Rating: 
Summary: Happy Families...
Review: Early McEwan, showing the mixture of familial and slightly gothic themes that have resonated through all of his subsequent novels. McEwan really is a master story-teller, and this is a taut and spare little novel, brief, but compuslive. Everything rings true and feels authentic. Without a word wasted he manages to perfectly capture the oppressive heat of a stifling summer, and the surly apathy of his adolescent narrator. Go read.
Rating: 
Summary: An amasing novel about unusual childhood in one hot summer
Review: I am amased by the contemporary British fiction, but Ian McEwan has won my heart completely with his novels. I like the novels I have been able to get hold on to but I love the Cement garden. It is a magnificent novel about four children trying to adjust to the situation so unusual, unfamiliar and terrifying to them. They have no idea how to act, because their parents (especially father) have been extremely protective and have not communicated normally with the outer world. In this extreme situation they act as they think is right, and frankly, I would have done the same in the same situation. I also love Ian McEwan's style--it is so tense that it is impossible to put the book away, and the descriptions are amasing. The description of the summer was so convincing that while reading I started to feel so hot it was impossible to breathe. I like the novel not only because of the style but because of the way it made me feel. I felt extreme closeness with the children, and it almost made me a part of the family.
Rating: 
Summary: EWWWW!!!!!!
Review: I can't even begin to put this book into a category...I will say that this is in no way a pleasurable read. I didn't find it haunting or even bothersome; annoying and tasteless is more of an apt description. It was predictable and plodding as well. The only reason I finished it was because it was short and I have a neurotic tendancy to finish what I start. So glad I got it out of the library & didn't spend my $ on it.
Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Cement Garden
Review: I cannot even begin to explain my liking for this book. I cannot put it into words, its more of a feeling. All I can say is that I highly reccomend you all read it. If given the chance, you should also see the film. Its beautiful. If you enjoy this book, you should viddy other Ian McEwan books. Theyre all fabulous.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I could not put this book down. Talk about brother/sister relationships, whoa! I played the Buffett song about "Looking for my lost shaker of salt..." and was mesmerized!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: juvenile and tasteless
Review: I had to keep checking the cover to make sure I was reading the same book the reviewers wrote about. Mostly puerile teenage boy crap, and some sick stuff. This is not entertaining because it does happen to some girls. Mental garbage. Not even CLOSE to Lord of the Flies, which was an excellent book. Like comparing Charles Dickens and Judy Blume.
Rating:
Summary: it is a rivitting book
Review: i have read this book and let me tell you that i was drawn in to the intence and captivity of the book it is a must read. once you pick it up you can not put it down you will never put it down, i've read it twice and am about to read it again. i'm 14 yrs old and let me tell you i have read a lot of books and this is the only on that as made me fell in touch with each of the charecters as an idvesual person , i most i denefy with jack, who is the older boy and also the narrorater of hte story. you see the story though his eyes , and he as a captivating point of view that will just suck you into his world and the werid thing is that you will not want to leave. Ian McEwen is the best author that i have read ever in my short 14 years of life.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Family?
Review: I read this book as a comparison to 'Death of a Salesman' in my A'level english course. I found the book was extremly well written and brought out the surpressed feeling that we have. The way that the characters develope in to the 'family' life becomes all to real with Julie and Jack being 'husband and wife'. I felt that this book was interesting to an outsider who has never been in that prediciment.
Rating:
Summary: Short novel by a gifted writer
Review: I read this little novel after seeing the movie of the same name. The movie was excellent (see my review at IMDb), and this first novel is also very good. The main difference is in the book the brother-sister incest is only part of a larger close family bonding. The youngest son's dressing up as a girl was down played somewhat in the movie; the house was cleaner in the movie, and the sensuality between brother and older sister was (of course) highlighted in the movie. The movie left out the fact that the sister's sometime boyfriend was a professional snooker player. Otherwise the movie was true fairly to the novel. Oh, in the book it's clear at the end that the cops are outside the door, and the boyfriend has dug up the dead mother. In the movie, I'm not sure that was revealed. John Irving wrote a glowing blurb for the cover. McEwan's first person narrative by the fifteen-year-old boy is full of sharp observations and self-revelation, some of it inadvertent, as is the case in the best first person narratives. A good novel, but a little slight, like a long drawn out short story, which isn't surprising since McEwan made his reputation as a short story writer before this novel came out.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievably bad
Review: I thought that this book would be twisted and disturbing. And I thought that Ian McEwan's writing would be flawless and flow wonderfully, considering all the accolades he's gotten, but I was extremely disappointed. The story line was too unfeasible and didn't make sense logistically. The characters weren't developed enough and it seemed like a rough sketch of a book, rather than a finished product.
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