"Amsterdam"

Oh dear, it's been a while since my last post. Not because I haven't been reading, but because I haven't had time to write about the books—that is what happens when you undertake a month-long move! And especially when many of your possessions are (heavy) books. One that I recently finished reading is "Amsterdam," by Ian McEwan, which I liked but not as much as his later novel, "Atonement."

Reading “Amsterdam" was a little like watching a train wreck: I knew something ghastly was going to happen, but I couldn’t turn away.

The novel opens at a funeral and follows the subsequent events in the lives of two men, both former lovers of the dead woman. One a composer, one a newspaper editor, each faces a moral dilemma and ends up making a terribly wrong decision. The consequences? See train wreck analogy above.

I’ve read some reviews that suggest the ending is too contrived or predictable, and I tend to agree, but that didn’t stop me from being completely enthralled, mainly due to the great writing. This is my third McEwan novel, and what I love about them is their dead-on descriptions of the characters’ internal states and thoughts. And how can you not love a little gem like this description of the newspaper editor: “Within his profession Vernon was revered as a nonentity.”

However, “Amsterdam,” in spite of its graceful and incisive writing, seems much less fully developed than “Atonement,” so it seems odd to me that this novel won the Booker Prize while “Atonement” did not.

This is my first book for the “Book Awards Reading Challenge,” which started in July, so I have some catching up to do!