The Cement Garden
by Ian McEwan
published
January 13th 1994
(first published 1978)
by Anchor
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binding
Paperback, 160 pages
isbn
0679750185
(isbn13: 9780679750185)
description
In this tour de force of psychological unease--now a major motion picture starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Sinead Cusack--McEwan excavates the ruins ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1483)
Read in August, 2008
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Read in November, 1998
recommends it for:
people who are not easily put off
Is there a 'natural' state to which children revert when there are no parents around to keep an eye on them, and if so, are we allowed to judge and intervene if that 'natural state' goes against society's ideas of what is natural and acceptable? That is the question raised (but not answered) in The Cement Garden, Ian McEwan's 1978 debut as a novelist. The 138-page novella is about four children who, following the deaths of their parents, decide to go on living together as if nothing had e...more
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Read in July, 2008
I approached Ian McEwan in a way I can best describe as the foolish bandit watching a hooded monk pass down the road. Nobody I knew had really read much of his work, but I heard about him from the literatti. I assumed it would be a good idea to take a look just in case, but I didn't go in expecting much. And just like the bandit gets embarrassed by the quiet monk who was actually a wizened martial arts master, when I found out that the book opens with a kid wanking off while his dad is having a ...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
No one.
A former girlfriend gave me this book (that ought to be an indication of how THAT relationship turned out). I know some people LOVE Ian McEwan, and love this book. In my mind, those people obviously don't know good literature from bad. This is bad. It is a sentimentally pessimistic, grotesquely exhibitionist, disturbingly hollow look at what it would be like to live as a completely fucked-up person in a world that bears almost no resemblance to our own, except for the fact that it has houses, an...more
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Read in February, 2008
I picked up this book at the library because "Atonement" wasn't available. Having seen the movie version of "Atonement" I figured that reading one of Ian McEwan's earlier works would be an ideal way of getting a good idea of what McEwan's writing style is like.
Having now read "The Cement Garden" I must say that whoever continued reading his books were brave people. If I had no idea that his storytelling abilities had improved I would never again read one of his bo...more
Having now read "The Cement Garden" I must say that whoever continued reading his books were brave people. If I had no idea that his storytelling abilities had improved I would never again read one of his bo...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
those not made uneasy by disturbing literature
Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden is, quite clearly not for everyone. There are several severely disturbing incidents throughout the book that might make some readers wonder why they bought it, and where is the nearest bookstore to return it? There are other groups both of a religious/fascist nature (the two are not always mutually exclusive) that might have it pencilled in on their "things to burn" list.
In the hands of a lesser writer, much of this book would seem vulgar. Howe...more
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Read in May, 2008
I like that, while I was reading "Atonement," people kept saying what a great writer of sex scenes McEwan was. "The Cement Garden" sort of confirms this idea and paints it black at the same time.
I finished it three days ago and my memory of it is already starting to fade, so maybe that doesn't bode well, but this was a tiny tour de force and I was fairly thrilled with it all the way along.
A few of the middle bits feel like an aimless study of aimlessness, and the ...more
I finished it three days ago and my memory of it is already starting to fade, so maybe that doesn't bode well, but this was a tiny tour de force and I was fairly thrilled with it all the way along.
