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Title: The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan, Alex Jennings ISBN: 0-7540-0742-1 Publisher: Chivers Audio Books Pub. Date: January, 2002 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 3 List Price(USD): $31.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.54 (28 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful but Weird
Comment: McEwan is a wonderful descriptive writer. For example: "In one direction, the street vanished into total darkness; in the other, a diffused blue-gray light was making visible a series of low buildings which descended like blocks cut in granite and converged in the gloom where the street curved away. Thousands of feet above, an attenuated finger of cloud pointed across the line of the curve and reddened. A cool, salty wind blew along the street and stirred a cellophane wrapper against the step on which Colin and Mary were sitting."
In my opinion, McEwan's goal in "The Comfort of Strangers" is to exercise his marvelous descriptive powers, which truly allow the reader to see and feel the experiences of Colin and Mary, his primary characters. At the same time, this descriptive power seems complete, in and of itself, and makes it unnecessary for McEwan to have much of a story. Indeed, his plot might be summed up as two disorganized people not really connecting, on their vacation.
For me, this book was an intense and pleasurable read, with its prose as exacting and suggestive as fine poetry. This, perhaps, explains why the book's ending seems arbitrary and contrived. The book, after all, is not about plot but about the power of great writing to capture experience. At the book's climax, my marginalia say "What?!" Read "The Comfort of Strangers" and see what I mean.
Rating: 5
Summary: Good Early McEwan
Comment: Many of the trademarks we have come to expect in McEwan novels are already here in this early novel published in the U. S. in 1981, the ironic title, the complexity, the psychological tension, the ambiguities, the questions left unanswered. I was handicapped in reading this novel in that I had already seen the movie so it was impossible not to see Rupert Everett and Natasha Richardson getting lost in those maze-like alleys in Venice. (Nowhere in this slim novel, however, does McEwan name the city where the sinister action takes place.} On the other hand, since I knew the outcome, I could look for and admire the clues the author gives as to what will happen. McEwan does an excellent job of setting the tone for what ultimately occurs early in the novel. As early as page 17: "Colin and Mary had never left the hotel so late, and Mary was to attribute much of what followed to this fact." There are lots of references to the sexual tension between men and women in addition to many homoerotic allusions throughout the book that prepare you, at least in part, for the shattering climax of this horrific little novel.
McEwan always gives the reader a story that appeals both to the intellect and the emotions. As usual, he doesn't disappoint us. One of the joys of living in these times is awaiting a new McEwan novel.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not Venice
Comment: The writer's "evocation of place" includes the interesting observation of the constellation Orion visible in the evening in summertime, indicating a location somewhere in the southern hemisphere. Couple this with sunrise over the ocean, and we are led most probably to the coast of Brazil - possibly Sao Paulo. Why he wanted to locate his couple here is unknown - maybe because vacations are cheaper in the 3rd world.
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Title: The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0679750185 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 13 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Enduring Love : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494149 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Black Dogs : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494327 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Innocent : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494335 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Amsterdam : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494246 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 02 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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