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The Innocent
Psychological thriller set in Berlin during the Cold War, based on an actual (but little known) incident which tells of the secret tunnel under the Soviet sector which the British and Americans built in 1954 to gain access to the Russians' communication system. The protagonist, Leonard Marnham, is a 25-year-old, naive, unsophisticated English post office technician who is astonished and alarmed to find himself involved in a top-secret operation. At the same time that he loses his political innocence, Leonard experiences his sexual initiation in a clandestine affair with a German divorcee five years his senior. As his two secret worlds come together, events develop into a gruesome nightmare, building to a searing, unforgettable scene of surrealist intensity in which Leonard and his lover try to conceal evidence of a murder. Acting to save himself from a prison sentence, Leonard desperately performs an act of espionage whose ironic consequences resonate down the years to a twister of an ending. Though its plot rivals any thriller in narrative tension, this novel is also a character study--of a young man coming of age in bizarre circumstances, and of differences in national character: the gentlemanly Brits, all decorum and civility; the brash, impatient Americans; the cynical Germans. McEwan's neat, tensile prose raises this book to the highest level of the genre.
226 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 1990
About the author
Ian McEwan
150 books15.3k followersIan McEwan studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1970 and later received his MA degree in English Literature at the University of East Anglia.
McEwan's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; the Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and the Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999. He has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded a CBE in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday and his novel On Chesil Beach was named Galaxy Book of the Year at the 2008 British Book Awards where McEwan was also named Reader's Digest Author of the Year.
McEwan lives in London.
McEwan's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; the Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and the Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999. He has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded a CBE in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday and his novel On Chesil Beach was named Galaxy Book of the Year at the 2008 British Book Awards where McEwan was also named Reader's Digest Author of the Year.
McEwan lives in London.
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July 20, 2021
L’AMORE FATALE
Nella maldestra trasposizione cinemtatografica del 1993, firmata da John Schlesinger – capace di film ben migliori – Maria è interpretata da Isabella Rossellini, che personalmente non ho mai trovato brava, tutt’altro, spesso imbarazzante.
Non c’è alcun dubbio che il McEwan che preferisco è quello degli inizi, quello degli anni Settanta e Ottanta: e probabilmente questo è il suo ultimo libro che mi abbia davvero colpito (pubblicato nel 1990). Poi, ha conservato il suo talento, la sua fluidità, il suo stile limpido, la sua capacità di creare strutture praticamente perfette, il suo gusto per temi non proprio mainstream, la sua ironia (magari col tempo progressivamente meno black), e la sua preparazione storico-scientifica basata su ricerche e documentazione accurate: ma è come se fosse invecchiato “imborghesendosi”, imbolsendosi, rinunciando agli shock, alle storie estreme. Rinunciando a quel soprannome così azzeccato, Ian MacAbre.
E questo The Innocent, chissà mai perché diventato da noi Lettera a Berlino, oltre a essere il suo ultimo romanzo che mi abbia davvero colpito, è anche il mio preferito. Perfino più di Bambini nel tempo (che nell’originale è al singolare, un solo bambino, Child in Time, giustamente, visto che è il figlio della coppia protagonista che sparisce all’improvviso).
E lui, Leonard, il protagonista inglese è interpretato dall’attore e futuro regista americano Campbell Scott.
Spy story d’autore, The Innocent - Lettera a Berlino è ambientata nella Berlino divisa della Guerra Fredda. Per la precisione, McEwan ambienta la sua storia a metà degli anni Cinquanta. E non può fare altrimenti, perché racconta un’operazione di spionaggio che è un fatto vero e storico: la costruzione di un tunnel sotterraneo che arrivi nella zona sovietica, sotto i piedi di russi e tedeschi dell’est, per poter intercettare le linee di comunicazione sovietiche (l’operazione Gold, condotta dalle agenzie di spionaggio britannica e americane, MI6 e CIA).
Gli inglesi sono rappresentati da Leonard, un venticinquenne che è timido e impacciato come un adolescente. A Berlino, però, conosce una donna, trova l’amore, vive la sua educazione sentimentale, diventa uomo.
Lei, Maria, ha qualche anno più di lui, un matrimonio alle spalle, è bella, come possono esserlo solo le donne di Berlino, è disinvolta e libera. Tra loro è subito Attrazione fatale – Enduring Love, anticipando il titolo di un altro romanzo di McEwan che uscirà sette anni dopo questo.
Mentre Glass, l’agente della CIA, dunque americano, è interpretato dall’attore british Anthony Hopkins.
Ma l’ex marito di Maria, Otto, non molla, la perseguita, è un ubriacone, è violento.
Leonard perde la sua innocenza, quella cui si riferisce il titolo originale, oltre che perdere la sua verginità.
Circa trent’anni dopo (1987), un po’ in anticipo rispetto al crollo del muro, torna a Berlino. Non ha più visto Maria da allora. Si porta dietro una lettera che lei gli ha scritto dall’America dove è emigrata (proprio come ha fatto la mia Maria di Berlino): il testo della lettera chiarisce i fatti di trent’anni prima, quella scena granguignolesca di “frammentazione dell’io”, più specificamente di frammentazione di un corpo, che McEwan dilata in quello che qualcuno definisce un effetto ralenti.
Ma nonostante lo splatter, il macabro, le mani che grondano sangue (e anche la sega elettrica diventa ben rossa), a me è sembrata prima di tutto una storia d’amore. D’amore pieno di passione. Di quegli amori che sarebbero potuti (e dovuti) durare per sempre: ma il destino si è messo di traverso. Ed entrambi, sia lui che lei, sono pieni di rimpianto. Ma ormai è tardi, non si possono più incollare i lembi dilaniati del tempo.
1989
Nella maldestra trasposizione cinemtatografica del 1993, firmata da John Schlesinger – capace di film ben migliori – Maria è interpretata da Isabella Rossellini, che personalmente non ho mai trovato brava, tutt’altro, spesso imbarazzante.
Non c’è alcun dubbio che il McEwan che preferisco è quello degli inizi, quello degli anni Settanta e Ottanta: e probabilmente questo è il suo ultimo libro che mi abbia davvero colpito (pubblicato nel 1990). Poi, ha conservato il suo talento, la sua fluidità, il suo stile limpido, la sua capacità di creare strutture praticamente perfette, il suo gusto per temi non proprio mainstream, la sua ironia (magari col tempo progressivamente meno black), e la sua preparazione storico-scientifica basata su ricerche e documentazione accurate: ma è come se fosse invecchiato “imborghesendosi”, imbolsendosi, rinunciando agli shock, alle storie estreme. Rinunciando a quel soprannome così azzeccato, Ian MacAbre.
E questo The Innocent, chissà mai perché diventato da noi Lettera a Berlino, oltre a essere il suo ultimo romanzo che mi abbia davvero colpito, è anche il mio preferito. Perfino più di Bambini nel tempo (che nell’originale è al singolare, un solo bambino, Child in Time, giustamente, visto che è il figlio della coppia protagonista che sparisce all’improvviso).
E lui, Leonard, il protagonista inglese è interpretato dall’attore e futuro regista americano Campbell Scott.
Spy story d’autore, The Innocent - Lettera a Berlino è ambientata nella Berlino divisa della Guerra Fredda. Per la precisione, McEwan ambienta la sua storia a metà degli anni Cinquanta. E non può fare altrimenti, perché racconta un’operazione di spionaggio che è un fatto vero e storico: la costruzione di un tunnel sotterraneo che arrivi nella zona sovietica, sotto i piedi di russi e tedeschi dell’est, per poter intercettare le linee di comunicazione sovietiche (l’operazione Gold, condotta dalle agenzie di spionaggio britannica e americane, MI6 e CIA).
Gli inglesi sono rappresentati da Leonard, un venticinquenne che è timido e impacciato come un adolescente. A Berlino, però, conosce una donna, trova l’amore, vive la sua educazione sentimentale, diventa uomo.
Lei, Maria, ha qualche anno più di lui, un matrimonio alle spalle, è bella, come possono esserlo solo le donne di Berlino, è disinvolta e libera. Tra loro è subito Attrazione fatale – Enduring Love, anticipando il titolo di un altro romanzo di McEwan che uscirà sette anni dopo questo.
