Quote:
|
Originally Posted by evollove
Loved it. He almost flirts with satire at the beginning, but I soon cared for both characters and it ends up being a very moving tragedy.
His prose style isn't anything to really excite me, but the book doesn't call for any pyrotechnics. Anyway, it was brilliantly put together and he clearly has a talent for the craft.
No idea why they made a movie of it when it can be read in an afternoon.
Now I want more McEwan.
|
Glad you liked it. If you want recommendations for more McEwan: Cement Garden; Child in Time and The Innocent. But his two collections of short stories (First Love Last Rites and In Between the Sheets) are also excellent. He seemed to mellow after The Innocent but, of his later period, there's some really great writing in Saturday but I'd still say OCB is his masterpiece from that era. Atonement gets all the acclaim, maybe because it's arguably his first really great story, but personally I found it far too long-winded and the theme and characters just never really clicked with me. I think I'm in a minority though.
If you liked On Chesil Beach you might also like Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day. McEwan and Ishiguro graduated from the same writing programme and there are definite similarities in their style and overall approach. But I think McEwan's real strength is his set-pieces. He sort of reminds me of DeLillo in that sense.