Aug 30, 2016 04:22 PM
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It is difficult to categorize this book. I picked this up as I had read Atonement by Ian McEwan and thought this would be another thriller, I was not disappointed, yet I also feel that this is a searing examination of the morals of our times, the general social structure, the relationship between man and woman, friends and of course romantic liasions gone wrong. It works on so many different levels, it is impossible to fit it into one mould. And that is where Ian McEwan wins. It is not difficult to see why he won the Booker Prize in 1998.
Without giving the plot away, let me just briefly say that there are 3 main characters and the story does not follow a singular timeline. Rather it jumps all over the place, looking at their actions, their feelings for each other, their friendship and their enmity, all of this coming to a head in the end. The way even regular conversations have been etched is worthwhile to read as it glues the readers and does not let us go. Ian McEwan has the ability to make anything interesting, even a simple'hello' carries a lot of weight in his world. I recommend this to any reader as a starting point in the journey to discover Ian McEwan as an author and ofcourse Atonement.