Mentre Glass, l’agente della CIA, dunque americano, è interpretato dall’attore british Anthony Hopkins.
Ma l’ex marito di Maria, Otto, non molla, la perseguita, è un ubriacone, è violento.
Leonard perde la sua innocenza, quella cui si riferisce il titolo originale, oltre che perdere la sua verginità.
Circa trent’anni dopo (1987), un po’ in anticipo rispetto al crollo del muro, torna a Berlino. Non ha più visto Maria da allora. Si porta dietro una lettera che lei gli ha scritto dall’America dove è emigrata (proprio come ha fatto la mia Maria di Berlino): il testo della lettera chiarisce i fatti di trent’anni prima, quella scena granguignolesca di “frammentazione dell’io”, più specificamente di frammentazione di un corpo, che McEwan dilata in quello che qualcuno definisce un effetto ralenti.
Ma nonostante lo splatter, il macabro, le mani che grondano sangue (e anche la sega elettrica diventa ben rossa), a me è sembrata prima di tutto una storia d’amore. D’amore pieno di passione. Di quegli amori che sarebbero potuti (e dovuti) durare per sempre: ma il destino si è messo di traverso. Ed entrambi, sia lui che lei, sono pieni di rimpianto. Ma ormai è tardi, non si possono più incollare i lembi dilaniati del tempo.
1989
December 4, 2013
This is an odd book which I thoroughly enjoyed. Set in mid 1950's Berlin it is the story of a young Englishman assigned to a joint British-American surveillance team. The mistrust and dislike of allies and comrades in arms is quietly stated but undeniable and there were tongue in cheek descriptions by McEwan of the wonderfully contorted levels of security which purportedly existed so as to preserve the safety and secrecy of the work and yet seemed just to encourage people to seek desperately to outrank and out-secret one another in some sort of Berlin equivalent of Stag rutting.
Leonard Marnham, the hero, begins to enjoy and luxuriate in his new found position not least in the relationship that he forms with a lovely local girl. All seems set fair and the story seems to be pootling along in one fairly straightforward direction with nods and glances towards little offshoot details which the reader thinks are intriguing but not significant and then it all goes horribly wrong and Marnham's secure and well ordered life collapses.
McEwan's description of the lengths to which Marnham is prepared to go to safeguard his position is edge of the seat narrative. The way in which the lovely cosiness of Leonard and Maria is so dramatically damaged is brilliantly described. There is humour and wit and some excellent, simple descriptions at the start of the book but it is about halfway through that there is a startling change of tone brought about by one simple sentence. (If you read the book I would be fascinated if you might be struck by the same sentence but maybe the things that strike us are too personal, too linked to who we are at the time of reading for there to be such universal response).
Nevertheless everything changes and the book morphs from a simple romance/spy/intrigue/innocent abroad to something much more sinister and unsettling. The movement is not jarring though it is dramatic but from that moment all changes and every relationship is remoulded and remade. The book is relatively short and there is a Postscript which perfectly completes the novel. At first reading I thought it might be a bit too perfect and rounded but no, McEwan, in my opinion, pitches it wonderfully.
A great book, well worth a delve into. And I closed the covers with a satisfied heart.
Leonard Marnham, the hero, begins to enjoy and luxuriate in his new found position not least in the relationship that he forms with a lovely local girl. All seems set fair and the story seems to be pootling along in one fairly straightforward direction with nods and glances towards little offshoot details which the reader thinks are intriguing but not significant and then it all goes horribly wrong and Marnham's secure and well ordered life collapses.
McEwan's description of the lengths to which Marnham is prepared to go to safeguard his position is edge of the seat narrative. The way in which the lovely cosiness of Leonard and Maria is so dramatically damaged is brilliantly described. There is humour and wit and some excellent, simple descriptions at the start of the book but it is about halfway through that there is a startling change of tone brought about by one simple sentence. (If you read the book I would be fascinated if you might be struck by the same sentence but maybe the things that strike us are too personal, too linked to who we are at the time of reading for there to be such universal response).
Nevertheless everything changes and the book morphs from a simple romance/spy/intrigue/innocent abroad to something much more sinister and unsettling. The movement is not jarring though it is dramatic but from that moment all changes and every relationship is remoulded and remade. The book is relatively short and there is a Postscript which perfectly completes the novel. At first reading I thought it might be a bit too perfect and rounded but no, McEwan, in my opinion, pitches it wonderfully.
A great book, well worth a delve into. And I closed the covers with a satisfied heart.
December 3, 2018
My #librarianhusband recommended this book, plus it was one of only two Ian McEwan's I haven't read and I'm having a bit of a completest moment, so I took it down from our shelves. My version was published in 2001 and quite likely my husband read it then. 'It's about spies, I think,' he said. 'In Berlin. I think I enjoyed it.'
Well, it is about a kind of useless spy / telephone engineer called Leonard - the innocent of the title. Leonard works on a secret tunnel, that is under the Russian territory in Berlin in 1955. I loved the writing and I was intrigued by Leonard. La, la, la, just happily reading along about Leonard's new relationship with Maria, and then, WHOA! something came and bashed me over the head, and the book goes off in a completely different direction, almost horror, or something so dreadful and tense, that I had that queasy feeling as I was reading it, and wished I'd not eaten my breakfast. Amazing and awful.
I told my #librarianhusband about it - the thing that happens - and he said he'd forgotten about it completely. How?! 'I remember it as a spy novel,' he said. 'Quite a good one, but definitely spies.'
Well, it is about a kind of useless spy / telephone engineer called Leonard - the innocent of the title. Leonard works on a secret tunnel, that is under the Russian territory in Berlin in 1955. I loved the writing and I was intrigued by Leonard. La, la, la, just happily reading along about Leonard's new relationship with Maria, and then, WHOA! something came and bashed me over the head, and the book goes off in a completely different direction, almost horror, or something so dreadful and tense, that I had that queasy feeling as I was reading it, and wished I'd not eaten my breakfast. Amazing and awful.
I told my #librarianhusband about it - the thing that happens - and he said he'd forgotten about it completely. How?! 'I remember it as a spy novel,' he said. 'Quite a good one, but definitely spies.'
July 20, 2021
..e invece non lo è proprio per niente. Ian McEwan è uno degli scrittori della lista di coloro che vorrei conoscere meglio, ma che allo stesso tempo faccio fatica ad inquadrare. Ho già letto Espiazione che mi è piaciuto molto ma a livello intellettuale, soprattutto per i temi proposti, senza appassionarmi davvero. Spulciando nella sua bibliografia trovo spy stories, storie d'amore e di formazione, raccolte di racconti...ho scelto questo soprattutto per l'ambientazione.
La caduta della Germania nazista ed il ruolo delle due Germanie nella conseguente guerra fredda sono un tema che mi intriga assai, ed un romanzo che si ambienta a Berlino negli anni cinquanta, che tratta di una guerra di spie, per di più scritto da un autore che mi interessa conoscere meglio: non potevo non affrontarlo.
Invece niente. Non è né un romanzo storico (la guerra fredda rimane sullo sfondo, la stessa distruzione di Berlino echeggia da lontano come un generico caos post apocalittico, e non irrompe nella storia in tutta la sua drammaticità), e neppure una spy story (veniamo a sapere assai poco dell'organizzazione e del modo di procedere dei servizi segreti alleati nei primi anni della guerra fredda). Con mia grande sorpresa è un romanzo d'amore e di formazione.
Il protagonista Leonard Marnham, rampollo cresciuto nella bambagia della borghesia inglese, è coinvolto suo malgrado in un'operazione segreta in un mondo troppo più grande di lui: verrà suo malgrado costretto a scelte che evidenzieranno in modo drammatico la sua immaturità, e che condurranno a disastri che solo gli ufficiali russi ed americani (a livello politico) ed il tempo ( a livello sentimentale) riusciranno ad arginare.
L' inadeguatezza con la quale Leonard vive la prima avventura sentimentale della sua vita mi ha colpito molto. Sono ragionamenti da preadolescenti messi nella testa di un uomo adulto, un machismo gretto e becero, una supponenza nei confronti della partner che sono tanto più inquietanti quanti si è consapevoli che in ogni uomo è presente la tentazione di ragionare in questo modo. Le conseguenze non possono che essere disastrose.
