I am a huge fan of Ian McEwan, and I’ve read a number of books by him. So when I saw that he had another one out, I went and picked it up. I’m not sure what to say about Nutshell (2016). It held my attention, but I couldn’t buy into the entire conceit, so I was left with the feeling that it was odd. The protagonist of this story is a fetus in its mother’s womb (I assumed it was a boy because it sounded like […]
We’ll always be troubled by how things are—that’s how it stands with the difficult gift of consciousness.
By the time this came off the wait-list at the library, I had completely forgotten why my friend had recommended it to me, other than the obvious, which is that I love me some Ian McEwan. And what’s interesting to report now that I’ve read Nutshell is that I may have grown out of my McEwan faze, because this checked a LOT of my boxes but ultimately didn’t blow me out of the water. Which is not to say that this isn’t a beautiful book, […]
Pretty writing hides a lot…
Oh, do I wish some other authors could write like McEwan; I’ve read so many books with poorly executed plots or glimmers of a good idea rendered inert by flat prose. I often joke of my favorite authors that I’d read the phone book if it had their name on the cover, but I didn’t expect to be taken up on it the way McEwan does with Saturday. So, that’s perhaps unfair; things DO happen in the book. It outlines the beginning of the weekend […]
I’m conflicted about this one, you guys.
You all know how huge a fan of Ian McEwan I am, even though he’s a bit polarizing at times. I don’t like all his work equally, either, though most of it can be described as interesting or highly provocative (for every Atonement, there is Between the Sheets, his not-great collection of short stories). I heard about Nutshell, and I was intrigued. The story of death and betrayal, as told by an unborn child? All right. And then I read an interview in which McEwan […]