A few of the middle bits feel like an aimless study of aimlessness, and the ...more
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Read in January, 2008
"The Cement Garden" is the strangest book I've ever read, and probably the grossest too. The narrator is a disgusting, 15-year-old boy named Jack who lazes around the house, doesn't much care for bathing, and harbors sexual feelings for his older sister. When his mom dies (dad's already dead), it's Jack's idea to bury her in a trunk in the basement with cement. The descriptions of the smell the trunk emitted still make me cringe and overall, as another reviewer said, the book leaves yo...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Camilla by:
the inside flap of a murakami book
So far, I think I feel pretty much the same about all of McEwan's books, this one being no exception. They are dark and clever, fast reads, and seem almost designed to become major motion pictures. 'Atonement' and 'Enduring Love' already are, after all, though 'Black Dogs' might've been more difficult. They are literary books, to be sure, but somehow his characters and their plights rarely seem to capture me. It is as though they are being viewed from behind a pane of glass. (Voyeurism is defini...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Jill by:
Sarah--DAMN YOU!recommends it for: incest-lovers and people who bury their mum in concrete
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Read in July, 2008
This book seems to seriously divide people. And the divide seems to focus less on the book itself, than on other readers. For example, people who love it seem to feel that anyone who doesn’t is a weak, squeamish prude, and people who hate it seem to feel that anyone who likes it is a rotten, pretentious moron. I guess I’m a prude then. This was described to me as being about 4 children on their own with some incest, and from that I was hoping for another “How I Live Now.” Ha. I should ha...more
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Read in July, 2008
This is Ian McEwan's first book, and it shows in some ways -- it's far more explicitly (and sexually) creepy than his more recent novels. But the essential McEwan style -- polished, smooth, but with unexpected word usages -- is already here, as is the essential McEwan plot structure: something terrible happens, decisions are made, and then the ramifications play out for the rest of the novel. I would probably recommend this book mostly to people who are already fans of McEwan's later novels (e.g...more
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A dark novella which is narrated by one of the characters in the book. A story of four orphaned children who at the brink of their adulthood struggle to find their feet in the world. Enduring turmoil at various depths, they resort to gain solace in their own queer ways. Resorting to regression of various aspects, the book tends to bring forth the frightening web of psychological spins that takes the reader through a flurry of emotions of amazement and horror. Just like the cement, the secrets wh...more
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Read in September, 2008
I picked this up at random from the library without even realizing that it was the same author that wrote Atonement. So I can't say that I liked the book, it seemed to me that all the characters were well, jerks for lack of a better word and I felt very little sympathy for them. By the end of the book I just felt icky like I needed to wash out my eyes or something. If you have read this book then I am sure you know what I mean. If I thought that all of his books were similar to this I would neve...more
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Read in October, 2006
I have heard that this book is a "remake" of Les Enfants Terrible, and there are some similarities, but it's definitely a very different story.
The lack of parents is there, but in this case, the children play a very active role in keeping their mother's death a secret. And that secret is at the heart of the story.
There's is a strange veil over this novel, in my opinion. It's difficult to tell when it takes place. If it's meant to be a re-envisioned Les Enfants, it doesn't have the...more
The lack of parents is there, but in this case, the children play a very active role in keeping their mother's death a secret. And that secret is at the heart of the story.
There's is a strange veil over this novel, in my opinion. It's difficult to tell when it takes place. If it's meant to be a re-envisioned Les Enfants, it doesn't have the...more
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Read in June, 2008
I read this book in one day. However, it is only about 155 pages long, but I read it in one day, as a mother of an 18 month old. So there. As for the story, holy incest and masturbation batman. Its an odd one, but very well written. I have read On Chesil Beach by McEwan and very much liked that. I still have Atonement on the list, which needs to be rectified. If you are in the mood for an odd story, read away, you won't be unhappy with this selection. I felt it ended too quickly, and doe...more
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Read in July, 2005
The subject matter may be disturbing and even offensive but I thought this book was excellent; it promotes revulsion from the reader which makes the read far more emotionally challenging. The writing is very compressed and I think the story being so short helps to make it even more hard hitting - there is no room for the reader to breathe!
This book taught me to be challenged by modern fiction and although I love getting absorbed into an easy to read novel, I think it is also important to ke...more
This book taught me to be challenged by modern fiction and although I love getting absorbed into an easy to read novel, I think it is also important to ke...more
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Read in July, 2007
This reminds me of Cocteau's 'Les Enfants Terribles.' It has a similar storyline, although the children of 'Cement Garden' have less of the restlessness of the ones in Cocteau's book. I'd say 'ennui' is an appropriate word for much of the narrator's tone. Still, if you like books with adolescent siblings creating their own little world, with a strong incestuous undercurrent, this is one for you. It's short enough to read in an afternoon, especially if it's one of the long, lazily hot days descri...more
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You know in movies and bullshit how there are all these women unhappy in relationships where the guy isn't impulsive and thoughtful enough? Well I knew my ex really wanted to read this book so I got it for her and left it in her box before class and everyone went "Ahhhhh" at how sweet a gesture it was and she wound up putting a stiletto through my heart anyway. So basically, movies are right about everything else except that. Some nice incest stuff in the book, though -- it's sort o...more
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Read in April, 2008
I gave this one star on my initial reaction because I don't do well with incest (brother on sister). Although, in hindsight (after I've put the book deep down at the bottom of a brown paper shopping bag to be given away at some indeterminate date), this book brings up issues of normality--what does it mean, exactly, to be "normal"? I'd recommend this to anyone with a sticker warning: it has incest in it. If you're bothered by that, don't read it. Then again, I read it, and I manage...more
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