Lo stesso dicasi per la scarsissima serietà, l'ossessione compulsiva, il pressapochismo con cui l'ufficiale Marnham affronta le colossali responsabilità di un ufficiale a Berlino negli anni cinquanta. Che il futuro del mondo sia stato gestito in modo tanto goffo da persone tanto inadeguate è spaventoso a pensarci, e appare realistico che russi ed americani, tanto nemici a quei tempi, fossero in realtà così tacitamente (tacitamente: sicuri?) concordi e coordinati nel farsi fintamente ingannare in modo che tali e tanti errori non avessero conseguenze.
La scrittura è semplice e piana, ma ancora acerba. Pur mancando una complessità lessicale e sintattica, alle volte ho dovuto rileggere la pagina per capire chi stesse parlando. Il McEwan di Espiazione è davvero tutta un'altra cosa.
Le pagine che raccontano di un Leonard ormai vecchio in contemplazione del Muro, valgono da sole l'intero libro. La maturità del pensiero, il senso di responsabilità, la consapevolezza di sé ci presentano un personaggio così diverso ma allo stesso tempo così compatibile col precedente da lasciare stupiti. Non meraviglia che "lettera a Berlino" sia stato un libro di successo, soprattutto per questo.
Ma per conoscere la Berlino del Crepuscolo degli Dei, per capire gli anni della Guerra penso che dovrò rivolgermi altrove.
La caduta della Germania nazista ed il ruolo delle due Germanie nella conseguente guerra fredda sono un tema che mi intriga assai, ed un romanzo che si ambienta a Berlino negli anni cinquanta, che tratta di una guerra di spie, per di più scritto da un autore che mi interessa conoscere meglio: non potevo non affrontarlo.
Invece niente. Non è né un romanzo storico (la guerra fredda rimane sullo sfondo, la stessa distruzione di Berlino echeggia da lontano come un generico caos post apocalittico, e non irrompe nella storia in tutta la sua drammaticità), e neppure una spy story (veniamo a sapere assai poco dell'organizzazione e del modo di procedere dei servizi segreti alleati nei primi anni della guerra fredda). Con mia grande sorpresa è un romanzo d'amore e di formazione.
Il protagonista Leonard Marnham, rampollo cresciuto nella bambagia della borghesia inglese, è coinvolto suo malgrado in un'operazione segreta in un mondo troppo più grande di lui: verrà suo malgrado costretto a scelte che evidenzieranno in modo drammatico la sua immaturità, e che condurranno a disastri che solo gli ufficiali russi ed americani (a livello politico) ed il tempo ( a livello sentimentale) riusciranno ad arginare.
L' inadeguatezza con la quale Leonard vive la prima avventura sentimentale della sua vita mi ha colpito molto. Sono ragionamenti da preadolescenti messi nella testa di un uomo adulto, un machismo gretto e becero, una supponenza nei confronti della partner che sono tanto più inquietanti quanti si è consapevoli che in ogni uomo è presente la tentazione di ragionare in questo modo. Le conseguenze non possono che essere disastrose.
Lo stesso dicasi per la scarsissima serietà, l'ossessione compulsiva, il pressapochismo con cui l'ufficiale Marnham affronta le colossali responsabilità di un ufficiale a Berlino negli anni cinquanta. Che il futuro del mondo sia stato gestito in modo tanto goffo da persone tanto inadeguate è spaventoso a pensarci, e appare realistico che russi ed americani, tanto nemici a quei tempi, fossero in realtà così tacitamente (tacitamente: sicuri?) concordi e coordinati nel farsi fintamente ingannare in modo che tali e tanti errori non avessero conseguenze.
La scrittura è semplice e piana, ma ancora acerba. Pur mancando una complessità lessicale e sintattica, alle volte ho dovuto rileggere la pagina per capire chi stesse parlando. Il McEwan di Espiazione è davvero tutta un'altra cosa.
Le pagine che raccontano di un Leonard ormai vecchio in contemplazione del Muro, valgono da sole l'intero libro. La maturità del pensiero, il senso di responsabilità, la consapevolezza di sé ci presentano un personaggio così diverso ma allo stesso tempo così compatibile col precedente da lasciare stupiti. Non meraviglia che "lettera a Berlino" sia stato un libro di successo, soprattutto per questo.
Ma per conoscere la Berlino del Crepuscolo degli Dei, per capire gli anni della Guerra penso che dovrò rivolgermi altrove.
February 2, 2009
'To innocence. And to Anglo-German co-operation.'
This is what Leonard, a stuffy English engineer who has been sent to post-war, pre-wall Berlin to assist in an attempt to tap Soviet landlines, and Maria, a mysterious German divorcee who initiates him in the art of love, say to each other at their engagement party. Just a few pages later, they lose their innocence in the most gruesome fashion imaginable, after which Anglo-German co-operation takes a back seat and confusion and paranoia take over. What ensues is one of the most filmic and vivid descriptions of a descent into nightmare in all of English literature -- eighty pages of wall-to-wall gore, horror and fatigue-induced bad decisions and betrayals, all the way to the surprise ending. It is these eighty pages which elevate what could have been a dullish spy novel into an Ian McEwan masterpiece.
For make no mistake about it, The Innocent (first published in 1990) is a McEwan masterpiece. It may stand out in his oeuvre for being a spy novel (or at least an attempt at one), but it bears all the hallmarks of the McEwan classic: a dark and twisted love story, a sexual encounter with far-reaching consequences, tremendous psychological insight, great descriptive power and a powerful sense of impending doom. Right from the get-go, one has the sense that something is going to go horribly wrong, and when it finally does around page 130 or so, the effect is startling and spell-binding. Such is the hypnotic quality of the writing in the second half of the book that I stayed up late at night to be able to finish it despite some pretty hefty jet lag. I just had to know how the story ended, and I can't think of a greater compliment to an author than that.
As a spy novel, The Innocent may disappoint fans of the genre. While there is definitely some second-guessing of the characters' identities (Maria, for instance, remains a shady character right until the last few pages), the book doesn't feature any gadgets, spectacular chases or double crosses, or other things we have come to associate with the spy novel. And while the Berlin setting and the Cold War atmosphere are well drawn (at times the mood is reminiscent of The Third Man, which is a good thing in my book), the book is less about political games and intrigue than it is about first love, the joys and hardships of making love in a cold house, sexual awakening, obsession, possessiveness and jealousy. It's a tale of love found and lost, and of innocence lost and found again (to some extent), and as such it's quite brilliant -- up there with McEwan's more famous works. If it hadn't been for the somewhat slow start and the rather pat ending, I would have given it five stars.
This is what Leonard, a stuffy English engineer who has been sent to post-war, pre-wall Berlin to assist in an attempt to tap Soviet landlines, and Maria, a mysterious German divorcee who initiates him in the art of love, say to each other at their engagement party. Just a few pages later, they lose their innocence in the most gruesome fashion imaginable, after which Anglo-German co-operation takes a back seat and confusion and paranoia take over. What ensues is one of the most filmic and vivid descriptions of a descent into nightmare in all of English literature -- eighty pages of wall-to-wall gore, horror and fatigue-induced bad decisions and betrayals, all the way to the surprise ending. It is these eighty pages which elevate what could have been a dullish spy novel into an Ian McEwan masterpiece.
For make no mistake about it, The Innocent (first published in 1990) is a McEwan masterpiece. It may stand out in his oeuvre for being a spy novel (or at least an attempt at one), but it bears all the hallmarks of the McEwan classic: a dark and twisted love story, a sexual encounter with far-reaching consequences, tremendous psychological insight, great descriptive power and a powerful sense of impending doom. Right from the get-go, one has the sense that something is going to go horribly wrong, and when it finally does around page 130 or so, the effect is startling and spell-binding. Such is the hypnotic quality of the writing in the second half of the book that I stayed up late at night to be able to finish it despite some pretty hefty jet lag. I just had to know how the story ended, and I can't think of a greater compliment to an author than that.
