The Child in Time
by Ian McEwan
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Read in July, 2000
Ian McEwan, THE CHILD IN TIME (Penguin, 1987)
Something happened to a number of bang-up in-for-the-kill horror writers in the early to mid eighties. I'm still trying to figure out what. Patrick McGrath, who'd given the world some of its most wonderfully gut-wrenching tales in _Blood and Water_, started writing slick, witty novels that came to just this side of horror. Clive Barker started writing fantasy. Anne Rivers Siddons gave us one of the definitive modern haunted house novels and then sta...more
Something happened to a number of bang-up in-for-the-kill horror writers in the early to mid eighties. I'm still trying to figure out what. Patrick McGrath, who'd given the world some of its most wonderfully gut-wrenching tales in _Blood and Water_, started writing slick, witty novels that came to just this side of horror. Clive Barker started writing fantasy. Anne Rivers Siddons gave us one of the definitive modern haunted house novels and then sta...more
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Read in May, 2008
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This was my second Ian McEwan novel, this first being Atonement. I can't say I enjoyed this nearly as much as that novel. Ironically, the first thing I noticed about this novel is the thing I enjoyed most about it. McEwan's writing is fluid and enjoyable. He has a way with words that is both simple and insightful. Perhaps the thing he does best is illuminate the simple actions that we all do (putting our hands in our pockets and pulling them right back out when we find ourselves in a...more
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Read in November, 2007
Two and a half stars is probably better because McEwan is a fantastic writer, but I just could not get into this book. It came highly recommended, and, at times, I could see its merit. But where the other McEwans I've read ( Atonement and On Chesil Beach) rang true, this one just didn't. Aside from the (not a spoiler!) kidnapping, all the other Big Events didn't seem important. Or realistic...more
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3 comments
recommends it for:
Anglophiles, depressives
I always have the same reaction to McEwan's books: why does an author who can create passages about human disturbance and misery that ring so true insist upon adding elements into every novel that ring so false? Setting aside his formulaic plotting (barely plausible but not entirely ridiculous tragedy occurs, human relationships suffer - or don't - in the aftermath), why does McEwan throw in government ministers who wear short pants and freeze to death; or possibly-magical religious fanatics; or...more
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Read in February, 2008
I sped through the first 75 pages and was really wrapped up in the story of the dad who lost his young daughter. But then the story got weird... the thing at the Olympics, the 1984-esque homelessess stuff, the friend who reverts to childhood and climbs trees, and the secretly gay prime minister.... It was an interesting read, to be sure, but I felt like it took me down obscure unrealistic paths that I would rather not have seen in the book. And the ending really let me down. I found it hard t...more
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This is the saddest book I've ever read. And I'm reread it about 20 times, and never fail to sob because it's just the most amazing story. A family suffers a horrible loss. Their only child is snatched in a supermarket, never to be seen again. The couple fall apart, and as they are suffering, so is England's political interest in the country's educational institutions. The juxtaposition between the government's difficulties and the couple's falling apart is painfully difficult to read.
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
young adults, adults
This is another book by Ian McEwan which is impossible to put down. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed reading his book 'Enduring Love', it was enjoyable in a different way and involved the reader's emotions and empathy throughout.
McEwan is a superb writer, and one of the best for creating and developing situations, characters and scenarios you could imagine meeting or knowing in the real world. He really puts his audience in the shoes of his characters.
McEwan is a superb writer, and one of the best for creating and developing situations, characters and scenarios you could imagine meeting or knowing in the real world. He really puts his audience in the shoes of his characters.
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
The White Rabbit
Again, very very good. He has such an eye for the detail of human emotions and human emotional needs. I liked the analysis of Time as a concept as it relates to human needs but I felt at some points this was a bit too 'thorough', and a little blunt in the case of his erstwhile publisher regressing to live in a treehouse with short trousers and a catapult in his pocket. But now I feel churlish: this, like all of McEwan's novels, is exceptionally good.
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Read in January, 2006
This book was more difficult to read than some of McEwan's other books, due to its disturbing and depressing subject matter. The passages about Stephen's committee, frankly, bored me, though I know they served a literary purpose. The resolution of the plot line involving Stephen's boss startled me. But the resolution between Stephen and his estranged wife was transcendent. I was very surprised that such a dark book could end so satisfyingly.
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Read in September, 2007
Ian McEwan continues to amaze me with his writing. Whenever I read one of his books I feel like I've stepped inside the character's head. And in the case of Stephen Lewis - it was heartwrenching at times. But for all the emotion in this book, I felt like something was missing. I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as I did Atonement, Enduring Love and Saturday.
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Read in May, 2007
I read this over the summer. The way McEwan describes things really appeals to me. The story is good with some bizarre though strangely believable characters. Mum had recommended this to me after I'd said I want to read something like the wasp factory - I still don't know why I was given this one to read but I'm greatful I was!
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To lose someone is painful... to lose two people is pure tragedy. Can the human heart be mended? Can two people, one of whom blames the other for a 'lost' child, ever truly exist together in harmony again? This is explored in-depth throughout the story... moving, depressing... but with a hint of hope at the end.
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Read in July, 2007
This was entirely unpredictable, well-crafted and intense: until the ending. I feel like the author was struggling himself -- and so he just flipped a coin to decide whether it would be happy or sad. A complex, spiraling plot suddenly plops in "and then they lived happily ever after." Gratifying, and not.
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Read in February, 2008
Not my favorite Ian McEwen, though it started off great (as usual) and I burned through it pretty quickly. Very weird ending, and the way the plot tied together -- not very compelling. I love his writing, though -- he was as clear, concise and involving as ever.
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
adults
This was another short book from Ian McEwan, but again packed with good stuff. There's lots of sadness and despair in this novel, as a couple whose child has been kidnapped grieves both separately and together. The ending is quite worth the wait! Good stuff.
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
Romantics
I love Ian McEwan, but this is probably my favorite book by him. It's so touching and sad at the same time. It explores themes of childhood, grief, loss, healing, forgiveness. . . I just think it's wonderful. And I love the ending.
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Read in July, 2007
Liked it, didn't love it. That said, I devoured the last two-thirds of it, exhausted but unable to put it down - it read really quickly. The Charles sections creeped me out to the point that I turned on extra lights.
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Read in January, 2005
Perhaps I shouldn't rate a novel that I couldn't finish. Very dense, hard to get into, and just didn't grab me at all. McEwan is very hit-or-miss for me. This was a miss, but the hits make it all worthwhile.
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recommends it for:
anybody who's ever lost a child (literally or figuratively)
I read this book years ago and I still think about it sometimes. I either love Ian McEwan books or hate them, and this one's a winner. I love the subplot about the narrator's children's book, Lemonade.
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