The Blurb On The Back:

There’s no blurb on the back, instead there are the following quotes:

”A page turned, with a plot so engrossing that it seems reckless to pick the book up in the evening if you plan to get any sleep that night ... Enduring Love is also blessed with the psychological richness of the finest literary novel.”
Alain de Botton, Daily Mail

“Taut with narrative excitements and suspense ... a novel of rich diversity that triumphantly integrates imagination and intelligence, rationality and emotional alertness.”
Peter Kemp, Sunday Times

“He is the maestro at creating suspense; the particular, sickening, see-sawing kind that demands a kind of physical courage from the reader to continue reading.”
Amanda Craig, New Statesman

“McEwan’s exploration of his characters’ lives and secret emotions is a virtuoso display of fictional subtlety and intelligence.”
Robert McCrum, Observer

“McEwan’s latest, and possibly finest ... his trademarks are in full force, combining stomach-pit dread and almost unbearable pathos. His technique is unparalleled; like the smiler with the knife, he finally slips it to the reader with exquisite smoothness.”
Fiona Russell Powell, Guardian

“He creates an opening that is unforgettable ... McEwan does a superb job of making us believe what seems so unlikely, and that is the book’s greatest power.”
Jan Daley, Independent on Sunday


The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Ian McEwan’s critically acclaimed literary suspense novel (first published in 1997) is a prescient examination of the helplessness and paranoia that comes from being a victim of stalking, which slowly builds tension in a way that still feels relevant today. However the literary allusions are smug and heavy handed and I never quite bought into Joe’s lack of reaction to the homosexual overtones of Jed’s obsession or Clarissa’s lack of support.
The Blurb On The Back:

On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge.

By the end of that day the lives of all three will have changed for ever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl's imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries, and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.


The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

If it wasn't for the fact that the first half of the novel is really slow and a labour to read, I'd think this to be one of the best books I've read all year. The second half is very well written and evocative of the time, with some heartbreaking characterisation and a good twist at the end. Unfortunately, you have to get through the first half to get there and I suspect that the ponderous pace and the fact that so little happens for such contrived reasons will put people off.

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