Rating: 
Summary: Could have been a downer ¿ but it rises much higher
Review: Only Ian McEwan could have saved this story from being a real downer. It's a story of obsession, mixed liberally with suspense, fear, and the crumbling of important relationships. McEwan's superb skills illuminate the lives of his characters, who have come together in the rescue of a little boy at a picnic, with clarity, compassion, and insight, and you care about every one of them.
It's hard to write a mad character without descending into caricature, but McEwan succeeds so thoroughly that, as the inner thoughts of all the characters are revealed, including the madman, readers find themselves wondering, Who is right? What is the 'real' truth?
Rating:
Summary: First chapter is worth the price of the book
Review: "The Comfort of Strangers" spooked me out so bad I was afraid of my own shadows days after I'd read it. Such is the genius of Ian McEwan's craft in the genre of psycho suspense thrillers. That essential quality of "darkness", which has become a McEwanian trademark, is very much evident in "Enduring Love" but in surprising ways. Jed Parry's sudden obsession and stalking of Joe Rose is every bit as scary as the looming threat and encircling of the young visiting couple by the decadent older couple in TCOS. In "Enduring Love", the path chosen by McEwan to the heart of darkness is altogether different but stunning in its brilliance, the occurrence of a shock event that triggers off an emotional response that is menacing in its obsession and indifference to the havoc it creates to the lives of its victims. The now famous first chapter of "Enduring Love" is quite the most mesmerising piece of fictional writing, ever. The horror of the balloon accident is so vividly drawn and captured by McEwan's cleanly precise prose the scene remains firmly etched in your mind long after the action has moved on to another place. The "high" experienced in the opening chapter is so acute that what follows must inevitably seem anticlimatic. But what's surprising is that the novel veers off in a direction nobody could have anticipated after the heartstopping beginning, which on hindsight seems to be a kind of red herring. But that's a false charge. The real subject of novel isn't, to my mind, even about the effects of the de Clerambault disease but the fragility of the human condition, the absence of any solid foundation that underpins our self definition, and the ferocity of our self preservation instincts that lie buried within us, all ready to be sparked off by the unexpected. McEwan's expose on human frailty is painfully honest and may make some of us uncomfortable but the message seems to be that with self awareness, there is hope. "Enduring Love" is such a thrilling captivating read I guarantee you'd want to finish it in one sitting. It's quite the most entertaining novel I've read in a long time. Absolutely brilliant !
Rating: 
Summary: Slow and Tedious
Review: I am giving this book two stars because I am in a good mood! In actual fact, it is a rather mediocre work, as the plot is incredibly boring and redundant. In almost 300 pages, practically nothing happens in this book! The characters behave somewhat immaturely in this book as well. Personally, I believe this book should be avoided.
Rating:
Summary: Enduring Fixation
Review: This story of madness and fixation will keep you awake nights - and not just because it's hard to put down.Freelance writer Joe Rose and his wife Clarissa are in the wrong place at the wrong time. While enjoying a romantic picnic in the English countryside, they witness a tragic accident, a ballooning trip that goes horribly wrong. Joe and other passersby rush to the rescue, but the men bungle the operation and one of them, John Logan, dies as a result. This would already be a lot of action in most books but in Ian McEwan's dark and surprising world it's just the starting point. One of the other rescuers, an intensely religious young man named Jed Parry, has in an instant become obsessed with Joe. At first it seems unwelcome but harmless, and no one takes it too seriously. Not the police, and not Clarissa. Parry follows Joe around, waits outside his house, writes him lengthy love letters: the situation becomes more and more disruptive of Joe's everyday life, yet Clarissa reacts unsympathetically, seeming to feel that Joe has blown the inconvenience out of proportion. Joe contacts the police again, but the Inspectors find nothing threatening in someone obsessively promising to love you. Eventually, however, the latent atheism in Joe's published writings seems to push Parry over the brink - and what happens after that brings to mind the well-worn phrase "I love you to death". McEwan has written a book that is superb on several levels. One of its central themes has to do with the standard for determining when one person's behavior is threatening to another. Joe's life is being disrupted, he feels dread every time he looks out the window or checks his mail: Parry's unwelcome actions are clearly causing him anxiety. Yet though he seeks help from the proper authorities, he receives none and so must ultimately take matters into his own hands. Most disquieting of all, though, is the story's plausibility. Just as consumers can be tricked into buying a defective product by its pretty packaging, the mere façade of sanity is easily bought into. All too often dangerous individuals are left loose in society by those too apathetic to stop them. Jed Parry, a slight young man who speaks of love and conversion... Who'd have believed he could be so dangerous? Subtle psychopaths abound in our society, walk among us every day undetected, and that's precisely what makes them so dangerous. The obviously deranged are more easily guarded against; it's the quietly psychotic we need to worry about. This is a book about which one can truly say "It could happen to you."