As a spy novel, The Innocent may disappoint fans of the genre. While there is definitely some second-guessing of the characters' identities (Maria, for instance, remains a shady character right until the last few pages), the book doesn't feature any gadgets, spectacular chases or double crosses, or other things we have come to associate with the spy novel. And while the Berlin setting and the Cold War atmosphere are well drawn (at times the mood is reminiscent of The Third Man, which is a good thing in my book), the book is less about political games and intrigue than it is about first love, the joys and hardships of making love in a cold house, sexual awakening, obsession, possessiveness and jealousy. It's a tale of love found and lost, and of innocence lost and found again (to some extent), and as such it's quite brilliant -- up there with McEwan's more famous works. If it hadn't been for the somewhat slow start and the rather pat ending, I would have given it five stars.
February 23, 2012
I wish I knew what this 1990 novel was trying to be, because as well written as the prose is, The Innocent feels all over the place. It’s a post-WWII Berlin spy novel, but it’s mostly about politics – not so much between the Russians and the west, but between Germany, the Americans, and the British. It’s also a coming-of-age story, in a way; though the protagonist is 30, he’s still a bit naïve. Finally, there are small turns in the plot that seem unlikely and then seriously improbable, and filled with unnecessarily detailed gore. Yet I have to concede that McEwan is an engaging, easy-to-read author.
1955: Leo is an English engineer. He’s sent to Berlin to work on and American/English project of digging under the Berlin Wall to tap into Russian phone lines. As a technician, Leo wires the recording devices. The Americans have a system for decoding secret Communist messages, and Leo is also sent to find out what he can about their methods. While in Berlin on this project, he meets Maria, a beautiful German divorcee with a violent, drunk ex-husband. Leo gets embroiled in romance and love, yadda yadda yadda, etc.
Part of this feels light and satirical, the stuff that Evelyn Waugh turned out early in his career. Yet I’m not sure McEwan has much new or comical to say about American/British relationships, the Cold War, or post-war Berlin. He does a lovely job at describing environments – I could draw a map after his prose. However, his characters are slightly flatter, a bit more like caricatures. Where they go, how they change – their arcs – seem a bit on the far-fetched side.
Other parts of the book, as I’ve said, are supremely macabre and gross. My biggest problem was that certain elements of the plot and of this gore seemed introduced to give the story somewhere to go. In the end, the plot is unexpected, but in a ridiculous, unbelievable way – as if Clive Barker or Stephen King took over a dull espionage story that wasn’t going anywhere on its own.
McEwan, however, does avoid going to typical Mata Hari areas, as he does also steer clear of obvious spy-versus-spy twists. However, in missing these potholes, his somewhat-satirical novel goes to gore and silliness – not the most interesting place to go, unexpected, but also a bit off-kilter.
I have to give McEwan credit for his wonderful ease of writing, but I’m looking forward to Atonement and his other later novels with a feeling he probably got way better than this plot, with more detailed character changes.
1955: Leo is an English engineer. He’s sent to Berlin to work on and American/English project of digging under the Berlin Wall to tap into Russian phone lines. As a technician, Leo wires the recording devices. The Americans have a system for decoding secret Communist messages, and Leo is also sent to find out what he can about their methods. While in Berlin on this project, he meets Maria, a beautiful German divorcee with a violent, drunk ex-husband. Leo gets embroiled in romance and love, yadda yadda yadda, etc.
Part of this feels light and satirical, the stuff that Evelyn Waugh turned out early in his career. Yet I’m not sure McEwan has much new or comical to say about American/British relationships, the Cold War, or post-war Berlin. He does a lovely job at describing environments – I could draw a map after his prose. However, his characters are slightly flatter, a bit more like caricatures. Where they go, how they change – their arcs – seem a bit on the far-fetched side.
Other parts of the book, as I’ve said, are supremely macabre and gross. My biggest problem was that certain elements of the plot and of this gore seemed introduced to give the story somewhere to go. In the end, the plot is unexpected, but in a ridiculous, unbelievable way – as if Clive Barker or Stephen King took over a dull espionage story that wasn’t going anywhere on its own.
McEwan, however, does avoid going to typical Mata Hari areas, as he does also steer clear of obvious spy-versus-spy twists. However, in missing these potholes, his somewhat-satirical novel goes to gore and silliness – not the most interesting place to go, unexpected, but also a bit off-kilter.
I have to give McEwan credit for his wonderful ease of writing, but I’m looking forward to Atonement and his other later novels with a feeling he probably got way better than this plot, with more detailed character changes.
January 30, 2012
When you're in love, you do strange things, but they don't seem strange at the time. Last night we watched Deep End, a 1970 movie starring Jane Asher which explored this theme well. The main character is a shy 15 year old boy, who becomes obsessed with the lovely Ms Asher. His actions all seem more or less logical in the context of the story; but somehow they lead to a brilliant and disquieting final scene where they're standing in a disused swimming pool, boiling snow in an electric kettle that's been hastily connected to the overhead floodlights and straining the result through her underwear.
Well, if you found that intriguing, consider checking out the movie. And you might also want to read The Innocent, where a similarly naive male character gets involved with another older woman, does a number of seemingly logical things, and ends up in an even more bizarre situation...
Well, if you found that intriguing, consider checking out the movie. And you might also want to read The Innocent, where a similarly naive male character gets involved with another older woman, does a number of seemingly logical things, and ends up in an even more bizarre situation...
October 18, 2021
Well I guess I should’ve expected the turn in this novel, after all it is Ian Macabre but the slowish start to this spy story set in 1950’s Berlin lulled me into expecting a different sort of twist. Then I just couldn’t look away.
February 15, 2008
With Ian McEwan. Atonement remains one of my favorite books, but when I tried Saturday I just couldn't connect with the book. When I saw his book the Innocent, set in one of my favorite periods, the mid-Cold War, I just had to try it. The setting turns out to be relatively unimportant. This isn't really a Cold War thriller, but is a classic McEwan exploration of the inner life of a few people.
In this case, we have the inexperienced British civil servant, Leonard , who is sent to work on a joint US-British spy operation in mid-50s Berlin. While there he falls in love with a young German woman named Maria. This is his first love affair, and his internal monologues are perfect. Even in this relatively early novel ( 1990) he has mastered the little foibles and mental tricks we play on ourselves. The relationship between them is lovingly rendered, but this is a McEwan novel so you know something is going to go wrong, most likely horribly.
And oh does it ever. McEwan keeps you guessing as to how things will go wrong, as there are a number of characters through which catastrophe might rear its ugly head. Speaking of ugly, the book features one chapter that is flat out disturbing. McEwan shows an act, often used a joke in films and describes in grotesque, lengthly, nearly vomit inducing detail.
While that might seem gratuitous, it ties into the theme of innocence and its loss. For some characters innocence is well and truly lost after that event. But McEwan plays, not unlike William Boyd in a Good Man in Africa, on just who the Innocent in the title is. It would appear that every character is far from it, but that turns out not to be true.
Many authors can conjure up a good wistful, stare thoughtfully into the distance novel, but McEwan goes a step further by arguing, with his ending, that life, despite all its horror and our mistakes, is well worth living and there is still time to do what we must. This ties the book to Atonement as I think McEwan was saying something similar in that book.
In this case, we have the inexperienced British civil servant, Leonard , who is sent to work on a joint US-British spy operation in mid-50s Berlin. While there he falls in love with a young German woman named Maria. This is his first love affair, and his internal monologues are perfect. Even in this relatively early novel ( 1990) he has mastered the little foibles and mental tricks we play on ourselves. The relationship between them is lovingly rendered, but this is a McEwan novel so you know something is going to go wrong, most likely horribly.
And oh does it ever. McEwan keeps you guessing as to how things will go wrong, as there are a number of characters through which catastrophe might rear its ugly head. Speaking of ugly, the book features one chapter that is flat out disturbing. McEwan shows an act, often used a joke in films and describes in grotesque, lengthly, nearly vomit inducing detail.
While that might seem gratuitous, it ties into the theme of innocence and its loss. For some characters innocence is well and truly lost after that event. But McEwan plays, not unlike William Boyd in a Good Man in Africa, on just who the Innocent in the title is. It would appear that every character is far from it, but that turns out not to be true.
Many authors can conjure up a good wistful, stare thoughtfully into the distance novel, but McEwan goes a step further by arguing, with his ending, that life, despite all its horror and our mistakes, is well worth living and there is still time to do what we must. This ties the book to Atonement as I think McEwan was saying something similar in that book.
