Helpful Score: 2
This was a very macabre and disturbing short novel about four children who were suddenly left as orphans when there mother passed away. Not wanting to split up the family, the children decide to cement the mother's body into a trunk in the cellar. A very unforgettable piece of fiction. McEwan, as usual, does a great job with his descriptive prose and characterizations. The ending was especially shocking and bizarre and maybe a bit gratuitous but overall I would recommend this one.
Helpful Score: 2
Dark and powerful. It's a book you can feel long after you finish.
Helpful Score: 2
Disturbing yet interesting. A very strange story. I've heard it likened to Lord of the Flies and I'd have to agree with that. It's a fast read too, only ten chapters, I finished in a day and a half. I'm not sure if I would recommend it to friends because I feel that you'd have to be able to handle it. It's not scary terrifying, just leaves you with an unsettling feeling.
Helpful Score: 2
Guess not many people liked this book by Ian McEwan. It is a sharp contrast to Atonement (the book that probably put the author on most people's radars in the first place) because it has absolutely zero romantic element. Yes, this book is about incest. Yes, most of the characters are despicable. Luckily, the book is short enough that if you overlook the sex stuff (and honestly, McEwan writes about it in his usual, clinical and sterile way...the main sex scene at the end is about as thrilling as your last dental appointment) you'll get through this quickly. It's worth re-reading to catch onto the real underlying issues of broken parenting, a weak mother-figure, a verbally abusive father, the effects on the children. Just don't get hung up on the incest.
Helpful Score: 1
I absolutely LOVE this book. It isn't for most people though. I think most would find it too shocking and disturbing.