Rating: 
Summary: A boring plot, but nevertheless an enjoyable book
Review: This book begins with a tragic hot air balloon accident where one man dies in his attempt to save a little boy trapped in the balloon's basket. Although this opening scene is suspenseful, the rest of the book contains little excitement, except for one restaurant scene towards the end. The main character, Joe Rose, correctly predicts the answers to any remaining questions the reader may have that could possibly lead to suspense for the reader. However, overall the book is enjoyable and goes quickly, thanks to many funny enconters with the daft, god-loving Jed Parry who quickly becomes obsessed with Joe. The entire book is well-written, including McEwan's character descriptions--no matter how eccentric a character was, he or she was still believable as a person, which was a large part in what made this novel entertaining. Overall, this book is enjoyable, but not exactly a page-turner, with a disappointing ending.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Homo-erotic Thriller
Review: The author is Ian McEwan. Distinguished English writer, and known for his intelligent, compelling works like The Cement Garden, The Child in Time (winner of the Whitbread Prize), Amsterdam (Booker Prize), and the highly praised Atonement.
(Of course, you might say, with all those book-titles under his belt, what can possibly go wrong with this one) ENDURING LOVE, the author's nineth novel, is the story of Joe Rose, disciple of scientific rationalism ("You're so rational sometimes you're like a child"), who becomes an object of desire (devotion according to the New York Times, 25.01.98) of a mad, "Jesus freak", Jed Parry. Parry's personal belief that there's something between them- an unspoken love "as strong as steel cable"- is so powerful, so convincing that it is threatening the stability of Rose's relationship with his partner, Clarissa. The fruits of Parry's obsession is so terrifying that sometimes I, as the reader, wonders whether such an expression of desire is possible. Could it be that Rose is just imagining things? (Apparently not, and Rose gave us a name for this kind of obsession, de Clerambault's syndrome. NOTE: I suggest that you finish the book first before investigating the nature of this mental illness) There are times when you need to be patient with this book. Discussions ranging from Einstein to Keats to the Shroud of Turin will surely turn off some readers. Furthermore, don't expect shocking, melo-dramatic scenes in this novel. The intensity of McEwan's narration is so controlled and subtle that one might find it frustrating. Nevertheless, ENDURING LOVE is an intelligent, compelling thriller. A fine novel that deserves to be read. McEwan should be congratulated for creating this novel.
Rating:
Summary: An enchanting first chapter; a mesmerizing novel
Review: First things first: the first chapter of this book is the best introductory chapter I have ever read. Using only a handful of pages, McEwan manages to describe not only an event that changes the lives of the people in the novel, but he makes us understand them as well. His sense of detail is fantastic; it feels as if you are actually there with Joe, Clarissa and Jed. And as the novel progresses, we travel deeper and deeper into the minds of the characters on a nightmarish journey the end of which no-one knows. This is not a novel to be read as much as it is a novel to be experienced.
