Rating: 
Summary: The most beautiful book
Review: Enduring Love is completely captivating from the first page. I couldn't put it down and have told all my friends to read it. It's not what I expected, but I loved every minute of it. Be sure to read the last section as well, I had goose bumps come up on my arms!
Rating: 
Summary: Mean People Suck, So Go Out and Buy a Gun
Review: The one star is for the artful structure of individual chapters, which is the only thing that moved the novel forward and kept me turning pages. As a whole, Enduring Love disappoints. It struck me as a formulaic crime novel intellectualized for elitists. The first chapter knocked me over, but the captivating moral question that remained was never addressed further in the novel. As Joe, the protagonist, handles the new challenge of a religious fanatic stalker in the subsequent chapters, he self-deconstructs until he is a mechanical blob of protoplasm, a mere product of millions of years of evolution, blind to his own humanity. He shuts out his wife because he can't tolerate her irrationality, that is, her humanity. He slaps a psychiatric label on his stalker, and he too becomes a one-dimensional menace. By the end of the novel the story becomes a comic strip with big words. The baton of compassion must be carried by the reader all the way through the novel, and by the end this reader was tired. Then, to make things worse, the main character decides to take the law into his own hands and buys a gun. Since I don't live in England, but rather in a country that is sadly impotent in its attempts to control gun violence, I found this a profoundly troubling ending. The problem with misanthropy in fiction is that it can spread to the reader, fester, and make him or her think about buying a gun, or supporting biological and chemical warfare, or yelling at his or her spouse, or whatnot. Our planet is getting too big for that kind of sentiment, and we don't need fiction that stereotypes persons with mental illness into nebulous sources of evil to help it grow.
Rating:
Summary: Best Post-Modern Classics
Review: One of the most provocative piece of Ian McEwan-- Enduring Love introduces a new kind of reevaluation and hidden conflicts of society and life, through a deliberate coherent, analytical narration. McEwan cleverly bridges different genres: psychological thriller and tragic love story into a novel of ideas that mirrors the world in a contemporary sense. A reunited couple, a bottle of wine following by a catastrophe begins Joe's report on a tale of chaos. The protagonist, Joe Rose, a scientific writer, and his wife, Clarissa who is a romantic literature professor witness the balloon accident which causes a doctor's (Mr. Logan) life in the process of saving his grandchild. While Joe, one of the helpers hangs on to the rope, starts suspecting himself as the first one who lets go and causes his death, another helper, Jed Parry who suffers de Clérambault Syndrome comes along and insists praying together will help relieving his guilt. Although Joe refuses, his glances and looks only initiate Jed's obsession. The dreadful disaster recalls heartbreaking memory for the couple who are "unable to bear children." (31) When both of them are trying to bury their sorrow and fix up the loving relationship through love and sex, Jed intrudes their orderly life. First with numerous phone calls and messages, later, love letters and spying across the street, Jed is only anxious but never tired in revealing his infatuation to Joe who merely diagnoses his feelings through scientific and rational logic and theories which, indeed, fails him to make sense of his behavior and Clarissa's ignorance and annoyance against his obstinacy to a stranger's craze. As Jed's interference becomes more irritating and his marriage starts falling apart, Joe reaches out for help; nevertheless, police neglect his complaint until he claims to identify Jed in the shooting scene which happens on Clarissa's birthday while a professor (Jocelyn), Clarissa, and himself are having lunch and discussing Keats. Yet, due to Joe's fragmented statement and unreliable assertion of Jed's attempted murder, contrary to other witnesses', police are not the least convinced. The rational Joe, finding no way for rescue, feels the urge for self-defense and buys a gun. As Joe predicts and calculates, Jed breaks in their house and pleads for forgiveness when he admits his attempted murder. Joe's rationale hesitates and leaves Jed no choice but threatens him with his own life. After careful calculation, Joe shoots him. When chaos is over and problems are solved, Joe assumes his marriage would heal through greater intimacy. But Clarissa, finding