Rating: 
Summary: I was never completely captured...
Review: "Enduring love" was my first McEwan novel, so I did not know what to expect. But the author came highly recommended from my friend so I expected to be in for a treat.This novel has a fantastic opening - the protagonist Joe Rose, a journalist, has brought his girlfriend/lover Clarissa, to the countryside to celebrate her return from the US. While they are there, enjoying their picnic, they witness a tragedy, as a man falls dead to the ground from a helium balloon. Jed Parry, one of the other witnesses to the tragic accident, becomes obsessed with Joe. Jed starts to stalk Joe, believing that they share some extraordinary link and that the two of them are bound by love. So, what started out as a tragic accident is soon turned into familiar McEwan style, with relationships, science, religion and psychological obsession as some of the elements he touches upon. Unfortunately, this novel doesn't keep up with the expectations brought upon us from its amazing opening. Fair enough, I found "Enduring Love" at times unbearable in its suspense and hard to put down, but I was never completely captured by the characters. More strongly recommended are the other McEwan novels "The innocent" and the Booker Prize winning "Amsterdam".
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: 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: Brilliantly written but flawed
Review: I can't understand why people are so critical of this book. The style is far superior to most modern fiction I have read. The descriptions are immediate and succinct, particularly the opening passage, which has a cinematic quality, but imparts more rich detail than film ever could. The book is by no means perfect; the main characters are flawed; the lack of understanding shown by Clarissa is not convincing, and Joe's reactions are sometimes not entirely credible. The plot is also weak in some areas; if Parry really was hanging around outside the flat and Clarissa failed to believe it, then why didn't he get her to look out of the window? Would the police really have treated Joe's account of the scene in the restaurant with so much contempt? Wouldn't they at least have brought Parry in for an ID parade? Despite this, the writing is so brilliant, and the psycology is so fascintating, that the book compensates for these flaws. Well worth a read.
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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.
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