A review by diwataluna
The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
3.0
Ian McEwan is like the modern Virginia Woolf, except he is a guy. When I first read Atonement, I felt I wanted more of his writings and decided to be a completist. So far I've read Atonement, On Chesil Beach, Saturday, and Amsterdam. I started Enduring Love, but stopped because of the fear of a heartbreaking story AGAIN. Finding The Child in Time among discounted books at National Book Store was a happy accident then.
This novel is so far the one McEwan I've read with a satisfying ending. That ending saved the book from a 2-star review. Maybe it was because I was reading it in the middle of hell week at work and at school. Maybe I was rushing to finish the book. But I didn't savor McEwan's writing as much when I was reading this novel. Yet, it has the same elements of a McEwan. From one event, he explores the turns that the emotional lives of his characters take. He delves into the human mind and heart. Here, he even posits questions about time and reality, and dabbles into how to raise children. The devices he employed were intelligently used. His portrayal of sadness is neither flat nor melodramatic. There were several interesting things he used and explored in the novel but this perhaps made the novel less unified or fluid as the others.
Or maybe I'll have to read it again during my more relaxed moments.
This novel is so far the one McEwan I've read with a satisfying ending. That ending saved the book from a 2-star review. Maybe it was because I was reading it in the middle of hell week at work and at school. Maybe I was rushing to finish the book. But I didn't savor McEwan's writing as much when I was reading this novel. Yet, it has the same elements of a McEwan. From one event, he explores the turns that the emotional lives of his characters take. He delves into the human mind and heart. Here, he even posits questions about time and reality, and dabbles into how to raise children. The devices he employed were intelligently used. His portrayal of sadness is neither flat nor melodramatic. There were several interesting things he used and explored in the novel but this perhaps made the novel less unified or fluid as the others.
Or maybe I'll have to read it again during my more relaxed moments.