January 24, 2019
Şimdiye kadar okuduğum kitaplarına bakınca Ian McEwan stabil bir yazar olmadığı kanısındayım. Çocuk Yasası ve Düello’da yakaladığı çıta , Cumartesi ve Madumiyet’te (bu kitabında) daha düşük seviyede. Ewan’ın bu romanı gerçek bir olayın içine tamamen düş gücünü kullanarak kurguladığı biraz polisiye, biraz casusluk, biraz aşk romanı niteliğinde bir roman.
Heyecan seviyesini hep canlı tutarak sade, kısa ve anlaşılır cümlelerle çok rahat okunan bir roman. Esas olarak insanın varoluşunu, olağan dışı şartlar karşısındaki uyumunu, psikolojik gerilimlerini anlatan bir öyküye sahip.
Berlin tüneli ile ilgili bilgilerle ilgileniyorsanız bu link size ilginç gelebilir. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingro...
Heyecan seviyesini hep canlı tutarak sade, kısa ve anlaşılır cümlelerle çok rahat okunan bir roman. Esas olarak insanın varoluşunu, olağan dışı şartlar karşısındaki uyumunu, psikolojik gerilimlerini anlatan bir öyküye sahip.
Berlin tüneli ile ilgili bilgilerle ilgileniyorsanız bu link size ilginç gelebilir. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingro...
June 23, 2021
"Birinin onu seviyormuş gibi yapıp, aslında incitmek isteyeceği korkusu çılgınlık gibi bir şeydi."
Savaş sonrası Almanya'nın yer altı istihbaratı ile yer üstü aşkların hikayesi. 💙
Savaş sonrası Almanya'nın yer altı istihbaratı ile yer üstü aşkların hikayesi. 💙
September 2, 2012
The Innocent by Ian McEwan is a psychological thriller set in West Berlin, 1954, during the cold war. Leonard Marnham, a 25-year-old British post office technician, was employed by the Americans on a joint British-American surveillance project to install signals in the tunnel they were building to tap the phone lines of the Soviet High Command.
Leonard was well brought up and shy but quickly lost both his physical and political innocence. His love interest was a blond German divorcee, Maria Eckdorf, whom he met at a pub. McEwan expertly captured the intimate nuances of a courting couple’s interactions. Leonard’s monotonous days of working in a high security claustrophobic office were sweetly relieved by the times he was able to spend in Maria’s company. Then inexplicably, the previously naive Leonard turned physically abusive to Maria and I recoiled in disgust. I saw no purpose in this unprecipitated and shocking descent into a vile psychological landscape. It smacked of perversity, which took me right back to the revulsion I had felt towards McEwan’s earliest work, “First Love, Last Rites”.
The first half of the novel was beginning to plod with details of the secrecy surrounding the tunneling project. Then entered Otto, Maria’s drunken ex-husband, the McEwan malevolent intruder, and that was when the story shifted to an intense, high gear. I was even more repulsed. But the gore was so horrific I kept on reading. Perhaps, this is where McEwan succeeds as a writer in his power to drag the reader unwittingly into his story kicking and screaming through the macabre treatment he unleashes with pleasure. Leonard landed himself in a very dangerous situation; his cover was soon to be blown and his crime revealed. Then with consummate skill, McEwan brought credible closure to an incredible plot. The Innocent is a good read but best before a meal.
Leonard was well brought up and shy but quickly lost both his physical and political innocence. His love interest was a blond German divorcee, Maria Eckdorf, whom he met at a pub. McEwan expertly captured the intimate nuances of a courting couple’s interactions. Leonard’s monotonous days of working in a high security claustrophobic office were sweetly relieved by the times he was able to spend in Maria’s company. Then inexplicably, the previously naive Leonard turned physically abusive to Maria and I recoiled in disgust. I saw no purpose in this unprecipitated and shocking descent into a vile psychological landscape. It smacked of perversity, which took me right back to the revulsion I had felt towards McEwan’s earliest work, “First Love, Last Rites”.
The first half of the novel was beginning to plod with details of the secrecy surrounding the tunneling project. Then entered Otto, Maria’s drunken ex-husband, the McEwan malevolent intruder, and that was when the story shifted to an intense, high gear. I was even more repulsed. But the gore was so horrific I kept on reading. Perhaps, this is where McEwan succeeds as a writer in his power to drag the reader unwittingly into his story kicking and screaming through the macabre treatment he unleashes with pleasure. Leonard landed himself in a very dangerous situation; his cover was soon to be blown and his crime revealed. Then with consummate skill, McEwan brought credible closure to an incredible plot. The Innocent is a good read but best before a meal.
January 21, 2020
This was the one McEwan book I thought would finally have me say, okay, at least he wrote one novel I enjoyed. But, alas, no. This book was a waste of time. It's coined a psychological thriller but there was nothing 'thriller' about it. I was stone cold bored through the whole thing. I felt nothing. As always, stupid, pointless characters, rubbish scenes, and nothing to connect with. Halfway through, I honestly couldn't care less what happened to anyone, I just wanted it to be over. This is my 105th book of the year, and probably one of the most boring of those damn books.
There's some quotes on my edition of this book. Let's play a True or False game with them.
'The plot crackles like thin ice with dread and suspense.' - The Times
FALSE.
'The sheer cleverness of the book is dazzling, and only fully to be appreciated as you turn the last page: but then the cleverness is a real virtue here, the best guide possible to the questionable territory between innocence and whatever comes after.' - London Review of Books.
FALSE.
'Generous in scale, simple in its hideous impact... Ironically, he has celebrated the obsequies of the East-West spy thriller by writing one of the subtlest.' - Mail On Sunday
FALSE.
There's some quotes on my edition of this book. Let's play a True or False game with them.
'The plot crackles like thin ice with dread and suspense.' - The Times
FALSE.
'The sheer cleverness of the book is dazzling, and only fully to be appreciated as you turn the last page: but then the cleverness is a real virtue here, the best guide possible to the questionable territory between innocence and whatever comes after.' - London Review of Books.
FALSE.
'Generous in scale, simple in its hideous impact... Ironically, he has celebrated the obsequies of the East-West spy thriller by writing one of the subtlest.' - Mail On Sunday
FALSE.
July 13, 2022
Well, this one shocked me. I went into this older, much earlier published, McEwan without any knowledge. Not even reading the trailer. The only upfront fact I knew was that it held a 1954, 10 years after WWII ending, placement within Berlin.
It's a typical McEwan. Fantastic writing of detail and emotional roller coasters. That last quantity especially within the types of quiet mumble mouthed just past coming of age (usually very ENGLISH) men. Here he did Maria in much the same type of clime of precipice hanger. People on the ends of various types of pivotal "on the edge" inner landscapes. It is what he is extremely good at doing.
But at the 2/3rd spot of the book, the entre sets of duplicitous paths (not at all only for the couple) turns into placement of nightmares. More apt to the type of scenario builds that fit into Horror genre.
I didn't see it coming. Although I absolutely much earlier foresaw the future of Maria's and Leonard's outcome as a couple. Correctly.
It seems I liked this more than most readers. It was an excellent tale quite beyond just the erotic and burgeoning physical or mental. McEwan also truly encapsulated the precise quandary of English, American, Russian "allies" perceptions during this period. Best I have ever read about the American "shock" when the Russians turned like the autocrat thugs they can be quite naturally during the Eastern Europe afterwar occupations. It was still like that in 1983 when I went through Berlin into the DDR and eastwards. Americans are STILL surprised or shocked at the quick change in character generally, plus the eventual consequences. Partners or comrades? Not.
Well done novel! Loved the time period for ethnic base generalized or specific reality. Blunt, no apology dialogue included. This trait is nearly invisible now unless it is racially cored. There were Blakes everywhere then- not only on that continent either. Still are. More of them now.
This is in my top 3 McEwan. Some of his more recent I have not cared for at all. They are quite more experimental. McEwan has the guts to do so.
It's a typical McEwan. Fantastic writing of detail and emotional roller coasters. That last quantity especially within the types of quiet mumble mouthed just past coming of age (usually very ENGLISH) men. Here he did Maria in much the same type of clime of precipice hanger. People on the ends of various types of pivotal "on the edge" inner landscapes. It is what he is extremely good at doing.
