Enduring or Endured Love? (Enduring Love - Ian McEwan)

Member Name: TigerTiger

Product:	Enduring Love - Ian McEwan
Date:	03/01/02 (833 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Vivid descriptions and detailed characterisation, Intelligent interesting read, Worth reading for the opening chapter alone (well nearly!)

Disadvantages: Not a quick read

Ian McEwan is the author of many books and short stories. The book that most people will know him from is the controversial novel ?The Cement Garden?. In addition to this he has also written a number of film scripts.

Enduring Love was published in 1997. It starts with one of the best opening chapters I have ever read. I am not alone in this thought it appears, from the numerous reviews I have read also rave about the opening.

It starts with a man and his wife enjoying a picnic on a summer?s day out. The day is going well and they are enjoying themselves and their surroundings. The scenery is described so as you can almost picture yourself there and if it were any more vivid you could even taste the wine they were drinking. The fabulous descriptions and atmospherics continue throughout the novel, but are set up particularly well in this first chapter. This seemingly idyllic day however takes a dramatic turn when the couple witness and eventually get involved in a hot air balloon tragedy. It is here in the novel, the couple Clarissa and Joe first meet Jed Parry, a man who will profoundly affect their lives.

When I first picked up this novel I had little idea of what it was actually about, I had simply been recommended it by many trusted friends. The title is actually quite ambiguous. As I came to learn though the novel works on two different levels. There is the enduring love that exists between the protagonist Joe Rose and his girlfriend Clarissa, and then secondly there is a love that has to be endured, the obsessive love of Jed Parry, a homosexual who becomes obsessed with Joe. The book follows the evolution of both kinds of love, as Parry steps up his pursuit of Joe. Parry is painted as a sinister, slightly mad person for sure. Even in the first chapter he doesn?t seem to be what he appears. The character development in ?Enduring Love? is fabulous and with vivid descriptions we gain insight and understanding of all three central char
acters.

Both Clarissa and Joe have academic backgrounds and as an academic I found that interesting. Aside from the central obsession and stalking plot there are academic scientific discussions that I found interesting. You could actually learn something from this novel.

?Enduring Love? is definitely a clever book and does need careful attention. Frivolous page turner this is not. Indeed I read books very quickly and on a regular basis. However, this was more of a slow read, one that keeps your attention and makes you think a great deal. Throughout the novel I was left with a real uneasiness and to me that signals that the author has succeeded.

I don?t find books that impress me as much as this one often. I read every kind of fiction and yet this stands out as one of the more memorable books I have read. The irony is that this book had stood on my bookshelf for over 3 years waiting to be read.

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