Its not a love story! (Enduring Love - Ian McEwan)

Member Name: Rach24

Product:	Enduring Love - Ian McEwan
Date:	18/05/01 (676 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Action packed, gives the reader the chance to be the detective, full of suspense

Disadvantages: weighted down with scientific knowledge

This book has everything,from love to action to comedy. McEwan evidently has a strange imagination but this novel is definately engrossing. McEwan manages to create suspense from the moment you pick up the book, to the second that you put it down. The reader follows the character of a middle class scientist called Joe as he tries to recover after witnessing a ballooning accident. The reader follows Joe through feelings of guilt, a worrying stalker and relationship pressures.McEwan teases his readers, delivering small bits of the plot at a time,giving the book the feel of a dete
ctive story, in which the reader takes on the persona of the detective. Although the novel is written for the most part with Joe as the narrator, certain chapters are written from the viewpoint of the stalker and also Joe's partner, to give the reader more clues. Within the book there is a definate conflict between science and literature. The novel also deals with different forms of love, including that of obsession. However, despite the title, Enduring Love is not a conventional love story. Conventional love stories are romantic and portray couples without arguments or problems. 'Enduring Love' shatters this image. We see betrayal, a homosexual obsession and distrust within this novel. It is a thriller to the end! However, it is weighted down by a huge amount of scientific knowledge which is delivered by the main character, Joe. Other than this, Enduring Love is not to be missed!

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