Amsterdam by Ian McEwan #
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan. This book was a holiday gift from my mother.Typical mom-like reasoning: “What made you think of this book for me?” “Well, you lived in Amsterdam!” I’ve not read any Ian McEwan before and my partner also got a novel of his as a present, so I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. After reading this book—very quickly, since it’s rather short and easy to plow through—I can’t say I yet understand the fuss. The basic premise: two old friends meet at the funeral of their shared former-lover, along with a government dignitary and her late, detested husband. One’s a famous composer, the other the editor of a prominent newspaper. Both friends face moral dilemmas while going about their lives and, separately, enter a pact that winds up sealing their fate.Rather predictably, one must say. While the book was easy to read, I can’t say it will leave any kind of indelible or lasting mark on my conscience, which you might want a goodIn this case, Booker-prize-winning. book to do. The characters aren’t particularly deep; the story-line is not that surprising. The last section or so has an interesting structure, where the parallels in the two protagonists’ lives are reflected in alternating chapters. I don’t normally read other reviews of the books I read before writing my own, but in thise case read one from the Guardian and one from the New York Times. The former eviscerates the novel. The latter claims to praise it,It is titled “Dark Tour de Force”. but feels like it’s forced to do so because of the prize-winning status:
For all the appeals to high-flown principles like art and freedom that Clive and Vernon make in coming to their decisions, their problems do not really open out into the sort of weighty philosophical debates that animated “Black Dogs” and “Enduring Love.” Nor, given the predictable outcome of the story, is there the sort of grisly narrative tension that made “The Innocent” so suspenseful to read. Instead, there are the simple pleasures of reading a writer in complete command of his craft, a writer who has managed to toss off this minor entertainment with such authority and aplomb that it has won him the recognition he has so long deserved.
The best I can say about this book is that it has made me want to read other McEwan novels, since it seems like they will be better. Grade: B-