First Love, Last Rites is the first published work of Ian McEwan and the first collection of his short stories to win the Somerset Maugham award. I must say I prefer the work of the more mature McEwan. This collection of stories is extremely disturbing and I had to take a break after the third story (a first for me for a McEwan book). Why can't his characters be permitted to enjoy a perfect summer? I could barely stifle a scream of revulsion at the close of many of the stories. In them you find a steady supply of the grotesque, dysfunctional, perverse, depraved. There is, however, the unmistakable touch of a compelling story teller. In "The Last Day of Summer" and "Butterflies", the unexpected and startling unravelling of horror was superbly staged. I kept reading even though I wanted so much to discontinue. Another book I can read only once.