Amsterdam
On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's lovers in the days before they reached their current eminence. Clive is Britain's most successful modern composer;...
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On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's lovers in the days before they reached their current eminence. Clive is Britain's most successful modern composer; Vernon is editor of the quality broadsheet The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty Molly had had other lovers, too, notably Julian Garmony, foreign secretary, a notorious right-winger tipped to be the next prime minister. In the days that follow Molly's funeral, Clive and Vernon will make a pact with consequences neither has foreseen. Each will make a disastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to its limits, and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life. In Amsterdam, a contemporary morality tale that is as profound as it is witty, we have Ian McEwan at his wisest and most wickedly disarming. And why Amsterdam? What happens there to Clive and Vernon is the most delicious climax of a novel brimming with surprises.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780385494236 (0385494238)
Publish date: January 1999
Publisher: Nan A. Talese / Doubleday
Pages no: 193
Edition language: English
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...