But at the 2/3rd spot of the book, the entre sets of duplicitous paths (not at all only for the couple) turns into placement of nightmares. More apt to the type of scenario builds that fit into Horror genre.
I didn't see it coming. Although I absolutely much earlier foresaw the future of Maria's and Leonard's outcome as a couple. Correctly.
It seems I liked this more than most readers. It was an excellent tale quite beyond just the erotic and burgeoning physical or mental. McEwan also truly encapsulated the precise quandary of English, American, Russian "allies" perceptions during this period. Best I have ever read about the American "shock" when the Russians turned like the autocrat thugs they can be quite naturally during the Eastern Europe afterwar occupations. It was still like that in 1983 when I went through Berlin into the DDR and eastwards. Americans are STILL surprised or shocked at the quick change in character generally, plus the eventual consequences. Partners or comrades? Not.
Well done novel! Loved the time period for ethnic base generalized or specific reality. Blunt, no apology dialogue included. This trait is nearly invisible now unless it is racially cored. There were Blakes everywhere then- not only on that continent either. Still are. More of them now.
This is in my top 3 McEwan. Some of his more recent I have not cared for at all. They are quite more experimental. McEwan has the guts to do so.
February 7, 2021
My first impression on starting this book was, "oh, goody, a semi historical novel with lots of detail on building the tunnel under Berlin to tap the Russian communication cables. " And so it begins, but then morphs into a much darker tale about guilt and innocence. (I should have known, having read other McEwan books.)
I will spare you what happens to avoid spoilers; most of that is available elsewhere anyway. McEwan's genius his his ability to dig into the subconscious of his characters and root around. What's found is not always pleasant.
To give you a flavor of his ability to use language, I give you this quote from The Guardian on the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
"Charles Darwin could not believe that a kindly God would create a parasitic wasp that injects its eggs into the body of a caterpillar so that the larva may consume the host alive. The ichneumon wasp was a challenge to Darwin’s already diminishing faith. We may share his bewilderment as we contemplate the American body politic and what vile thing now squats within it, waiting to be hatched and begin its meal." *
Brilliant.
*https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
I will spare you what happens to avoid spoilers; most of that is available elsewhere anyway. McEwan's genius his his ability to dig into the subconscious of his characters and root around. What's found is not always pleasant.
To give you a flavor of his ability to use language, I give you this quote from The Guardian on the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
"Charles Darwin could not believe that a kindly God would create a parasitic wasp that injects its eggs into the body of a caterpillar so that the larva may consume the host alive. The ichneumon wasp was a challenge to Darwin’s already diminishing faith. We may share his bewilderment as we contemplate the American body politic and what vile thing now squats within it, waiting to be hatched and begin its meal." *
Brilliant.
*https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
May 19, 2015
il self control inglese è peggio della Guerra Fredda
Berlino metà anni 50
la città è divisa in zone di occupazione, poco prima della costruzione del Muro che la dividerà nei lunghi anni di Guerra Fredda, alcuni tecnici inglesi e americani collaborano alla costruzione di un tunnel da cui intendono spiare le comunicazioni radar provenienti dalla Russia...un povero fesso inglese, giovane e inesperto, viene mandato a far la spia senza nemmeno capire cosa dovrebbe spiare e, intanto che si guarda intorno, trova il tempo di innamorarsi di una tedesca divorziata con un marito, che non si rassegna a fare l'ex, piuttosto manesco, da cosa nasce cosa e il fesso si ingarbuglia in una storia nera, nella quale in verità finisce più trascinato che di sua propria volontà...
thriller più di fantasie che di vera e propria azione, il racconto affascina proprio per tutta l'analisi delle motivazioni del protagonista, un inglese infantile e tignoso, il quale scopre il sesso, l'amore e il potere un po' tutti insieme e finisce per cadere vittima delle sue speculazioni...
Berlino metà anni 50
la città è divisa in zone di occupazione, poco prima della costruzione del Muro che la dividerà nei lunghi anni di Guerra Fredda, alcuni tecnici inglesi e americani collaborano alla costruzione di un tunnel da cui intendono spiare le comunicazioni radar provenienti dalla Russia...un povero fesso inglese, giovane e inesperto, viene mandato a far la spia senza nemmeno capire cosa dovrebbe spiare e, intanto che si guarda intorno, trova il tempo di innamorarsi di una tedesca divorziata con un marito, che non si rassegna a fare l'ex, piuttosto manesco, da cosa nasce cosa e il fesso si ingarbuglia in una storia nera, nella quale in verità finisce più trascinato che di sua propria volontà...
thriller più di fantasie che di vera e propria azione, il racconto affascina proprio per tutta l'analisi delle motivazioni del protagonista, un inglese infantile e tignoso, il quale scopre il sesso, l'amore e il potere un po' tutti insieme e finisce per cadere vittima delle sue speculazioni...
April 9, 2020
After having had a love-hate relationship with Atonement and having disliked Amsterdam, I was prepared to be disappointed going into this book. But Ian McEwan threw a googly and quite comprehensively bowled me.
This novel, set in 1955 Berlin when the Cold War had not yet intensified to the stage where the USA and USSR were continuously at each other's throat, could be called a suspense thriller. In fact, that is the mould it has been set in. But McEwan has cleverly stretched the boundaries of the genre to make it literary fiction of no little merit: a tale of star-crossed lovers that would do Shakespeare proud. (One quote in the blurb compares it to a Jacobean play, and I would say that it is not far off the mark.)
In 1955, the Berlin Wall has not yet come up. Travel between East and West Germany is still allowed, albeit with restrictions, and under a persistently growing cloud of suspicion and hostility. Leonard Marnham is a radio engineer posted in Berlin to work on the top secret CIA-MI6 collaborative project of the Berlin Tunnel (or "Operation Gold"), where America and England are planning to listen in to top secret Russian despatches by tapping on to their phone lines, through a tunnel dug under the border. The English and the Americans are uneasy allies, contemptuous of each other, and both contemptuous of the conquered Germans on whose territory they are playing out their espionage games.
Twenty-five-year-old Leo Marnham is the quintessential "innocent" - with absolutely no knowledge of anything outside his native British Isles and with zero knowledge of women. He is intimidated by the bombed-out country he is living in, the cloak-and-dagger job he is doing, as well as the American, Bob Glass, under whom he is working. Glass's easy familiarity jars upon Leo's all-too-English senses with its isolationist tendencies. Spending most of his time underground with radio equipment in back-breaking sixteen-hour shifts, his only consolation is Maria, a woman five years his senior who has taken a fancy to him.
As the days roll on, Leo gets accustomed to his routine, and his love affair with Maria develops to the point of engagement. But Maria is a woman with a troubled past - a thuggish ex-husband keeps on intruding into her life periodically, the episodes getting more and more violent, until one night things tip over the edge and the lovers awake into a nightmare. From there on, the story moves into Alfred Hitchcock territory, with a script by Stephen King.
Saying anything further would be telling! Read the book.
***
Like I said at the outset, even though this is ostensibly a thriller (and can be read as such), for the perceptive reader there are nuances. The subtle commentary on various nationalities, and how the undercurrents of their national character influence their personal relationships is a delight to behold. (One amusing example is how the Americans casually playing sports in the middle of the workplace while listening to rock shocks Leo.) Also, the "innocence" of Leo's approach to women is captured beautifully in the following passage:
Ian McEwan's descriptions of people are so pictorial that one can immediately imagine them. This is Bob Glass:
The crucial chapter which forms the crux of the plot is a standing monument to the author's powers of description. It is a virtual mis-en-scene which can be directly filmed ; yet it is also one of the most introspective of passages, going deep into the mind of the protagonist, bordering on stream-of-consciousness. I can't say anything further without giving the plot away!
This is a satisfying read.
This novel, set in 1955 Berlin when the Cold War had not yet intensified to the stage where the USA and USSR were continuously at each other's throat, could be called a suspense thriller. In fact, that is the mould it has been set in. But McEwan has cleverly stretched the boundaries of the genre to make it literary fiction of no little merit: a tale of star-crossed lovers that would do Shakespeare proud. (One quote in the blurb compares it to a Jacobean play, and I would say that it is not far off the mark.)
