Rating: 
Summary: Moves a reader outside of their comfort zone
Review: I found the book very interesting in the way it is written, and its subject matter very confounding. It dealt with the issues of love, life, and grief in a manner that I am not accustomed to reading. Although the mentalities of the characters were huantingly uncomfortable, I was intrigued by the outcome of the actions taken by the characters. Drawn by interest, the book starts with the life of one Joe Rose, and weaves an intricate web of relationships with those that are a part of the balloon tragedy. Joe Rose sets out for a romantic evening with his wife Clarissa, but ends up opening a door in his life that he has never dealt with before. The overlying theme of obsession as the driving force for the characters' actions (in Joe Rose's efforts to rid himself of Jed, in Jean Logan's search for "her," and Jed Parry's de Clerambault's syndrome) worked to move the novel as well as my anticipation. The author brilliantly displays the notion of life's events undertaking many layers of interpretaion. In the same way, the situations that present themselves to the characters contain emotions that are different for each one of them, which can in turn create or destroy a relationship between them. Taking the development of feelings between Joe and Clarissa as an example, the introduction of Jed Parry into their lives adds a new level to their 7 year relationship. Joe finds Jed insane in his "enduring love," but Clarissa,the one person that he thought he could turn to for support, accusses him of inventing the situation. However, in his fanatic episodes, Joe neglects to realize that Clarissa wants to understand what is going on, but being that she's never experienced it before, she is naturally not sure of the right reaction, for her as well as for Joe. Their paranoia leads them to assume and to shut themselves up, severing the communication that has helped them get through their 7 years of childless marriage. McEwan writes very eloquently on the fragility of relationships, and the importance of communication (as a tool for understanding) that must exist between all parties for a harmonious existence.
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Summary: Interesting complex/winding storyline without an obvious end
Review: Intriguing how the story unfolds from an oddly spellbinding accident to a more psychologically complex plot. It was good, but not great.
Rating: 
Summary: A serious, literate book by a noteworthy novelist.
Review: This is my first book by McEwen, who has more recently won the Booker Prize. It is written in the style of a pseudo-documentary, its main character being a sceince writer of struggling rationality confronted with an emotionally disturbed mystic, making that all the more fitting. It is compelte with footnotes, at least some of which are imaginary, and a scientific paper that is imaginary. This patina of scientific fact is fascinating, if also moving the reader to a dsitance from the emotional texture of what is depicted. And being from a single point of view, punctured only by letters from the disturbed person and one from the victim's lover, it brings to the landscape of a rational scientific mind a world of wild emotions and mystical inexplicables. So that McEwen, through these techniques and with this story, is exploring whole worlds of social realities. It is, then, an ambitious work and is in many aspects quite successful. Along with that, the story itself has a cumulative suspense, a sense of an inevitable tragedy (that does not quite happen), a sad deconstruction of a loving but untested marital-type relationship. The writing, the viewpoint through the sensibilities of its narrator, is cool and crafted, the high emotions combining with intellectual considerations. That makes it unusual, and a bit difficult, but not without its rewards.
Rating:
Summary: Honestly, it was O.K.
Review: This novel was OK, neither too good nor too bad. It was written pretty well I thought, but the story itself was not very interesting. So we have a guy (Joe) that attempts to help save a little boy (Harry) who's in trouble on a hot-air balloon and in the process meets a guy (Jed) that ultimately turns his life completely around causing he and his girlfriend (Clarissa) to have serious problems... That's about all there is to the story. Not much more interesting happens after this. Jed is very obsessed over Joe throughout the whole book and Joe completely hates him because he causes so many problems between he and Clarissa. I honestly didn't like Jed and Joe, for separate reasons. I found Jed very annoying thinking that he was always right in everything he said or did and i thought that he was very pushy too, always trying to decide for Joe. I thought Joe was annoying because he never really stood up for himself. I don't think that he really did much to try and stop Jed, he just avoided him. I felt sorry for Clarissa because she basically got the short end of the stick so to speak. Because of Jed, Joe was always in a bad mood and didn't even pay attention to her. I think that not liking two-thirds of the main characters had a lot to do with me not liking the book very much. On the other hand I did like the way in which the book was written. It was pretty easy to understand, I didn't have to keep referring to the dictionary so that made me read it more smoothely (and I definately like that!). The chapters were short so that made me read it faster too. But, as I said before, if I had liked the characters and the story itself then I would have enjoyed the book a lot more.
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Summary: Try the audiocassette read by actor David Threlfall
Review: Since I'm in the car so much, I decided to try audiocassettes as a means to read some books that I had read good reviews about but probably wouldn't get to. David Threlfall's reading of Enduring Love (unabridged) is magnificent! His interpretation of each character makes them come alive. I am certain this novel would have disappointed me but Threlfall kept me entranced.
