I love Ian McEwan's writing. Even those books that are very uncomfortable—say, The Cement Garden or On Chesil Beach—are just so well done. And Amsterdam is no exception. The character development of long-time friends Clive and Vernon is so strong. Clive the composer, with perfect pitch and a major...
I should've been able to finish this book faster since it's so short, but it's not such a page-turner to me. The novel offers some interesting ruminations on human cruelty, hypocrisy and selfishness, and the unexpected twists in the plot are really good. However, I couldn't really connect to the mai...
Reading this, I was reminded of P. F. Sloan’s song, Eve of Destruction, for that was the outlook of Vernon Halliday, editor of a failing newspaper, The Judge, charged with the responsibility of bringing the tabloid out of its growing place of obscurity. The book begins with Vernon and his friend Cli...
Having read Saturday only a month ago, I started this book thinking "oh no, here we go again...". Then it picked up. And then it was enjoyable. The way composing, the occupation of one of the main characters, was described (well-researched, I presume) was much more enjoyable and believable than the ...
This is an account of two men, former friends, brought together by a funeral. They each make a horrific moral decision in the ensuing weeks, yet defend their choices while condemning the other. I didn't like either of the characters, and it wasn't until the end of the book I realized the author inte...
"Amsterdam" by Ian McEwan is an intricate tale of a complex friendship based on a shared love, which spins fatally out of control. The novel explores the malicious and bittersweet irony of life - and the morale seems to be that nothing ever goes as planned.I was not surprised at how dark, and even m...
Amsterdam is a short, easy to read novel by Ian McEwan. It is the only book of McEwan's to win the Booker Prize despite several nominations, which is slightly surprising given the brevity of this one. That's not to say that a short novel cannot win a prize, but Amsterdam feels less like a short nove...
I picked up this book because I like Ian McEwan as an author and wanted to read a book about the Netherlands before traveling for vacation. Well although this book has almost nothing to do with Amsterdam, it was definitely worth reading. The story starts off with the funeral of Molly Lane which is...
A bit predictable with a bunch of unlikeables. An amazingly beautiful and charismatic woman dies of an unnamed disease that is so quick that she becomes almost immediately helpless and dependent on her pathetic, martyr husband. At her funeral her lovers sigh and remember her perfect moments - oh yes...
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