In 1955, the Berlin Wall has not yet come up. Travel between East and West Germany is still allowed, albeit with restrictions, and under a persistently growing cloud of suspicion and hostility. Leonard Marnham is a radio engineer posted in Berlin to work on the top secret CIA-MI6 collaborative project of the Berlin Tunnel (or "Operation Gold"), where America and England are planning to listen in to top secret Russian despatches by tapping on to their phone lines, through a tunnel dug under the border. The English and the Americans are uneasy allies, contemptuous of each other, and both contemptuous of the conquered Germans on whose territory they are playing out their espionage games.
Twenty-five-year-old Leo Marnham is the quintessential "innocent" - with absolutely no knowledge of anything outside his native British Isles and with zero knowledge of women. He is intimidated by the bombed-out country he is living in, the cloak-and-dagger job he is doing, as well as the American, Bob Glass, under whom he is working. Glass's easy familiarity jars upon Leo's all-too-English senses with its isolationist tendencies. Spending most of his time underground with radio equipment in back-breaking sixteen-hour shifts, his only consolation is Maria, a woman five years his senior who has taken a fancy to him.
As the days roll on, Leo gets accustomed to his routine, and his love affair with Maria develops to the point of engagement. But Maria is a woman with a troubled past - a thuggish ex-husband keeps on intruding into her life periodically, the episodes getting more and more violent, until one night things tip over the edge and the lovers awake into a nightmare. From there on, the story moves into Alfred Hitchcock territory, with a script by Stephen King.
Saying anything further would be telling! Read the book.
***
Like I said at the outset, even though this is ostensibly a thriller (and can be read as such), for the perceptive reader there are nuances. The subtle commentary on various nationalities, and how the undercurrents of their national character influence their personal relationships is a delight to behold. (One amusing example is how the Americans casually playing sports in the middle of the workplace while listening to rock shocks Leo.) Also, the "innocence" of Leo's approach to women is captured beautifully in the following passage:
She sat across from him and they warmed their hands round the big mugs. He knew from experience that unless he made a formidable effort, a pattern was waiting to impose itself: a polite enquiry would elicit a polite response and another question. Have you lived here long? Do you travel far to your work? Is it your afternoon off? The catechism would have begun. Only silences would interrupt the relentless tread of question and answer. They would be calling to each other over immense distances, from adjacent mountain peaks. Finally he would be desperate for the relief of heading away with his own thoughts, after the awkward goodbyes. Even now, they had already retreated from the intensity of their greeting. He had already asked her about tea making. One more like that, and there would be nothing he could do.Thankfully, the experienced Maria takes the first step and relieves Leo of the responsibility here. But he almost screws up the relationship again, later, in a tragicomic episode where he tries to "take control". (That incident, leading to the first estrangement of the couple, is a not-so-subtle commentary on the chasm that separates the conqueror and the conquered.)
Ian McEwan's descriptions of people are so pictorial that one can immediately imagine them. This is Bob Glass:
He was about five-foot-six, seven inches shorter than Leonard. He seemed bottled up in his suit. He was smiling but he looked ready to wreck the room. As he sat down he slapped his knee hard and said, 'So. Welcome!' His head was also wiry and dark. It started well up on his forehead and flew backwards, giving him the high-domed appearance of a cartoon scientist facing into a strong wind. His beard, on the other hand, was inert, trapping light into its solidity. It protruded as a wedge, like the beard of a carved wooden Noah.And Maria:
Many years later, Leonard had no difficulty at all recalling Maria's face. It shone for him, the way faces do in certain old paintings. In fact there was something almost two-dimensional about it; the hairline was high on the forehead, and at the other end of this long and perfect oval, the jaw was both delicate and forceful, so that when she tilted her head in a characteristic and endearing way, her face appeared as a disc, more of a plane than a sphere, such as a master artist might draw with an inspired stroke. The hair itself was peculiarly fine, like a baby's, and often wriggled free of the childish clasps women wore then. Her eyes were serious, though not mournful, and were green or grey, according to the light...McEwan says that "it was the sort of face... onto which men were likely to project their own requirements." This is a key sentence in hindsight, coupled with Leo's innocence: and a harbinger of events to come.
The crucial chapter which forms the crux of the plot is a standing monument to the author's powers of description. It is a virtual mis-en-scene which can be directly filmed ; yet it is also one of the most introspective of passages, going deep into the mind of the protagonist, bordering on stream-of-consciousness. I can't say anything further without giving the plot away!
This is a satisfying read.
February 22, 2015
Hmmm... Looks like either I had too much expectation from the book or the book indeed was not upto McEwan's standards.
The story seemed to drag a little although it could have been an absolute racer with its setting of spying, espionage and clandestine decryptions. The story reeked of some inconsequential details, which can advance a story if used in moderation, but the over-usage here only tamed the rhythm. I also found the central character, Leonard, way too confused, not as much owing to his innocence as to his lack of focus.
It did contain a few good pages but just not enough to save the book.
The story seemed to drag a little although it could have been an absolute racer with its setting of spying, espionage and clandestine decryptions. The story reeked of some inconsequential details, which can advance a story if used in moderation, but the over-usage here only tamed the rhythm. I also found the central character, Leonard, way too confused, not as much owing to his innocence as to his lack of focus.
It did contain a few good pages but just not enough to save the book.
May 20, 2020
Il danno
Storia di un giovane uomo, da Tottenham a Berlino, da un lavoro ordinario a uno molto speciale, dalla castità alla vita nella sua pienezza, sessuale e relazionale. Mi viene spontaneo il confronto fra il personaggio maschile e quello femminile: il primo introverso e impacciato, vissuto nell’ovatta di una famiglia borghese, poco comunicativo, ancora una crisalide. La donna cresciuta a Berlino sotto i bombardamenti e durante l’occupazione russa, diretta, candida, istintiva e consapevole della vita e delle conseguenze. Arrivati al danno, l’uomo ne è tramortito e vorrebbe dormire, lei lo prega di non lasciarla sola a pensare a una soluzione. Mi verrebbe da dire “duro di cuore e debole di nervi”, non è bello addossare sugli altri la propria parte di responsabilità , anche se ci si è sporcati il tight e anche camicia e scarpe. Le emozioni protagoniste sono quelle dell’uomo, molto intense e realistiche, tali da imporre una battuta di arresto alla ragione e al cuore. Mi è piaciuta la fine che secondo me cambia fortemente il tono della storia. La crisalide si apre (o meglio viene aperta) e lascia indietro orgoglio gelosia e diffidenza , per riprendersi quello che è rimasto fuori: la propria vita, l’età adulta mai cominciata. McEwan, per niente convenzionale, guarda nel fondo delle cose e sostiene lo sguardo.
Storia di un giovane uomo, da Tottenham a Berlino, da un lavoro ordinario a uno molto speciale, dalla castità alla vita nella sua pienezza, sessuale e relazionale. Mi viene spontaneo il confronto fra il personaggio maschile e quello femminile: il primo introverso e impacciato, vissuto nell’ovatta di una famiglia borghese, poco comunicativo, ancora una crisalide. La donna cresciuta a Berlino sotto i bombardamenti e durante l’occupazione russa, diretta, candida, istintiva e consapevole della vita e delle conseguenze. Arrivati al danno, l’uomo ne è tramortito e vorrebbe dormire, lei lo prega di non lasciarla sola a pensare a una soluzione. Mi verrebbe da dire “duro di cuore e debole di nervi”, non è bello addossare sugli altri la propria parte di responsabilità , anche se ci si è sporcati il tight e anche camicia e scarpe. Le emozioni protagoniste sono quelle dell’uomo, molto intense e realistiche, tali da imporre una battuta di arresto alla ragione e al cuore. Mi è piaciuta la fine che secondo me cambia fortemente il tono della storia. La crisalide si apre (o meglio viene aperta) e lascia indietro orgoglio gelosia e diffidenza , per riprendersi quello che è rimasto fuori: la propria vita, l’età adulta mai cominciata. McEwan, per niente convenzionale, guarda nel fondo delle cose e sostiene lo sguardo.
