Rating: 
Summary: Ineresting and boring in one book!!
Review: I had never read any of Ian McEwan's novels before but it did catch my attention. At times though I tried to rush through it to get to the better parts. The musician's part was drawn out and basicaly lost my intrest. the ending was a suprise but i was glad when it did end. I will read another one of McEwen's book's beacse he did stimulate my mind a bit.
Rating: 
Summary: lightweight, not Booker material as I understand criteria
Review: I'm disappointed. Although there are things to like in the book: the part on the pleasures of hiking, the discussion of romantic vs. classic view of nature, the anthropomorphic airplane metaphor, most of it is blousy, especially the music discussions. If this is a colossal British joke about form following function in which the book is like the millenium symphony, spare me. It's not that funny and I don't have time to read tripe that knows it's tripe. If the book is intentionally sloppy then the author and the Booker judges owe us a apology and refund, if unintentional, well, we all have an off day or dash off something for fun that doesn't work. I'm just sorry I got stung along with several friends I recommended it to.
Rating: 
Summary: The kind of book you just don't find anymore...
Review: In 1974, a screenplay by Robert Towne found its way to the screen which bore a title that had nothing to do with the subject matter of the film itself; it was simply the location of the finale. It ended with the now classic line: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."25 years later, we are treated to the literary equivalent of that classic film. McEwan's "Amsterdam" has taken a lot of hits by readers and press alike since it won the Booker Prize, which is, apparently, the Holy Grail of the literary world, as far as some are concerned. The standards by which they call into question McEwan's victory in the contest leaves something to be desired. This was my first McEwan. I make no bones of that. Perhaps that is why my judgement of it remains unclouded. It was intentional as well, for specifically that precaution. I did not want to find myself muttering to myself upon finishing the book, "Not bad, but it's no 'Enduring Love'". And it may not be. I admit, I don't know yet. But that is secondary, irrelevant. It may not be as good as "Enduring Love". That does not mean that "Amsterdam" is any less than a great book in its own right. This is the sort of novel that Evelyn Waugh or Ernest Hemingway might have written were they still among us. It is a socio-political satire, filled with character and political assassinations and moral suicides. There are no heros or villians, and the people we are led to believe we should feel sympathetic towards are irrevocably and irretrievably cast as villians eventually. Coming off a heavy diet of William Golding, Penelope Fitzgerald, Evelyn Waugh and Iris Murdoch, I, for one, found this book wonderful, fascinating, and I did not want to put it down, short as it was. I originally bought the paperback from amazon.co.uk, but I'm buying the hardcover to put into my permanent collection. The next time someone asks of me "What is dramatic irony?", I will point towards this book. It is utterly captivating, and one of the best new works of literature I've come across in this decade.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to get through
Review: Although I usually enjoy reading Ian McEwan, I found it difficult to get through this book despite its short text. I found the description of Clive's musical composition drawn out. The symmetry of the characters is broken towards the end, in that we only know about Clive's thoughts regarding revenge. I guess this is to surprise the audience when we learn of Vernon's revenge as well. However, it makes the ending unbalanced as if it was just thrown together. I would have also liked a more detailed explanation of Amsterdam's euthanasia laws as I didn't understand the characters to be elderly.
Rating:
Summary: Can't say I love it, but it'll pass
Review: It just might pass as a Booker Prize Award winning novel, short sweet, disturbing and most of all, pompous in English. Aren't these the criteria in winning one? OKay seriously, I think this is a pretty haughty novel that it might just not able to be grasped by the lower society. This aristocity novel provided a willful glimsped into the European political and satirical scenes where betrayal seemed to be the only logic among the Englishman. A sacred heart to confess, this novel ain't that good, but will do for light reading, sauntering like strolling into a garden and before you know it, you're out. Blunt. Dull. But it's okay.
Rating: 
Summary: Very enjoyable!
Review: I thought this was a very enjoyable and interesting book. Quite funny actually. The author tells the story in a concise 193 pages. He could have dragged the story on for another 200 pages like some authors do but he knew where he was going with the characters and how to get there. I will be reading more of McEwan's work.
Rating:
Summary: well written quick enjoyable read
Review: I preferred Breakfast on Pluto, probably because I'm Irish and could relate to it's story line. McEwan is a bit high faluttin in the people he chooses to portray, successful people at the tops of their careers not quite normal people you see, but never mind the man can write and its dead easy to read. I hope he writes a few more as well as this but gets his teeth into something more substantial
Rating:
Summary: Booker prize winner with dud ending?
Review: What I liked here was a glimpse of people failing at the pinnacles of their lives, the idea that 21st century- style personal reinvention is easier to achieve if you've got a lover to do it for you, and when you havn't, well then the party's over, why hang about,it's double suicide-pacts time. The ending leaves the reader with a feeling of "So what?? they just both decided to snuff it? Is that it? Don't I get the tear wrenching finish I had in his last book, Enduring Love ?" But when you think about it, that's the point.The conclusion isn't supposed to be shocking. It's just our twentieth century unease with suicide that makes us feel this sense of futility. True, you can level critism here on behavioural grounds:the composer, who is brilliant and highly egotistical, would be unlikely to possess the brand of logic required for self termination. But in general, the conclusion of McEwan's latest story is certainly better than the ending of Clive's Millenial symphony. The writer won't be off to Amsterdam just yet.
Rating:
Summary: Stylish and concise
Review: It's always a pleasure to see such a concisely written modern English novel, while many people tend to mistakenly consider that any worth-reading novel should be thickly written and complicated. But I cannot really appreciate this novel, as this novel looks like Kundera's novels too much. Frequent use of musical terms, explicit sexual descriptions, liberal-minded characters, and so on. In that sense, I cannot understand why this novel took the Booker Prize, as this novel lacks originality.
Rating:
Summary: Postmodern Literature
Review: First, I was surprised to read how many of the people above bought the book because it won a prize. Second, I was also surprised by how many consider themselves qualified to render a judgement like "this is not Booker prize material." Finally, my opinion: If someone would ask me what is literature at the turn of the century, I would recommend this book. I think this is a tight, extraordinarily well told story where the characters lead absolutely useless lives and nothing is really of any importance whatsoever, but which left me with some further thoughts about my own existence and it fanned in me the angst of being alive.
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