Rating:
Summary: compelling literary pageturner - interesting themes
Review: It is difficult to give a synopsis of this book, as after all so much of its cumulative power and suspense lie in the gradual revelation of its plot movement. It is really enough just to say that this is a novel about one man and his stalker. It begins with possibly the most sublime and perfectly first chapter, which is a demonstration of McEwan's acute ability to create a teasing, hypnotic and terribly suspense from mere hints. From the events of that first chapter, one man's life is set on a new and potentially dangerous path. In a way, McEwan's depiction of how people's lives can be adversely affected by brushing up against someone who, in accepted terms, is not quite "normal", is distinctly Rendellian. Though, while McEwan's portrayal of this particular malign influence is certainly powerful, here it is not quite as convincing or effective, even though it works well enough for the purposes of the plot. Another large slice of this novel' magic comes from McEwan's ability, through his tempered, reasonable prose, to make the most surreal of things seem entirely possible, even probable. Gradually, this book becomes a fascinating and satisfyingly oblique examination of obsession and all forms of love: familial, sexual, parental, as well as study in what love itself means, though the various character's experiences. The brilliant double-take title places a sharp gloss onto these themes, setting mental cogs in motion to top the excellent ensemble off perfectly. Another of McEwan's trademarks is on brilliant display here, too: the depiction of the gradual disintegration of human relationships. His is a true master in this area, understanding with deadly realism how fragile relationships are, how even the smallest shifts can irreparably damage them if those changes are reinforced, if the requisite fixing is not done in time. This has long been a theme of McEwan's work, right from his first novel, "The Cement Garden", through to his Booker Prize-winning "Amsterdam", and here he tackles them possibly with more clarity and precision than ever before. His prose is also as tempered and spare as ever, perfectly succinct and tight, and is a virtuoso lesson in detachment. Eerily and atmospherically so, as this novel is written in the first person, giving an odd but effective personal juxtaposition between the reader and characters. Enduring Love is a gripping, literate pageturner. It's not a book for people who like Pattersonesque comic-book style novels, but for those who like to savour the words, the semantics, the sentences - everything that lies hidden behind the scenes, as well as the story. Full of provoking pensive passages, it's one of the most compelling and intelligent novels yet from one of the world's literary heavyweights.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This is the best book I have ever read. Brilliant. Never find an author who is able to take me to the variety of human kind.
To use the author's words: Observing human variety can give pleasure, but so too can human sameness. A masterpiece that demonstrates the fragility of married life. Read this book if you are an observer of life!
Rating: 
Summary: Shades of Gray
Review: The problem with "Enduring Love" is that there isn't much here that you or I haven't already witnessed at our local cineplex. Ordinary guy Joe (he even has a dull name) becomes the target of a mentally-ill stalker named Jed Parry after they both try to rescue a child trapped in a balloon (that part at least is original), wherein the cops of course can do nothing while Jed becomes more and more obsessed, leading to a final confrontation where of course Jed takes Joe's wife hostage. Yawn. The story is not exciting enough to be a thriller and not really profound enough to be literary gold. It's a sort of dull Anybook anyone could write after reading an article on de Clerambault's syndrome. Having just read McEwan's brilliant "Atonement" I feel this effort is unworthy of him. The only thrill in reading this book is wondering whether Joe is really being stalked, or if it's all some elaborate trick of his imagination. It was, to me, like watching an old "Twilight Zone" episode, wondering if what I was being presented was the truth or just an illusion. Unfortunately, the endings I concocted in my head were better than the straightforward, cookie-cutter ending the author presented. Overall, I liked McEwan's writing style, simple enough to read and understand that it doesn't detract from the book. Average Joe the narrator was not exciting or interesting, but the entertainment was in watching him become obsessed about being obsessed about while everyone else doesn't believe him. I had to agree with Joe that his wife came off a little selfish and whiny--they're both almost killed and she's mad because he wasn't "letting her in" emotionally and didn't give her enough sex? Give me a break. The big positive of "Enduring Love" over "Atonement" is that at least "Enduring Love" doesn't take long to get going. The problem is that it doesn't seem to get very far. There's enough here, though, to recommend this book for a few hours of enjoyable reading. Just don't expect any surprises.
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