May 21, 2017
Read: May 2017
I am really beginning to love Ian McEwan's work. The Innocent is the fifth novel I have read by McEwan in recent years and while it is not quite up at the heady heights of Atonement and The Cement Garden in my opinion, it is a wonderful novel in its own right; incredibly well written, dark, atmospheric, funny in places and tragic in others.
The Innocent is based around the real events of Operation Gold; a joint task force of American and British intelligence in Berlin who dug tunnels to tap into Russian communications. The protagonist of The Innocent is Leonard, a British operative sent out to Berlin to participate in Operation Gold. He is the 'innocent' of the story as he gets caught up in a series of events that he soon loses control over.
The reason it's not a five star novel for me is that I found the story a little hard to get into at first and Leonard wasn't very likeable , but as soon as I became invested in Leonard's character and the situation he got caught up in, I couldnt put this book down.
Rating: 4/5 stars
I am really beginning to love Ian McEwan's work. The Innocent is the fifth novel I have read by McEwan in recent years and while it is not quite up at the heady heights of Atonement and The Cement Garden in my opinion, it is a wonderful novel in its own right; incredibly well written, dark, atmospheric, funny in places and tragic in others.
The Innocent is based around the real events of Operation Gold; a joint task force of American and British intelligence in Berlin who dug tunnels to tap into Russian communications. The protagonist of The Innocent is Leonard, a British operative sent out to Berlin to participate in Operation Gold. He is the 'innocent' of the story as he gets caught up in a series of events that he soon loses control over.
The reason it's not a five star novel for me is that I found the story a little hard to get into at first and Leonard wasn't very likeable , but as soon as I became invested in Leonard's character and the situation he got caught up in, I couldnt put this book down.
Rating: 4/5 stars
February 26, 2017
The only thing that redeemed this book from one star to two was the author's note on the last page, revealing that this fictional story was based very loosely on an actual MI6-CIA operation, with one character having actually lived. Apart from this tiny bit of truth it had no business calling itself a spy novel; what a laboriously, dreary waste of my time. The only reason I finished it so quickly was because I skipped over a dozen or so of the most boring descriptions of tunnelling and communications cables.
The protagonist himself is a loathsome little creature; a cowardly, adolescent little man whose inner darkness occasionally spills out into some despicable actions while he tries to figure out ways to ingratiate himself onto stronger characters. I could not like him, and felt terribly disappointed that McEwan ended it all with a note of hopeful expectancy for the end of this pathetic creature's life.
I wouldn't bother reading it if I were you.
The protagonist himself is a loathsome little creature; a cowardly, adolescent little man whose inner darkness occasionally spills out into some despicable actions while he tries to figure out ways to ingratiate himself onto stronger characters. I could not like him, and felt terribly disappointed that McEwan ended it all with a note of hopeful expectancy for the end of this pathetic creature's life.
I wouldn't bother reading it if I were you.
January 11, 2016
I think someone else said it first, but this book is not for the faint of heart. Several chapters are almost disgustingly grisly. Make that totally. And I want to warn you right up front because I was too far in to get out at that point. But ultimately, this is another solid read from Ian McEwan with its plot twists and turns as well as incisive characterizations tossed out in a character's observations, revealing depths of human frailty in a single remark. The protagonist's sexual awakening is as joyful as his later moral lapse is horrifying. To me, McEwan is the real deal. Ending has a slight misstep, but I was grateful for the hint of sentimentality that sneaked in like a lost kitten at the end.
July 24, 2007
McEwan does the Cold War thriller. An excellent read by one of the best living English language authors. And for the record, I had sufficient testosterone to get through, in one go, the gut-wrenching scene located amidships. It was graphic, but don't let the namby-pamby reviewers telling you they had to set down the book, overcome by revulsion and fear as they were, steer you in the wrong direction. To them I say, there's always Maeve Binchy.
June 21, 2022
Somewhere between 4 and 5 stars for me.
A bit ghoulish in the scenes surrounding Otto's demise but the ending and letter from Maria were intriguing and reflective.
McEwan is a patient writer who doesn't usually overdramatize his story. I liked this one for its simplicity.
A bit ghoulish in the scenes surrounding Otto's demise but the ending and letter from Maria were intriguing and reflective.
McEwan is a patient writer who doesn't usually overdramatize his story. I liked this one for its simplicity.
December 28, 2010
I love-love-love Ian McEwan, and I'm going to remember this holiday season as the time I "rediscovered" Ian McEwan. I read a lot of books by him a few years ago, but not ALL of his books. And I read everything new he publishes. But I ended up reading this book rather inadvertently. It just came out on the Kindle in December, and I stumbled across it and "preordered" it thinking that it was a new publication -- only to later discover that he had written it in '89 and it was only the Kindle version that was new. Well, I was happy to discover a vintage McEwan that I ended up thoroughly enjoying. Like all books by McEwan that I have read, "The Innocent" was perfectly written style-wise *and* had a fascinating plot on top of that. I don't ask for plot usually -- or not jaw-dropping plots like his at least -- but McEwan always comes through with literary writing that has great characters, nuanced descriptions of situations and emotions, themes that give you pause for thought, and plots and plot twists that keep the pages turning.
Rough description: The novel is an espionage novel based on an actual event in Berlin during the Cold War. The espionage aspect is the backdrop for a personal drama, but personal and public do intersect to a very interesting end. Disclaimer: The book is not for the faint of heart, as there is some seriously gruesome stuff in here!
Reflection on why I haven't read all of McEwan's novels: It's funny, given how much I like him, that I haven't read everything by him (I'm now on my 8th book by him, but there are a couple more that I haven't read). But I think the reason is that I like him so much that I'm almost afraid to read his very earliest fiction because I'm afraid it will disappoint... And I can't say that I have uniformly loved everything I have read by him, and so, I have reason to be a bit wary. That said, I am now planning to fill in the holes, because after rooting around unsuccessfully for something to read after the high of finishing "The Corrections," I realize that I just want to sink into more amazing writing like McEwan's, and fortunately there are a few more novels out there by him that I haven't read!
All time favorite McEwan is "Atonement," which was also my introduction to him...
Rough description: The novel is an espionage novel based on an actual event in Berlin during the Cold War. The espionage aspect is the backdrop for a personal drama, but personal and public do intersect to a very interesting end. Disclaimer: The book is not for the faint of heart, as there is some seriously gruesome stuff in here!
Reflection on why I haven't read all of McEwan's novels: It's funny, given how much I like him, that I haven't read everything by him (I'm now on my 8th book by him, but there are a couple more that I haven't read). But I think the reason is that I like him so much that I'm almost afraid to read his very earliest fiction because I'm afraid it will disappoint... And I can't say that I have uniformly loved everything I have read by him, and so, I have reason to be a bit wary. That said, I am now planning to fill in the holes, because after rooting around unsuccessfully for something to read after the high of finishing "The Corrections," I realize that I just want to sink into more amazing writing like McEwan's, and fortunately there are a few more novels out there by him that I haven't read!
All time favorite McEwan is "Atonement," which was also my introduction to him...
July 11, 2011
This is not a thriller or a spy novel, although those are elements of the story. It is, like McEwan's other books, a tightly woven portrait - this time of a young naive Englishman in Berlin in 1955. Sometimes McEwan is just too perfectly contrived - like "Saturday" was - but here I had no idea how everything would turn out. There is tension and menace right from the start, but it is nothing like you would expect, and the ending is entirely appropriate. I couldn't put it down - read it in two nights.
October 16, 2008
depalma should direct the film version. that terrific fucking final set piece all slowed down and stretched out over 60 pages, all gory and demented... shit yeah! i'd also like to dig up hitchcock's grave and have depalma cockslap him a few times across his pale jowly cheek. the fat bastard deserves it.
March 18, 2015
interesanta. acum caut si filmul (am citit ca ecranizarea e chiar reusita) cu Anthony Hopkins, Isabella Rossellini si Campbell Scott.
August 30, 2015
Io ti odio. IO TI ODIO IAN MCEWAN.
Ed è per questo che mi leggerò tutto quello che hai scritto, pure le liste della spesa. Maledizione.
Ed è per questo che mi leggerò tutto quello che hai scritto, pure le liste della spesa. Maledizione.
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