herself unable to fit in Joe's logical world, only thanks him for his heroic rescue and leaves him for good in order to preserve her own values of love. Enduring Love wages war between science, art, and religion, through a unique exploration of love. A story of Joe, a symbol of systematic logic and reasons, Clarissa, a symbol of romantic poet-Keats, and Jed, an extreme romantic attachment with distorted values of love, are recounted and interpreted in a history narrative form and in the language of science logic and rationalism. Science, dominating the Western culture since Enlightenment in 18th century, is deemed as pure absolutes, powerful knowledge, and necessity of survival that triumphs art and religion which have now been degraded for leisure spiritual appreciation and luxury. This dramatic change has lasted until today where our mainstreamed culture, society, and life are still constructed in preference of scientific results and logical process, rather than natural tendency for feelings and knowledge of God. Ian McEwan, in his post-modern masterpiece, has defeated science when Joe, being a loner, loses Clarissa and reestablished the irreplaceable importance of love as Jed, with no regrets, is kept in a mental institution where he is still free to love and Clarissa successfully preserves her values of love. Enduring Love awakens those who have only lived within the scientific and logical frames and guidelines, like Joe, perceiving the artificial orderly world as natural and original. McEwan demeans the values and credibility of contemporary science when Joe, the narrator, fails to decompose the homosexual obsessive love of Jed through methodical science theories. Joe's rational analytical skills limits and blinds him from true understanding of love which is not able to be decomposed, defined, or analyzed; instead, it is of no boundary and no absolute definition. In his novel, love is presented as a continuous state of mind, involving no reason and logic. Besides, love is far from what Joe presupposes-a solvent to loneliness or a compromise to heal and reconcile. McEwan skillfully employs Joe and Clarissa to demonstrate the ultimate difference between expressing love and explaining love; furthermore, Joe's tendency in explaining all things seems to suggest certain norms in society that are shaped throughout the course of science and history. In addition, McEwan intentionally frames the tale in a conventional, history-like narrative form-self-contradictory, objective first person- aiming to linear, rationalize, normalize, and shape all events and details into an objective and reliable presentation, similar to history. McEwan challenges such limits of artificial, imposed form and order, which are merely inventive structure out of reasons and logic and unable to reconcile with love and emotion, in order to prove its unreliability and inconsideration when Joe starts narrating in remorse. When dimensions of history and society conflicts are added to provide a wider scope of what McEwan seeks to reserve-natural tendency, and break down-standards, conventions, and mainstream culture that blind us from the natural, original world that is without artificial order-he also strengthens its effectiveness by asserting some fictitious appendices to show readers into the worlds of fiction and reality which often lie side by side. With great intensity of a thriller, Enduring Love explores society and culture through a psychological exploration of love and offers readers a new kind of reevaluation.
Rating: 
Summary: McEwan does it again in style.
Review: McEwan has written yet another engrossing book that is also a minor literary triumph. The premise is simple: a single glance at a stranger turns into a nightmare for Joe Rose as he becomes the subject of the former's obsession. While the stalker wreaks havoc for Joe's life and his marriage, the tables are turned when Joe unconsciously becomes obssessed by the stalker's psychological condition. Along the way, the book raises many questions about trust and forgiveness in a relationship and the conditionality of life's cruel path. McEwan is most impressive in his ability to set-up a scene in the most deliberate yet unpredictable style which, in my opinion, is unsurpassed and keeps the pages turning. The famous first chapter is a brilliant example. So is the murder attempt in the restaurant that literally left me gasping. There are some gripes - the book's pacing is somewhat uneven and the psychological ramblings can be trying at times but McEwan seldom loses focus. It is not as taut and gripping as his earlier masterpiece "The Innocent" but it is indeed a fine example of McEwan's stylish brilliance.