Rating: 
Summary: an exploration into the human mind
Review: Although Enduring Love wasn't an action packed thriller it left the reader in constant anticipation. The novel is a journey through the depths of the human mind. The reader is at once forced to enter the thoughts of Joe Rose. The novel is written in the first person, and the well-choosen and eloquent prose help to covey the image of Joe Rose being a compassionate and caring person. Joe looks at humans and nature with a tender eye that allows the reader to sympathize with his cause. Because the novel begins with an unlikely and unexpected disaster, the reader becomes aware of the fact that Joe may be unreliable. When Joe tells Clarissa that he is being stalked by Jed Parry she says that he is imagining things, and after seeing one of Jed's letters Clarissa comments that the handwriting is remarkably similar to Joe's. The reader is left to wonder whether it is Joe or Parry who has gone crazy. The novel also causes the reader to examine his own life. Because Joe seems to have transgressed from a state of rational thinking to a state of crisis the reader is forced to hypothesis about their own reaction in such a situation. Everyone loves to analyze and think about themselves, and this book offers the perfect opportunity to sympathize with Joe Rose while taking a closer look into one's own phyche. Joe experiences a trauma that is so unlikely it could happen to anyone. By relating the novel to one's own life it is impossible to find the novel vapid and uneventful. It is a novel that causes the reader to analyze and appreciate life.
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Summary: Enduring Love was a fast and exciting read.
Review: Enduring Love by Ian McEwan was a fast and enjoyable read. While trying to help out in a hot -air balloon accident, Jed Perry falls in love with Joe Rose (narrator). Perry's love for Rose, a happily married writer, turns in to a dangerous obsession. I really enjoyed when McEwan would write about Roses' science magazine pieces. It was an interesting way to set up the fact that Rose was a complete realist. The books greatest accomplishment is the way it makes the reader doubt himself. Between Rose, Perry, and Clarrisa (Rose's wife) sometimes it is hard to know who has their sanity. The content of the Appendixes really pull the book together. I really liked the fact that McEwan put that last bit of information in the appendix. Overall the book was a great read but I'm not sure it left me with much to think about.
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Summary: A basically excellent and fun book
Review: Enduring Love is a gripping story that had me steadily turning the pages, but parts of it are difficult to believe. McEwan places the reader into the highly scientific mind of Joe Rose. After witnessing a terrible accident, Joe becomes obsessed with the incident while a man named Parry becomes obsessed with Joe. This creates a tension between Joe, Parry, and Joe's wife Clarissa. That tension and McEwan's masterful prose keep the reader's interest throughout. However, it is difficult to understand why Joe has such an emotional reaction to the incident when he approaches everything else in his life with a purely scientific mind set. His narrowly scientific view is apparent in every detail of the book, but no explanation is provided for the seemingly emotional response to the accident. Despite this flaw, the book is a good casual read.
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Summary: Enduring Love is for readers exploring human fears and fate.
Review: Ian McEwan has created a haunting world that deeply explores fears of obsession. His tale carries you into a mixed up world of things gone wrong and challenges the presence of fate. At the base of Enduring Love lies Joe Rose, a protaganist in all the sense of the word. Simply, an all around good guy who falls into the most unlikely and also undesirable of circumstances. Joe is a man who takes picnics and finds work writing science articles. He seems a fish out of water to be involved in a stalking situation and a murder plan. The wild times fly around this young man, leaving your mind spinning about chance and what ifs. McEwan has presented himself almost as a writer of what he leaves unwritten. His prose is a combination of simple but elegant structures. Easy to read, Endruing Love encouraged my mind to drift on the subtlies in his writing. McEwan offers a little shove to get the mind started, then continually pulls you back in to Joe Rose's story, but he is also urging the reader to explore the story in their own mind.
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Summary: Several superb short stories hanging together by a thread
Review: After reading and enjoying this novel I read some of the reader reviews here and found myself agreeing with Nico from Los Angeles. I definitely felt kind of flat at the end of the book, which is strange since I thought much of the writing was incredibly powerful and even beautiful. After pondering this conundrum for a while it occurred to me that 'Enduring Love' is really a series of great ideas which don't really gel as a very satisfying novel. I don't think anyone could fail to be moved by the first chapter which was bizarre but incredible powerful. I wondered how the characters would deal with what had happened, how people randomly chosen by fate would come to terms with their shared experience, what would be revealed by the inquest into the tragedy ; but instead the book takes a left turn into a 'stalker' thriller which mosies along in a fairly unexciting way until the assassination scene in the restaurant, which I found almost unbearable in its suspense. The scene when Joe meets the thugs selling a gun (I'm trying not to give away the plot - honest !) is very darkly funny, but again seems a complete departure from the rest of the book. The ending with the picnic is a total surprise but in my opinion just contributes to a lack of cohesion in the novel as a whole, and the whole 'who was the professor with' seems a fairly unconvincing sub-plot. I'm sure that McEwan is trying to emphasise that love should be treasured as it can be taken away at any time, and maybe also that love is a kind of balloon which can easily give way to insecurity and paranoia when its threatened, but I think the novel's delivery of this message is unconvincing. The appendices are fascinating but seem an attempt to glue the book together by reinforcing its main theme. Ultimately I would recommend anyone to read this book because the writing is just so good, but I don't think it's a successful novel, and it appears to me on the strength of this one book, that McEwan is possibly a great short story writer who's been unable to pace himself over the length of a novel.
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