I've just finished 'On Chesil Beach' and although I didn't hate it (I loathed Saturday) I do think McEwan has gone horribly off the boil in recent years. Has anyone else read this latest one? I just thought, 'What was the point of that?' after finishing it.
I think he needs to get out more, frankly. Get some new experiences under your belt, Ian! Stop the navel-gazing stories about one day/night in someone's life!
Thoughts, anyone?

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Sorry, not remotely a review. Just wanted to chat about it.

I hated "Saturday" - thought it was a waste of space entirely. You've certainly put me off trying this one - so thank you for helping me not waste those minutes. Sorry you had to waste yours though!

==:O

Hugs!

A
xxx

Ah, glad to be of service, Anne!

I'm a tiny bit amused to see my thread title coming up as the title of a book. Publication at last!

I was thinking about buying On Chesil Beach, but I'll probably give it a pass for now.

I almost felt I didn't need to read this, having read it lampooned as 'The Digested Read' in the Guardian and an extract in another publication, not to mention numerous reviews. I suppose anything by such a well-known writer is going to be critiqued all over the place.

I think I read his collection of short stories which were very gloomy. I suppose it must be the quality of the writing that keeps people reading, rather than the plots.

Sheila

Wow! I cannot believe somebody feels the same way as me. I seem to torture myself reading his books, in the hope that there is 'something' there that can excite me. I though "Atonement" was dire. He has quality descriptive writing, but everything seems to lack plot and depth. Plus there is so little action and very little anticipation. "Atonement" never got started in my opinion. Maybe I just don't get it - it's a bit like the turner prize entries in another dimension they are probably masterpieces but somehow in the real world, the art is in the shock value. I try to see what people like about Ian McEwan's work and I just don't understand.

Personally I thought Amsterdam was dull pish, and as for Enduring Love... hated hated hated hated hated. I find him vastly over-rated,

I loathed Saturday and made it halfway before deciding that if all that had happened halfway through a novel was a coffee with your son and an interminable squash game, then something was very wrong...

I decided to give him a second chance, though, and have just finished Enduring Love, which I really quite enjoyed. But I still think his writing style is far too introspective and gives interminable detail. I wouldn't read another of him TBH unless someone assured me it was NOTHING LIKE 'SATURDAY'!!

Deb

I found Saturday extremely up its own bum, and endured Enduring Love, but I then read Atonement, and I did love that...although I did skip quite a few boring bits. Maybe he's fallen victim to that successful writer curse, where living his writerly life means he can't sort of see outside his own concerns? whatever, I think I too will give Chesil Beach a miss. But quite fancy the new Graham Swift, anyone read that?

I agree about Saturday - it was awful. Chesil Beach not much better, although I do like Atonement and his early short stories.

'Tomorrow' by Graham Swift was pretty dull, but I did like 'The Light Of Day' and I haven't read anything else of his.

Lady B

Haven't read On Chesil Beach. Hated Saturday - found it pompous and the plotting was ridiculous. Deb you missed nothing at the end of Saturday except a ridiculous drawing room farce of a Cockerney baddie coming over all sweet and moist when proper poetry is read to him. Lor luvaduck even the unclean come to good if a posh lass can teach em how to feel. For goodness sake. Hated hated hated Atonement too, characters straight from Central Casting- the evil baddie who owns a sweetie factory (please!) and the severe ah but with heart of gold matron. Can't belive they came from the same brain that conceived Child in Time, which I love. But the premises for his novels always attract. Would have been perfectly happy to read about a day in the life of a neurosurgeon if it hadn't been so stultifying.
Cherys

Can't belive they came from the same brain that conceived Child in Time, which I love

Me neither! Honestly, I just think he needs to get out more.

Love this thread! Please can we have more like this, tee hee!

)

A
xxx

PS McEwan should get off the writing stage while the going is (almost) good, and leave room for the real players ... I'm sure we can all do a better job!

Lor luvaduck even the unclean come to good if a posh lass can teach em how to feel.

LOL! I wish I'd read this before I wasted hours on my life on that book. It felt like I spent days on the squash match alone.

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I also find it really irritating the way his characters all either seem to be terrible cliches or to have some kind of mental/neurological disorder which explains their behaviour. He did it in Saturday, and he did the same in Enduring Love. It's such a cop-out ("Well, it might seem unrealistic, but actually I talked to this brain surgeon and he says it's not"), and putting a label on their behaviour doesn't give you any genuine insight into the character at all.

putting a label on their behaviour doesn't give you any genuine insight into the character at all.

Well said and insightful. Wish McEwan had read that before he wrote Saturday tee hee...