Krissa's review of Amsterdam
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Okay, I might have overdosed on McEwan, or, it was one of those Law of Diminishing Return scenarios where you go from a writer's best work to his least, OR, it might be McEwan has really just been getting steadily better since he won the Booker, but I can say that I didn't love this book.
Oddly enough, the thing I might have deplored in his later novels - how small, intimate the action was - was buoyed up by McEwan's superb language and insight. And in this one, it was the opposite. There was plenty of action. It's just that I didn't really enjoy any of it, or care about the intimacies of his characters' thoughts or feelings.
Both main characters, Vernon and Clive, were somewhat despicable without anything to enjoy about their depravity. There was almost too much action too neatly wrapped up, too foreshadowed, too forced. I was, frankly, stunned that this won the Booker in 98.
To be fair, there were some truly inspired moments - the choice Clive makes on his walk, the way the...more
Oddly enough, the thing I might have deplored in his later novels - how small, intimate the action was - was buoyed up by McEwan's superb language and insight. And in this one, it was the opposite. There was plenty of action. It's just that I didn't really enjoy any of it, or care about the intimacies of his characters' thoughts or feelings.
Both main characters, Vernon and Clive, were somewhat despicable without anything to enjoy about their depravity. There was almost too much action too neatly wrapped up, too foreshadowed, too forced. I was, frankly, stunned that this won the Booker in 98.
To be fair, there were some truly inspired moments - the choice Clive makes on his walk, the way the...more
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