Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant but Creepy
Review: "Enduring Love" has all the hallmarks of McEwan's best fiction. These include narrative brilliance, perfectly rendered descriptions of place, odd interaction between misconnecting characters, and an ending that is a slight let-down, a tiny notch below the brilliant writing that carries the story. In this book, McEwan offers another obsessive character, this one a gay stalker who truly gave me the creeps. He also presents an odd, supposedly intimate, relationship that lacks any sexual current. Indeed, the beautiful Clarissa and the narrator Joe share a bedroom and bathroom like two strangers in a health-club locker room. Nonetheless, this is a terrific novel, a very peculiar but compelling page turner.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Beautiful Mind
Review: Joe Rose is incredibly rational, but as his narrative voice evolves, the reader increasingly doubts Joe's judgment, perception, reason, even sanity. The ways he, his wife, and other characters respond to Jed Parry seem to symbolize society's uneasy struggle with the mentally ill. The writing is vivid, and I think this would translate into an excellent film, only where is Hitchcock when you need him?
Rating: 
Summary: Did someone say vocabulary ?
Review: When a writer uses the word palimpsests to describe some scratched-out then re-written pages in an address book he should be spanked.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't quite produce
Review: The beginning chapter was compelling and I thought he would expand on it, but the plot didn't have much to do with the profound events of that chapter. After reading awhile, it felt like the beginning was contrived just as a plot technique when it was really the best part of the book. I got tired of Joe and Clarissa's wordiness, and how the author would just go off on tangents that weren't very interesting to me. There was a scene at the end that seemed ridiculous but at least it made me laugh out loud (buying the gun scene). The ending was very unsatisfying. Clarissa did not act in a believable way, especially as her character is supposed to be kind and caring--a poorly drawn female character.
I enjoyed the first half, but it really went downhill.
Rating:
Summary: a disturbing story
Review: This is a disturbing story about how a chance encounter at the scene of a ballooning accident forever changes the life of Joe Rose, not because of the accident itself but because of a man he meets at the scene, Jed Parry. Because of a bizarre psychological disorder, Jed believes that he is in love with Joe and Joe in love with him. Jed begins to stalk Joe, causing so much distress in his life that his wife, Clarissa, thinks he might be going crazy. An appendix at the end reveals that the story is based on a true case history of the syndrome that Jed suffers from, which makes it all the more creepier. It sure makes you hope you're never a victim of someone with the disorder. The only complaint I have about the book is that the author sometimes goes off on irrelevant tangents about random subjects. They ultimately don't contribute to the story so there seems to be no point to them. But overall, even though this is kind of a weird book, it's a good book.
Rating:
Summary: beautifully written historical fiction..
Review: 'Enduring Love' is the first McEwan novel I've read, and I was impressed. He is one of the few authors (such as Margaret Atwood) today capable of writing truly beautiful, powerful prose. Even with an imperfect story, as in 'Enduring Love', the reader simply wants to gobble up the words.The story actually starts off very fast. Several individuals are brought together in a compelling event (..an air ballooning accident), and a particular threesome are brought together in quite a destructive fashion. Irrational, obsessive love of a young man threatens the stable relationship of a middle-aged couple. At times scary, the story is very intriguing. And as we learn in the end (in an Appendix) the story is loosely based on true events. But the book isn't perfect. I felt as though the author never really dug in deep enough on the characterizations, and dramatic moments were never fully drawn out. This gives 'Enduring Love' somewhat of a "Reader's Digest" feel. Bottom line: lovely words, interesting yet flawed story. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Ruth Rendell does obsession much, much better!
Review: I bought this book expecting a real quality read, considering the author's reviews and recent award for ATONEMENT. I was seriously disappointed. The story to me was not even believable, which made it less than totally involving and frightening. Clarisa's reaction to what Joe was experiencing didn't make any sense, and neither did the authorities'. I don't want to give the plot away, but if I were Clarisa I would have simply looked out the window a few times and had the proof I needed. She, Joe and Jed all seemed static, and without compelling characters and a believeable set-up, you just don't have an engrossing story. It didn't make me think about the fragility of love; it made me think that the author was forcing the charavters to act in an unbelievable manner to support his preconceptions. I did enjoy many of the observations and descriptions, however, such as Joe's thoughts on watching people arrive at the airport, and also the science digressions. Both Ruth Rendell and Nicci French have written much stronger books on obsession, with more fully drawn characters and, in my opinon, even stronger use of language. Even the opening chapter of ENDURING LOVE was not as good as I expected from the reviews and far from one of the best or most exciting I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: A interesting quick read.
Review: A very interesting and inventive quick read. Oftentimes, your own confusion about Joe's sanity becomes indicative of his own declining mental state. This is the third novel of McEwan's that I've read and have yet to be disappointed with one of his books. His writing has been consistent and thought provoking, which is an excellent ingredient for a safe recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Finely written but uninteresting tale of obsession
Review: 'Black Dogs' was the first McEwan I read and I found it rather rewarding, so I went on to read most of his earlier books too. However, I felt my liking for this author dwindle as I grew more familiar with the Mc Ewan formula: little tales of obsession with plots collapsing under their own weight typically somewhere halfway through the book. So I left Mc Ewan alone for a while and passed over Enduring Love and Amsterdam. It was through reading marvellous 'Atonement' , his latest novel, that I became convinced again of McEwan's great potential as a novelist. So I returned to Enduring Love. Sadly to say, it suffers from the same flaws as many of his earlier books: it's a description of a more or less static microcosm seething with obsessive emotions. The protagonists, all of them, are two-dimensional creatures that are fixed in a cramped, ridiculous pose, unable to adapt their psychological or moral outlook as a result of the forces affecting them. Hence, they are unable to support the narrative in a convincing way unto its conclusion. That is not to say that reading this novel is an unpleasant affair. This is a very gifted author that produces prose that is virtuosic in its cinematographic directness. But it is a pity that this impressive gift is not used for loftier purposes. However, with Atonement, McEwan seems to have liberated himself from the creative gridlock he seemed to suffer from. Instead of constraining his literary imagination to the confines of a carefully planned, linear plot, Atonement, according to the author's own statements, grew under his pen in much more organic way. The relinquishing of control over the final shape of the narrative resulted in incomparable depth and richness. I hope McEwan will continue to experiment in this vein and relinquish his infatuation for little, but ultimately uninteresting tales of obsession.
Rating:
Summary: A CREATIVE CLINICAL STUDY
Review: A beautifully documented case report inspired by the author's discovery of de Clerembault's syndrome. (Perhaps he became aware of this entity when Stephen Speilberg's stalker was apprehended a few years ago.) With this rare psychiatric condition as the skeleton McEwan produces a "monster" of a story. His imagination, his broad knowledge, and his understanding of human psychology enrich a simple linear plot line. McEwan is a creative thinker and a clever writer. Each book is a challenge and an entertainment.
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