Books

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

Quick Synopsis: On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly’s lovers in the days before they reached their current eminence. Clive is Britain’s most successful modern composer; Vernon is editor of the quality broadsheet The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty Molly had other lovers, too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notorious right-winger tipped to be the next prime minister. In the days that follow Molly’s funeral, Clive and Vernon will make a pact with consequences neither has foreseen. Each will make a disastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to its limits, and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life.

A contemporary morality tale that is as profound as it is witty, this short novel is perhaps the most purely enjoyable fiction Ian McEwan has ever written. And why Amsterdam? What happens there to Clive and Vernon is the most delicious shock in a novel brimming with surprises.

My Thoughts: Something bothers me about Ian McEwan. It’s not his writing, you’d be hard pressed to find a better writer of English prose in today’s era. But, to me, the writing doesn’t matter if the story sucks. And that’s the problem with McEwan…none of his stories (besides Atonement) are that good.

Amsterdam has all the elements to be a great story, but they’re not put together very well. Everything just seems lazy to me, like McEwan was short on time and just wanted to finish the book and collect a buck. Maybe that’s why the book is only 193 pages. The ending, the part you’ve been waiting for since the beginning, is only five pages, and it’s a huge letdown. It could have been so much more, so much deeper and more poweful, but it’s not.

As far as emotional attachment to the story, there is none. It’s just good writing, about nothing exciting. If that’s what you’re into, good writing by an exceptional writer, you can read Amsterdam and other McEwan books, but if you want a good story, one you’ll end up thinking about long after you’ve read the last page, read Atonement and then leave the rest on the shelf.