Enduring Love

Joe planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after six weeks in the States. The perfect day turns to nightmare, however, when they are involved in freak ballooning accident in which a boy is saved but a man is killed

In itself, the accident would change the couple and the survivors' lives, filling them with an uneasy combination of shame, happiness, and endless self-reproach. But fate has far more unpleasant things in store for Joe. Meeting the eye of fellow rescuer Jed Parry, for example, turns out to be a very bad move. For Jed is instantly obsessed, making the first of many calls to Joe and Clarissa's London flat that very night. Soon he's openly shadowing Joe and writing him endless letters. (One insane epistle begins, "I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable.") Worst of all, Jed's version of love comes to seem a distortion of Joe's feelings for Clarissa.

Apart from the incessant stalking, it is the conditionals--the contingencies--that most frustrate Joe, a scientific journalist. If only he and Clarissa had gone straight home from the airport... If only the wind hadn't picked up... If only he had saved Jed's 29 messages in a single day... Ian McEwan has long been a poet of the arbitrary nightmare, his characters ineluctably swept up in others' fantasies, skidding into deepening violence, and--worst of all--becoming strangers to those who love them. Even his prose itself is a masterful and methodical exercise in de-familiarisation. But Enduring Love and its underrated predecessor, Black Dogs, are also meditations on knowledge and perception as well as brilliant manipulations of our own expectations. By the novel's end, you will be surprisingly unafraid of hot-air balloons, but you won't be too keen on looking a stranger in the eye. --Alex Freeman

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Gripping - and just a little implausible - Rated
This is my first McEwan, and it drew me in entirely from the opening lines of Chapter One. The opening scene is beautifully, movingly, and intriguingly presented, and it sparks a ravenous curiosity in the reader.

I thoroughly enjoyed McEwan's narrative in the early parts of the book, however the characters never really sat comfortably for me nor evoked my sympathy.

The writing was really powerful in places - and then rather self-conscious in others. Maybe this is because McEwan was trying to stay true to the case study he presents in the Appendices.

The denouement felt a bit over-worked, as if McEwan was trying too hard for plausibility. The lack of viewpoints other than Joe Rose's through the book leads to an ending which feels rather rushed and contrived.

Some scenes are presented with masterful suspense and subtle pointers, yet when the action finally happens it feels weak. McEwan strikes me as being a very intellectual writer, which is great, and I wonder if some of the immediacy of the action suffers because of that.

I would have liked a bit more on Jed Parry, maybe an insight into his mindset or explanation about why he was in that Oxfordshire field, and why he became so entranced with Joe in particular, though I guess this isn't possible with a first person account. If there'd been an omniscient narrator instead this would have been more feasible - and I think might have made a more powerful, more convincing narrative, although a rather different type of book altogether.

The case study included in the end was enlightening, though it left me with lots of questions about why McEwan couldn't have broadened the scope of his novel to explore the facts of the case study more thoroughly, and in a more literary sense, rather than tagging on some scientific notes to the end in a kind of "told you so" gesture.

An extremely thought-provoking read, compelling in parts, though perhaps a bit narrow in scope, and with a bit of a dashed-off feel about it. Nevertheless a great discussion book!

Twitchy, but very readable - Rated
The love that truly endures in this novel, is the love of the obsessed male stalker for the male protagonist, Joe. Joe's relationship with Clarissa comes under unbearable strain after Joe and the crazy Parry are thrown together after a tragic accident.

My problem with this novel was, that although like all the McEwans I have read it is hugely enjoyable and something I looked forward to reading; the typical McEwan mix of visceral with cerebral digressions made me constantly impatient to get on with the resolution of the plot.

Verbose and unpassionate - Rated
I read it because everyone raved about it last year, and to be honest, it wasn't great. I didn't like his style of writing (I've read Atonement since, and didn't like that either) it is so verbose, pointless and waffley. I can deal with long, passionate descriptions in books, but not when you can't feel or sense the writer's own passion. If the reader feels as though the writer has no passion, why should they have enthusiasm for their book.

The actual plot line wasn't too bad, however, he could have made more of it. It dragged for the whole 200 odd pages and as the plot seemed so diluted by unmoving drivel, it wasn't enthralling. The themes and concepts were ok, similar at times to Dorian Gray in the sense of obsession. I suppose the main ones are obsessions, love, influence of obsession on relationships, honesty and it had a tragic hero feel to it. But, as the book had a resolution, it lost the epic, passion-drenched feel it should have had. The idea of 'one moment changes everything' was quite interesting and some of the ideas surrounding that concept that were explored throughout were thought-provoking. However, it is a well trodden path, and there are plenty of other books and films, that are much better than Enduring Love.

The ending was disapointing as, although McEwan seemed to employ a 'tragic hero' idea, the book had a resolve that meant they all got on with their lives.

Overall, it was ok, nothing incredible. I suppose what made the whole experience worse was the fact that everyone loved it and saw it as an instant classic, in a kind of "but Brutus was an honest man" way, but to me it was nothing more than a mediocre novel that evoked no passion from reader or writer.

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh - Rated
I had to read this book for a level and regard it as an excerise in torture. Forced and unrealsitic I couldn't identify or feel sympathy for any of the characters. Joe was a pompous, judgemental 'intellectual' obsessed with his own self importance. Clarissa wasn't much better as for Jed Parry there have been few more pathetic or contrived literary characters. I will never read Ian McEwan again.

Yawn - Rated
Boring and pretentious. What was all the fuss about? I shan't be rushing out to by another McEwan book anytime soon.