philippawilson's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
tomhill's review against another edition
3.0
Shelve under "not for everyone." Every story in the collection is dark, and most of them are really grotesque as well. You can really tell that McEwan was still experimenting with and figuring out his writing style. I think he is exceptional when it comes to plot and structure, and I think he's a great writer when he wants to be, when his tone is not cold and clinical, as it tends to be in his later novels. The problem I have with a few of the stories is that they feel needlessly transgressive: "Homemade" (all about incest) and "Butterflies" (all about a pedophile) in particular. Their only purpose seems to be to shock, and I didn't care for that. The rest of the stories, however dark and occasionally stomach-churning they may be, seem to be getting at something deeper and are well written and well constructed. My favorite is the title story, as well as "Solid Geometry," both of which are just the right amount of macabre for my taste.
paulataua's review against another edition
4.0
McEwan’s first collection of short stories really hit me hard when I read them in the seventies. It felt just so incredible that stories could deal with subjects that were so taboo in my world at that time. When I first joined GRs, I gave the book an immediate 5 stars remembering its effect on me back then. It was now time to revisit them. The stories still hold up, but are seem to not be so outlandish now with much worse being in print these days. It is really the work of a young writer learning his trade. Still engaging, still a good read, but maybe dropping to 4 stars this time.
siria's review against another edition
2.0
Absolutely not a pick-me-up read, First Love, Last Rites is a collection of some of McEwan's earliest works. He dwells here mostly on the morbid and the macabre and the disturbing, and for a developing author, doesn't do too badly on pulling it off—one or two of the stories are genuinely effective. He often tries too hard for a Shocking Denouement, however, which for me had the opposite effect to that which he no doubt intended (and I found his Oh So Daring explorations of incest and child abuse less disturbing than I did his framing of women/femininity). The dialogue (even in the best of the collection, 'Strange Geometry') was also dreadfully clunky at times. So-so.
straciehniezdo's review against another edition
4.0
3,8/5
Osem poviedok. Dve sa mi nepáčili, tri boli fajn a tri boli vážne dosť dobré. Zároveň boli najzvrátenejšie (v dvoch bolo znásilnenie, v jednej v kombinácii s pedofíliou a v druhej sa pridal ešte aj incest), ale boli napísané perfektne. Zároveň sú to témy, aké sa len tak nevidia, rozhodne som nič podobné ešte nečítala. Autor v knihe šokuje a nejakým spôsobom sa mh podarilo docieliť, že to znie prirodzene. Nuž, bola to moja prvá kniha od McEwana, ale rozhodne nie posledná.
Osem poviedok. Dve sa mi nepáčili, tri boli fajn a tri boli vážne dosť dobré. Zároveň boli najzvrátenejšie (v dvoch bolo znásilnenie, v jednej v kombinácii s pedofíliou a v druhej sa pridal ešte aj incest), ale boli napísané perfektne. Zároveň sú to témy, aké sa len tak nevidia, rozhodne som nič podobné ešte nečítala. Autor v knihe šokuje a nejakým spôsobom sa mh podarilo docieliť, že to znie prirodzene. Nuž, bola to moja prvá kniha od McEwana, ale rozhodne nie posledná.
diana_eveline's review against another edition
3.0
Though not nearly as good as Atonement or Enduring Love, I did enjoy this collection of short stories. Some of them are more on the surrealism-side of his writing, some downright revolting (the story of the quarreling couple and the one about the siblings that get too close) but this more raw type of writing makes perfect sense, considering this was his writing debut.
The story I liked best was the last one, where the boy is made to dress up by his mother. There are some interesting underlying tensions in that story that come out in both the children's interactions as with the adults. I do prefer his longer stories/novels because he does such a wonderful job with character development, which was lacking a bit here. Understandable, considering they are short stories.
The story I liked best was the last one, where the boy is made to dress up by his mother. There are some interesting underlying tensions in that story that come out in both the children's interactions as with the adults. I do prefer his longer stories/novels because he does such a wonderful job with character development, which was lacking a bit here. Understandable, considering they are short stories.