Rating: 
Summary: Witty Short Novel
Review: Several reviewers have compared this book to the work of Evelyn Waugh and this is apt. In common with some of Waugh's novels, notably books like Vile Bodies and A Handful of Dust, this is bitterly ironic social comedy. Perhaps most similar to A Handful of Dust, Amsterdam is a savagely witty commentary on the British equivalent of the Baby Boomers, or at least their more intellectual and privileged strata. In events precipitated by the unexpected death of an old friend (and former mutual lover), two old friends and a common adversary confront moral choices and fail miserably to meet the challenge. Their failings are a result partly of efforts to recover some of their youthful idealism, and due partly to incredible self-absorption. This book is distinguished from Waugh's work by McEwan's ability to describe much more believeable characters. Very well written.
Rating: 
Summary: Snooker Prize
Review: Gotcha! McEwan's novel, while it has its good points, does not rise to the level of other Booker Prize winners. The characters are unconvincing and underdeveloped--trite even. We may be pleased to see wretched evilness unveiled in ordinary men, but this is a novel I might have found along with other pulp fiction disasters. The author must have some unusual sway and powers of persuasion to have garnered such kudos from otherwise reliable and trusted reviewers.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and ultimately absurd
Review: Although I greatly enjoyed Enduring Love by McEwan, I found this novel to be quite disappointing. Amersterdam tells the tale of how the death of a woman sends three friends of the deceased, a politician, a journalist, and a composer, into a bizarre spiral of changing relationships. The characters were never completely real and the story was never fully engaging. The ending of the book struck me as so absurd as to be laughable. This book has certainly received high praise elsewhere, so maybe it's just me, but I will not be recommending this book to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: written strangely but witty...
Review: I bought this book because it won the Booker Prize... I have read this book twice...I cant say that I understood the whole story...but it makes me think of it more... this is my first book by Ian McEwan..I heard his other book is better than this one.. I dont know yet...I guess that I will buy more of his books later... I have read a lot of books which won the Booker Prize... this one is the most strange one I have ever read, but still..this book has its own quality that I admire... so I gave it a four star..
Rating:
Summary: Complex Twists and Turns
Review: Amsterdam continues the persistent theme of Ian McEwan's fiction: the anguish of conflicting moral obligations. Should a composer, just beginning to sense the completion of the symphony that will define both himself and his career abandon his hard-won concentration to intervene on behalf of a woman who about to be raped?In Amsterdam, the composer is Clive Linley, newly reunited with his old friend, Vernon Halliday, a newspaper editor. The men meet (once again) outside a London crematorium to say goodbye to Molly Lane, dead in her late forties of a painful wasting disease. A sexually generous woman, Molly had been the lover of both Clive and Vernon, as well as Julian Garmony, the Foreign Secretary, who is also present at the service for Molly. Clive and Vernon, who were both unnerved by Molly's suffering prior to her death make a pact: If one of them develops symptoms that could suddenly leave him helpless, the other will secure the means for a peaceful euthanasia. As far as Clive and Vernon can tell, in Amsterdam, this presents no problem. Predictably, the agreement between the two men quickly becomes murderous and the aftermath of Molly Lane's death serves to destroy an enduring friendship. One of the men is offered photographs Molly had taken of Foreign Secretary Garmony in transvestite clothing. Feeling he must publish them in order to save Britain from a reactionary politician and secure a higher good, he runs into trouble from the other man, who feels that publication would violate the trust Molly placed in them and would betray all she had stood for in life. Unfortunately, this man's ethics are also compromised, making him a less-than-reliable moral proponent. Can these two men find a mutual meeting point? And at what cost? Although it is somewhat predictable and the characters are not fully developed (this is definitely a plot-driven novel), Amsterdam is still a chilling book and one that is filled with complex twists and turns that make it well worth the time spent.
Rating:
Summary: That book got tossed out the plane by sister.
Review: My sister and I are French. She talks and writed better in the Enlish than me. But we neither of us do understand that book is calling itself all the time Amsterdam. Some peoples is calling is great book. Some people is calling it very bad. My sister she very much likes to read to us when I am flying the plane from place to place. Winter, why you throw that book over Monaco when we was passing over that fun country? Nobody going to be reading that book down there. They got better things to do!
Rating:
Summary: How can a novel like this receive such acclaim?!
Review: I suppose a book like this could be placed in several categories: revenge tragedy, dark humor, social commentary, however, I prefer this one: bad. This novella touches upon several relatively serious themes like revenge, social duty, personal integrity, yet none of the characters or plot twists make the reader actually CARE about them. While each character in this book undergoes a mental and emotional struggle, not one of them is endearing or interesting, henceforth allowing the reader to distance himself from them and not give a damn. The struggles themselves are rather poignant - dealing with anything from the skeletal barebones of a friendship to crossdressing. The boring self-absorption of the characters that are caught in these situations is what allows the reader to become disinterested and want to put the book down. If a wee bit more attention had been paid to developing the characters, then perhaps their actions and decisions would have been more grounded and made more sense. However, McEwan tries to put everything in short as if to give the book a sort of fable quality. A short but grave tale of woe and misfortune that points out the good the bad and the ugly. If the reader had the chance to empathize or associate himself with any of the characters then maybe he would have cared which they were, but as it stands, it just ain't so.
Rating:
Summary: Are You People on Crack?
Review: I simply can't fathom how a novel as terrible as this one could win the most prestigious literary award in the UK. Even at a scant 193 pages, I had to fight with myself to keep from trashing it completely by page 50. Ian McEwan did a fantastic job of of creating completely self-absorbed unsympathetic characters in a setting that is more bland that English cuisine. I found myself wishing that the opening scene was the funeral for ALL of the main characters and not just that dearly departed manipulator Molly Lane. It's just that awful! A friend of mine tells me that McEwan is really truly talented (in spite of AMSTERDAM) and that the Booker Prize is always awarded one book late. Maybe if I'm feeling brave I'll buy ENDURING LOVE but don't count on it anytime soon!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, Not Prize Winning
Review: Why this novel won the Booker is somewhat of a mystery to me. Weren't there any better books published in the U.K. in 1998? While entertaining, and, a very fast read, there really is not much depth here, but, more of a Hitchcockian comedy that would be better put on TV. McEwan has a black, ironic twist on things, and, he does write well, but, the Booker? Come on.
Rating:
Summary: an entertaining read
Review: Something about the Booker Prize... I just don't seem to get what makes them select their prizes. Don't get me wrong -- I thoroughly enjoyed this witty, very well written novella about two "old" friends who have a major falling out, but besides the strong writing, I'm not sure what propelled it to the prize. That being said, McEwan does a terrific job of outlining his story starting from Molly's funeral and spiraling outwards from there following all of Molly's former lovers. Perhaps the best scene in the book occurs at the funeral when a staid looking state official pulls one of the main characters by the lapels and says some deliciously wicked things to him. I enjoyed the middle of the novel best, but by the end, I was getting a bit tired and found the ending a bit hyperbolic. Still, the scenes with the famous composer trying to write his masterpiece while hiking in the lake district, so absorbed that he fails to intervene and stop a rapist from attacking, made it an enjoyable read. I recommend it, although i don't think it's a classic that people will know about 50 years from now.
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