Having read McEwan before I picked up Enduring Love from the Readings bargain table a little while ago. I think there is great beauty in McEwan’s prose, it’s so rich and full of detail and if I’m not 100 per cent engaged in the book I do find it difficult to stay connected to the full story.
The opening to this book is simply gripping. From the beginning it’s clear that there has been an incident of sorts that has resulted in a death but still the book maintains suspense and is engrossing enough to retain attention. Actually, it does a little more and forces the reader to keep going otherwise be plagued with thoughts of ‘what’s next’ while sitting in the office or vacuuming the house (not suggesting that either of these past times are boring, of course!).
Overall I did enjoy the book, because I did escape into its setting, but I guess there was a section in there that started to lose me a little. I wondered whether there was a mysterious subplot and that Joe would end up having made up the stalking character of Jed, spurred on my the immense shock of watching another fall to his death. A fictional situation through which to challenge and question one’s firmly held belief’s. Sometimes it’s better to not try and second guess what’s going to happen but rather go with the flow.
What I did find interesting was the amount of science that’s in the book. With the protagonist being a science writer this is logical but McEwan seems to have used fiction to test a few ideas or put forward some thoughts about his own views on scientific issues. The part about the conniving dog was an interesting inclusion and even the use of De Clerambault’s syndrome was something I’ve since thought about quite a bit since finishing the story. I do wonder whether McEwan happened across this in his researching time and thought that it would make for an interesting story. Given that the story was released some fifteen years ago and that a movie has been made, I’m curious now, to see it.
The other thing that this story does is remind me how random events can shape and change our lives. In this instance a couple having a quiet picnic is randomly exposed to a ballooning accident that has ramifications for their rest of the lives. It disturbs their comfort and peace and instigates questioning of the basic aspects of their lifestyle. Yet all they were doing was having a picnic to themselves. They weren’t seeking out any drama or seeking any sort of change; it found them and drew them into a situation that was ever to leave its scar.
