For those of you that don't know her blog, she has been doing a wonderful series recently called 'The Best of Worst Of' series, where each week a different blogger does a post about the best and worst books by a particular author.
It was my turn, and I chose: The Best and Worst of Ian McEwan.
Ian McEwan is one of those authors that is either hit or miss for me, so I thought that I was a great choice for her series.
I hope that if you have time, you will head over and have a look.
Ah Ian McEwan. Favourite author or arch nemesis? Well, arch nemesis is probably taking it a bit too far, but he was one of the first authors that came to mind when I saw Alyce’s “Best and Worst of” series.
I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with Ian McEwan. He is undoubtedly a talented literary writer who, when he hits the mark, is completely able to draw you into the fictional world he has created and hold your attention until the very end with his stunning prose and fascinating character development.
For me, the books where he achieved this perfectly are Enduring Love and Atonement. *Minor spoilers ahead* Enduring Love is the story of Joe Rose, whose life is turned upside down when mentally ill Jed Parry falls in love with him following a hot air balloon accident. Atonement is the story of Briony Tallis, who makes a split second decision to accuse her sister’s lover of rape and spends the rest of her life attempting to atone for her decision. *End of spoilers*
What Mc Ewan does so well in each of these books is to remind us that every moment in our lives and every decision we make can have far reaching consequences. In exploring the consequences of specific moments in each of the protagonist’s lives, McEwan not only produces two gripping novels, he explores some of the fundamental aspects of human nature.
And the worst? I am going to suggest that it is his book Saturday, which follows the events in one day of a man’s life that have life changing consequences for him. Although I choose Saturday as my example of McEwan’s worst work, my complaints equally apply to many of his other books. In Saturday, McEwan’s talent as a literary author gets the better of him and he writes in prose that I found created a barrier between me and the story. Instead of being swept away by the events and the characters as I was in Enduring Love and Atonement, I found myself being solely focused on the words on the page in front of me. As a result, the story dragged on and on and I never felt at all interested the content of the book. I admit it. I gave up about halfway through the book. The same can be said for many other of McEwan’s books, where the prose presented such a barrier to the story that I wasn’t able to reach the end. Very disappointing.
I hope to come across more books by McEwan like Enduring Love and Atonement, but until then he will remain an author, I feel very wary of.
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