“Self-consciousness is the destroyer of erotic joy.”
This is not my favourite McEwan work and I think that’s because I’m just not in the mood for torture at the moment. A couple are swept into a horrendous occurrence and the fallout is strange to say the least. Tragedy, obsession, this slim volume has all of that in spades, and perhaps that was what I found so difficult to deal with.
Running to help save a young boy from a ballooning accident, the protagonist locks eyes with another man and further drama ensues as the second man becomes obsessed with him. I’d had a hard week and this ‘debbie downer’ of a novel really wasn’t the antidote. I’m sure I’ll re-read it some other time and review it more favourably. It contains some really stunning writing that I just wasn’t in the mood for. For now, I think I need something more upbeat.
4 out of 5 what comes up must deflate.
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