Rating:
Summary: An Enduring Impression
Review: What strikes me about this book is the lasting impression it's left on me. I read it last summer and still find myself thinking about it and talking about it a year later. I recently finished another book and my wife asked me to compare it to any two others as a point of reference. Better than one book we'd both read, I said, but not as good as Enduring Love. For contemporary fiction, this one sticks with you. McEwan does a fine job in painting the lead character Joe Rose, as well as the secondary players. His use of language is clear and simple, yet never elementary. The opening chapter is as powerfully imagined as any other I've read. The reader is literally hanging by a rope at the suspense of the scene. And it sets the tone for the psychological terror to come. More than a summer read, Enduring Love explores corners of our psyches and personalities that we don't often come face to face with. Suspense, terror, humor, and the very real idea of love and romance are alive in this book, which I reccommend as enjoyable to readers of any of these genres.
Rating: 
Summary: Great first chapter, but slow moving after that
Review: My book group seemed to have reservations about this one. It wasn't terrible, but it didn't make anyone's top ten list. Many mentioned that they didn't care enough about the characters. As the book progresses, the relationship of Joe and Clarissa collapses under the weight of some admittedly strange circumstances. Some of us were particularly angry that Clarissa did not believe Joe though out the book. Joe does little to merit admiration either with his lack of communication with Clarissa. The two reminded me of political commentators who have staked out positions and cannot be swayed to see the other's point of view. It is their undoing. It becomes harder and harder to root for them. It doesn't help that the relationship between Joe and his stalker is more compelling than the relationship between him and Clarissa. I still think the first chapter is one of the best I have ever read. You will not forget it. The pace of the book is slow, which works for the first chapter but may be too much for an entire book. There are some interesting musings on the value of science vs. religion, however.
Rating:
Summary: Subtle suspense.
Review: The opening chapter is amazing. You won't forget it or be able to stop reading it. It's a fantastic opening to a good book, though the first half is better than the second. The principal characters are all drawn very well: Joe, Clarissa and Jed have separate, distinct and important voices. Jed's letters are especially chilling. I thought the climax unfolded a little too slowly, and the final confrontation was too easy. The subplot he changes focus with wasn't absorbing enough to fulfill me at the end of the novel. McEwan is a beautiful prose writer; I think he just lost his direction a bit at the end. Still a satifying read.
Rating:
Summary: A thought-provoking page-turner
Review: How do science and religion compete for the minds of humans? How do we cope when someone we love acts contrary to our passionately held beliefs? When does love turn to obsession? What are our moral responsibilities towards other human beings, especially those in danger or those who are suffering? These are complicated questions without simple answers. If you would like to read a thoughtful, intelligent meditation on these and other important issues, then this is the book for you. It is frightfully well written and flows with the simple grace of great literature. As one event follows another with inexorable power, you will identify completely with the characters in this book and the problems that beset them. It will definitely help you to understand your fellow human beings, especially those in distress, much better.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Love
Review: Ian McEwan's enthralling new novel Enduring Love begins rather simply "with the touch of a wine bottle and a shout of distress." Joe Rose leaps up from a picnic with his wife, Clarissa, and runs to help a boy trapped in the basket of an ascending balloon. He and four other men run from all sides to assist the boy. All five men grab ropes dangling from the balloon, but four of them drop off as the wayward balloon rises, leaving one brave man clinging on for life. Eventually he loses his grip and falls hundreds of feet to the ground. "I've never seen such a terrible thing as that falling man," Joe writes later. In a moment of unnatural calm after the man's death, Joe turns to one of the other men, Jed Parry, and gives him a quick, nervous, reassuring nod. "It's all right," he says before running to attend to the dead man. In that instant, an obsession is borne.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping Tale
Review: I tend to listen to audio books when I commute, but this story is so intriguing that I find myself listening to it at home just to find out what happens. Maxwell Caulfield is a great reader. Wonderful voice.
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