LJB's review
The Child in Time
by Ian McEwan
LJB's review
The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
LJB's review
rating:
recommended 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 time-traveling, nearly aborted sons (although you gotta give him credit for spoofing himself in _Saturday_ for that misguided magical realism in _Child in Time_)?
McEwan is NOT a magical realist - his realism is too sharp and creditable while his magic is too clumsy and inane. So why disrupt wrenching, moving, difficult stories about the human condition with such silliness?
McEwan is NOT a magical realist - his realism is too sharp and creditable while his magic is too clumsy and inane. So why disrupt wrenching, moving, difficult stories about the human condition with such silliness?
