Solar by Ian McEwan (2010)
6/10
We bought Solar new. We had been waiting for Ian McEwan's new book, because we have so much appreciated his others, especially 'Saturday', 'Enduring Love' and 'Chesil Beach' (whenever I think of Chesil Beach, I get a song popping into my head from the 1980s about a something beach - I can remember the tune, but not the title).
Back to the point.
Oooooh, it took me ages to work, work, work my way through this book. It should have been easy; it was readable, no pages of dense prose - okay the physics was a little challenging - but I wasn't going to be tested on it.
2 main reactions to the book
1) I wish that Ian Mc hadn't tried his hand at a comedy based around an academic / serial womaniser - too much like those Kingsley Amis-type novels, and Porterhouse Blue type things. I didn't really laugh much. But then I haven't really laughed at a novel since 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
2) I think Ian McEwan is a very, very clever contemporary writer who is capable of catching key issues and the feel of the moment. He did it in 'Saturday', capturing some of the post 9/11 feelings and concerns. In this book he was reflecting various societal attitudes to global warming, and also some of the tensions between sociological and 'hard science' research positions. And other things that I can't recall at the moment.
So, actually, I got a lot out of the book, but I had to force my way through it - even though, actually, it sped its way towards a climactic ending (Have I just made that phrase up?)
I'm still not sure what the last paragraph of the book was saying, but it was clever.
I think that people reading this book in 100 years time will get a real feel for this decade.
I've just remembered - the song was 'Echo Beach', which Google tells me was sung by Martha and the Muffins in 1979. The year I got married, first time round.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmWxUGStTj4
6/10
We bought Solar new. We had been waiting for Ian McEwan's new book, because we have so much appreciated his others, especially 'Saturday', 'Enduring Love' and 'Chesil Beach' (whenever I think of Chesil Beach, I get a song popping into my head from the 1980s about a something beach - I can remember the tune, but not the title).
Back to the point.
Oooooh, it took me ages to work, work, work my way through this book. It should have been easy; it was readable, no pages of dense prose - okay the physics was a little challenging - but I wasn't going to be tested on it.
2 main reactions to the book
1) I wish that Ian Mc hadn't tried his hand at a comedy based around an academic / serial womaniser - too much like those Kingsley Amis-type novels, and Porterhouse Blue type things. I didn't really laugh much. But then I haven't really laughed at a novel since 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
2) I think Ian McEwan is a very, very clever contemporary writer who is capable of catching key issues and the feel of the moment. He did it in 'Saturday', capturing some of the post 9/11 feelings and concerns. In this book he was reflecting various societal attitudes to global warming, and also some of the tensions between sociological and 'hard science' research positions. And other things that I can't recall at the moment.
So, actually, I got a lot out of the book, but I had to force my way through it - even though, actually, it sped its way towards a climactic ending (Have I just made that phrase up?)
I'm still not sure what the last paragraph of the book was saying, but it was clever.
I think that people reading this book in 100 years time will get a real feel for this decade.
I've just remembered - the song was 'Echo Beach', which Google tells me was sung by Martha and the Muffins in 1979. The year I got married, first time round.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmWxUGStTj4
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