Itemize Out Of Books Enduring Love
| Title | : | Enduring Love |
| Author | : | Ian McEwan |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 245 pages |
| Published | : | October 28th 2004 by Vintage (first published September 1997) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Contemporary. Literary Fiction |
Ian McEwan
Paperback | Pages: 245 pages Rating: 3.63 | 36539 Users | 2095 Reviews
Representaion Conducive To Books Enduring Love
Joe planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after 6 weeks in the States. The perfect day turns to nightmare however, when they are involved in freak ballooning accident in which a boy is saved but a man is killed. In itself, the accident would change the couple and the survivors' lives, filling them with an uneasy combination of shame, happiness, and endless self-reproach. But fate has far more unpleasant things in store for Joe. Meeting the eye of fellow rescuer Jed Parry, for example, turns out to be a very bad move. For Jed is instantly obsessed, making the first of many calls to Joe and Clarissa's London flat that same night. Soon he's openly shadowing Joe and writing him endless letters. (One insane epistle begins, "I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable.") Worst of all, Jed's version of love comes to seem a distortion of Joe's feelings for Clarissa.Apart from the incessant stalking, it is the conditionals--the contingencies--that most frustrate Joe, a scientific journalist. If only he and Clarissa had gone straight home from the airport... If only the wind hadn't picked up... If only he had saved Jed's 29 messages in a single day... Ian McEwan has long been a poet of the arbitrary nightmare, his characters ineluctably swept up in others' fantasies, skidding into deepening violence, and--worst of all--becoming strangers to those who love them. Even his prose itself is a masterful and methodical exercise in de-familiarisation. But Enduring Love and its underrated predecessor, Black Dogs, are also meditations on knowledge and perception as well as brilliant manipulations of our own expectations. By the novel's end, you will be surprisingly unafraid of hot-air balloons, but you won't be too keen on looking a stranger in the eye. --Alex Freeman
Specify Books To Enduring Love
| Original Title: | Enduring Love |
| ISBN: | 0099481243 (ISBN13: 9780099481249) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Joe Rose, Clarissa Mellon, Jed Parry, Jean Logan |
| Setting: | London, England(United Kingdom) England |
| Literary Awards: | James Tait Black Memorial Prize Nominee for Fiction (1997), International Dublin Literary Award Nominee for Shortlist (1999) |
Rating Out Of Books Enduring Love
Ratings: 3.63 From 36539 Users | 2095 ReviewsDiscuss Out Of Books Enduring Love
What a funny book. That's funny as in weird funny. You'd think I would know to expect this as this was my 5th McEwan novel, but I have to say this one was odder than I expected it to be.The first chapter of this book was excellent, and probably one of the most memorable I have ever read (if you don't know what it's about the cover is a pretty helpful clue). After the first chapter there was a direction I expected the novel to take, but it instead focuses on one character involved in theEnduring Love has a simple but fascinating premise, which I was at least halfway familiar with before beginning the book (I think there's been a film version, which I haven't actually seen, but remember reading about whenever it came out). Joe Rose, a scientific journalist, is about to enjoy a reunion picnic with his girlfriend Clarissa when he witnesses an accident involving a hot-air balloon; he and a small group of strangers rush to help, but the incident results in a man's death. During
This is a mid-career novel by McEwan, 1997. Its about erotomania, the syndrome characterized by the delusional idea, usually in a young woman, that a man whom she considers to be of higher social and/or professional standing, who may be a complete stranger, is in love with her. He sends her signs and messages that only she can interpret, keeping the delusion alive. It can occur in males too, as it does in this story, especially in men who have social disabilities; are disconnected loners with no
Id forgotten how deftly McEwan writes. The prose here is so vivid, it adds layers of complexity and introspection to an otherwise so-so plot. The opening chapter itself is worthy of 5 stars - I felt like I was actually witnessing the accident in real time, that the desperation, helplessness, horror, and guilt outlined on those pages were mine alone. Fantastic.
Even though I liked much of Choupette's review this morning, I disagreed with her conclusions... so, although I'm clearly in the minority here, let me present my take. Choupette starts off by observingreally what the book is about is the conflict between a way of thinking based on logical scientific reasoning and one based on emotions. Literature, versus science: "Do the scientific illiterates who run the National Library really believe that literature is mankind's greatest achievement?" (or
Can this author really be the same man who wrote Atonement? I have now read enough of his books to know there is a range from horrid to sublime and a bit of everything in between, and this one is the in between. I hated the first half and almost tossed it in. I didnt for the obvious reason, I wanted to know which of the two scenarios was right, who was the crazy man here? In the end, I realized, it didnt really matter if Joe was right or wrong, he was still unbalanced, and he was still a very
Read it years ago!!!A tragic accident.....love, guilt, moral dilemma..............Thought-provoking prose........A terrific writer. One of my favorites!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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