Enduring Love : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Enduring brilliance
Review: Joe and Clarissa are an ordinary couple. They have a stable and loving relationship until a balloon goes out of control. Joe is drawn into a group of rescuers whose efforts end in tragedy. Their life is changed for ever.

Joe is unable to free himself from his feelings of guilt. Nor can he free himself from Jed - a co-rescuer who forces his way into his life.

McEwan brilliantly tells the story of the disintegration of Joe and Clarissa's normal relationship in the face of extremely abnormal events. This is a disturbing novel but so brilliantly written that you cannot walk away from it - a bit like Jed himself.

The novel begins with one of the most gripping and disturbing opening chapters that I have ever read. Be warned!

Rating:
Summary: "This was the pinprick on the time map."
Review: In Ian McEwan's novel "Enduring Love" successful freelance science writer, Joe Rose and his wife, college professor, Clarissa are enjoying a quiet picnic in the Chilterns when they become involved in a tragedy that ultimately alters the course of their lives.

Trying to avert tragedy, Joe becomes involved in a hot-air balloon rescue, but this rescue leads to the death of another man, John Logan, a local doctor. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Joe exchanges glances with an intense young man, Jed Parry. In shock, Joe doesn't evaluate Jed's behaviour critically. Feeling guilty and tainted by the tragic event and thinking that he was somehow responsible for Logan's death, Joe tries to pick up his life and continue.

Joe's life, however, does not return to normal. Even though the guilt he feels over the event shifts a little towards the rear of his conscious thought, Joe's life becomes hideously complicated when Jed begins to pester him. At first, Joe isn't exactly sure what Jed wants, but when Jed begins stalking Joe's every move, writing dozens of passionate love letters, and leaving umpteen messages on his answering machine, Joe begins to realize that Jed is a seriously disturbed individual.

"Enduring Love" is first and foremost the tale of an obsession, and Joe discovers that he is as locked into this unhealthy relationship as Jed is. Try and ignore it as he might, Joe cannot escape Jed's unwanted attentions. Joe, while trying to cope with Jed's deranged behaviour is also trying to cope with his confrontation with death in the Chilterns. Joe retreats into himself, doesn't confide in Clarissa, and begins having old familiar delusions of a long-lost academic career. In this period of crisis, as his relationship with Clarissa unravels, Joe turns to science--his old refuge--for some of the answers to his situation. The introduction of violence into the novel is yet another opportunity for Joe to find solace and refuge in science as he realizes that violence interferes with the "great chain." "Enduring Love" is exquisitely written, and it explores some huge themes here--the meaning of life, obsession, guilt, delusion, and self-persuasion. Author McEwan's strong characterizations add dimension to the powerful plot. Even the relatively minor characters of the shady Johnny and his even shadier connections in the house on North Downs ("they're not too stable") are well-drawn, believable, and darkly fascinating. McEwan shows us that one brief moment can change life forever--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: Compelling story, powerhouse writing - McEwan at his best
Review: To say that Ian McEwan is a master of prying below the surface of a well-established relationship is an understatement. This story is a perfect counterpoint to "The Comfort of Strangers", both books examining the effects of the intrusion of a dangerous and obsessive outsider into a relationship between man and woman (each couple being in the English upper-middle class). In each case, a seven year relationship is put to great strain and difficulty, the difference being that the encounter with the stranger in "The Comfort of Strangers" (an ironic title by the way) resurrects passion in a relationship that has become dull and unhinged, and in this story, replaces passion with callous indifference, suspicion and cynicism.

Joe and Clarissa, the couple at the centre of this story are a part of the intellectual and ideological elite. Joe writes magazine articles on scientific matters; Clarissa is something of an historian on the works and life of Keats. Joe is a rationalist who Clarissa comes to believe is in denial of his emotional responses to the events that take place in this story. We also get some insight into the inner mind of Clarissa, through letters and insights that balance Joe's, since the story is written in the first person of Joe.

The first chapter of this book had me hooked. And it only continues to grow better and more satisfying as the story progresses from the pivotal event which set in motion all that followed. Joe is placed in an impossibly difficult moral dilemma involving the saving of a child's life, and his response to that situation and those that follow, unhinges both him, and his precious relationship to Clarissa. The person who incites this is an intense character named Jed Parry, a deluded religious-obsessive-homosexually-oriented nut who fixates on Joe, and provokes reactions in Joe that form the basis of a very rich, dark and provocative psycho-drama. In the midst of this, McEwan mines the Joe-Clarissa relationship to depths that feel almost voyeuristic to the reader. Through it all, McEwan writes beautifully, always seeming to find the right words to make my hair stand up on the back of my neck, while causing me to reflect, underline, and shudder. He is a great writer.


