What to read: Ian McEwan

What to read if you love Ian McEwan.






1. Jonathan Franzen

I love the way that McEwan pushes ideas and thoughts almost to the point where the reader becomes uncomfortable. If you agree with me, then Franzen is the man for you.

Purity, which focuses on Purity "Pip" Tyler, a cynical and untrusting young woman who knows nothing about her parents except that her mother's real name isn't true, and who is saddled with student debt and stuck in a dead-end job, is an exploration of innocence, secrets, and the cost of freedom. And, just to warn you, this book is full of messed-up characters.

2. Margaret Atwood

If what you enjoy most about McEwan is his exploration of powerful themes, which blows you away and then leaves you wondering what on earth you've just read, I'd recommend Atwood.

This novella is told from the perspective of an unnamed protagonist who returns to the remote island of her childhood, with her lover and two friends, to investigate the disappearance of her father. In Surfacing, Atwood explores personal, national, and gendered identity; the pressure of society; grief and loss; isolation and separation; and memory and language, and she does so in exquisite prose.

3. Graham Moore

If what actually draws you to McEwan is his meticulous research and knowledgeable insight, delivered in a page-turning piece of fiction, try giving Moore a go.

In the perfect balance between fact and fiction, The Last Days of Night tells the story of Paul Westinghouse, a 26 year-old lawyer. Edison has won the race to the patent office for the lightbulb, and is now suing his only remaining rival, George Westinghouse, Paul's first and only client, for one billion dollars. It only takes that first meeting with Edison for Paul to realise that he is out of his depth. However, there is one thing which Paul shares with Edison: a compulsion to win at all costs.

4. Kazuo Ishiguro

If you most enjoy McEwan's complex, not necessarily likeable, characters, and his penchant for endings which are simultaneously solved and unsolved, I'd recommend Ishiguro.

Christopher Banks, the protagonist of When We Were Orphans, has dedicated his life to detective work but behind his successes lies one unsolved mystery: the disappearance of his parents when he was a small boy living in the International Settlement in Shanghai. 'When we were orphans' moves between England and China in the inter-war period, encompassing the turbulence and political anxieties of the time, and the crumbling certainties of a Britain deeply involved in the opium trade in the East.

5. Philip Larkin

If you read McEwan for his reflective exploration of everyday, but perhaps somewhat uncomfortable, issues, with a touch of humour, you won't be disappointed by Larkin.

McEwan cited Larkin as one of the influences behind his own work, saying that "His poems are part of my mental furniture."


Who would you add to (or remove from) this list? And what is it that you love about Ian McEwan's novels?