears back and gets that last strike and the crowd goes wild.

McEwan is like that pitcher on the mound--so slow and deliberate with the first part of the book that it's like Chinese water torture. The night when everything changes in Briony's life unfolds so slowly that any reader who isn't patient is going to get tired of the book before it really hits its stride. I had to force myself to keep going on faith alone that it was going to get better, that things would start HAPPENING soon, that all this Victorianesque society garbage (where the high drama is what to wear and whether or not to cook a roast on a hot day) would be worth it.

And like the pitcher in my analogy, it is worth it when McEwan throws a perfect strike. The writing is solid, the important characters are well-described and have real flaws, and once it gets going there's the drama pulling me in. I always wanted to know what would happen next. What would happen to Robbie and Cecelia and Briony?

What really got to me was the end. I won't spoil it for readers, but it was so touching that I almost cried. As someone who writes, I can see a lot of Briony in myself and my own work, and her thoughts about writing at the end really gave me pause to take a good look at myself and what I'm doing. The end took me so by surprise and was so satisfying, that I can easily look past any small flaws with this book and give it the five stars it deserves.

If you can get through the first 150 or so pages, the rest is worth it. Don't take my word for it, find out for yourself. You'll be glad you did.

I have read many recent Pulitzer winners like "Middlesex", "Empire Falls", and "Kavalier and Clay", but none of them satisfied me on such an intellectual and emotional level. If you wanted to go find my reviews of all those (which you don't), you'd see that all of them, while great books, had minor problems that couldn't be overlooked. Other than the slow beginning, however, "Atonement" has no real problems for me in its plot or writing style.