Rating:
Summary: Disappointing.
Review: This is perhaps the most disappointing novel I have ever had the misfortune of reading - I am *still* mad at myself for bothering to finish it. I kept waiting of McEwan to reveal some great truth, or tie all the thematic elements together, but alas...

The characters are all completely one-dimenstional; the plot "twists" are absurd; and the relationship between the protagonist and his wife is without complexity and nauseatingly affected. In one scene Clarissa tells Joe that "it's over," that she can no longer handle his obsessive behavior; in the next, they are making love the morning of her birthday and all is well. I flipped back between the pages five or six times thinking there was something I'd missed, but I hadn't! One of many examples of the author's inability to maintain any sort of narrative thread, let alone an interesting one.

Clarissa is perhaps the most uninteresting woman I have ever come across in a novel. She likes kids (but can't have any of her own); she likes books (she's a university lit professor, of course); and she leaves a trace of her perfume when she leaves a room. She was so boring and stereotypical, and her relationship with Joe so contrived, I wondered why McEwan bothered with her at all.

This was the second of McEwan's novels I'd read, and while I enjoyed ATONEMENT a bit more, I am at a loss as to why he's hailed as the latest darling of the literary set. If you're thinking of picking up ENDURING LOVE, do yourself a favor and read something, *anything*, else instead.

Rating:
Summary: objectionable
Review: The whole story is that the author (who is reflected in the protagonist) attributes untenable amounts of tragic weight to an accidental death. He then infers a great moral deficiency in those who might have saved this person but were not willing to do so when their own lives seemed likely to be lost in the process. This is not just the usual over-blown socially-correct lip service most people offer in the face of a tragedy. This is a humanist to the bizarre extreme. At the same time, he also has no regard for animals. I can't think of a worse person and more objectionable view of things.

The writing is very good, but the values of the protagonist are so offensive that most people I know have put the book down without finishing it. The book won accolades, but consider their source, the same who lauded "Disgrace" by Coetzee. Unless you are as squalid as the author, it's probably not your kind of story.

Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Read
Review: While I can admit that I didn't like this novel to the extent that I liked other Ian McEwan novels that I have read (Amsterdam and The Comfort of Strangers), this book deserves 5 stars. At times, the narrator's thoughts get a little complex, but this all serves the greater psychological purpose of the novel. The book means to play with human emotions and ethics; and the extensive ruminations of the narrator act as a great vehicle for that purpose. I thought this book was enjoyable throughout, and at times difficult to put down. When captured by the book's many scientific explanations, one can feel a little bored, but just at those times, there is often something that catches you offguard, pulling you right back into the story. In addition, it is all the more satisfying to reach a point where some of the many details described earlier become significant.

Rating:
Summary: A great read by a masterful writer
Review: ENDURING LOVE isn't McEwan's best book, but it's still a darn good novel. Ian McEwan is so masterful I think even his shopping lists would make good reading. This book is an unsettling tale about homosexual and religious obsession and a highly recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: Enduring Love begins with a romantic picnic that goes horribly wrong (and as many other reviewers have also noted, the first chapter is amazing) and goes on to tell how the events of the day become definitive to the lives of everyone there.

McEwan is once again superb in dealing with the complexities of relationships, but the characters, although well-drawn, were not likeable enough to have me really hooked, and although the plot was interesting, I did get a "get on with it!" feeling once or twice.

Beautifully written, but not as good as some of his other work.


Rating:
Summary: Here's a Plot Twist and Surprise...
Review: Whoa! Here goes a first chapter that has you gasping at the edge of your seat. Yikes! Then there's a fatal attraction 'of sorts' with some additional spice to a story filled with curiosity, mayhem, suspense, attempted murder, love and more. I think it has a lot of psychological thrilling moments. What a clever and very 'well-written' novel. This was recommended to me by Trina Owens, a very sweet English Schoolteacher that I met on the island of St. Lucia in April 2004. I'd definitely recommend this one. I bet it would make a great movie, too!