On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a London 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, and Vernon is editor of the newspaper The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty Molly had other lovers, too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notorious right-winger tipped to be the next prime mini... (show more)
On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a London 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, and Vernon is editor of the newspaper 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 that neither could have 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 sharp contemporary morality tale, cleverly disguised as a comic novel, Amsterdam is "as sheerly enjoyable a book as one is likely to pick up this year" (The Washington Post Book World). (show less)
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I enjoyed this book until the end, which I thought was too easy. Two long-time friends attend the cremation of a woman they had both had an affair... (show more)
I enjoyed this book until the end, which I thought was too easy. Two long-time friends attend the cremation of a woman they had both had an affair with in the past. Thinking of their own mortality and the horrors of disease, the two men make a euthanasia pact. Soon afterward, each man is forced to make a choice of art over something that may have terrible consequences.
What I best liked about the novel was the author's use of language to create his scenes. McEwan spoke in a strong voice as he developed his setting and characters.
Though the novel won the Booker Prize, it is probably not the author's best work. I still do, however, recommend it for an enjoyable reading experience. (show less)
Book about 2 men that were former lovers of a woman, named Molly, that just died. Clive is the editor of The Judge (a newspaper) which is going un... (show more)
Book about 2 men that were former lovers of a woman, named Molly, that just died. Clive is the editor of The Judge (a newspaper) which is going under and he is trying to save. Vernon is a composer and has been asked to create a symphony for the new millennium. Molly brought the 2 men together and they became friends. Yet they are completely self destructive to one another. Clive gets his hands on bad pictures of a politician and when he asks Vernon's opinion if he should publish them and he says no; they have an all out fight. When Vernon is on a breakthrough with his symphony, Clive intentionally distracts him so that he loses his train of thought. (Spoiler) They end up completely destroying each other and, in fact, murder one another.
This book never really leads anywhere. The characters have no real reason to stay together and yet they continue to drag each other down. Clive and Vernon know they are bad for each other and yet they keep each other close to their own detriment. Ian McEwan is a great writer but the story needs some help! (show less)
I've just finished Amsterdam today. It's the first of McEwan's books I've read but I'm now reading Saturday and hope I'll want to keep going through his works. Amsterdam starts very strongly with precise character studies that are full of depth. McEwan seems to want us to sympathise with the two main protaganists - Clive and Vernon, and we see the same action through both sets of eyes and appreciate both men's view of unfolding events. This is complimented by some fantastic descriptive passag... (show more)
I've just finished Amsterdam today. It's the first of McEwan's books I've read but I'm now reading Saturday and hope I'll want to keep going through his works. Amsterdam starts very strongly with precise character studies that are full of depth. McEwan seems to want us to sympathise with the two main protaganists - Clive and Vernon, and we see the same action through both sets of eyes and appreciate both men's view of unfolding events. This is complimented by some fantastic descriptive passages of place, especially Clive's trip to the Lake District, and some really funny turns of quirky, humourous phrase that had me laughing out loud. McEwan is without doubt an extremely clever and adept prose writer.
But in the second half of the novel I began to lose patience just a little with the growing unreality of the characters and their actions, as well as the events that unfold, especially surrounding Garmony and Halliday. The quirky prose loses none of its colour and humour, but the suspension of disbelief is aggravated by the feeling that this novel, despite being only 11 years old, already feels dated, if not naive, in it's pre-New Labour political setting. The denouement is amusing when it comes, but is also a bit empty, and in the end I'm not sure what, if anything, is achieved for the silent character of the late Molly Lane, whom the book is ostensibly about.
These things aside, Amsterdam is an accomplished and absorbing narrative certainly worthy of anyone's attention. (show less)
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Unlike Atonement, which is one of my favourite books, Amsterdam was very predictable, boring and pretentious. The ending was so easy to spot, and it was also quite far fetched. I don't think it would be that easy to do something like that. Very, very silly.
Furthermore, the characters were not at all likeable. I especially disliked Clive for the thing he failed to do whilst hiking (don't want to give it away). I know it is supposed to give the character some complexity, but how can anyone ... (show more)
Unlike Atonement, which is one of my favourite books, Amsterdam was very predictable, boring and pretentious. The ending was so easy to spot, and it was also quite far fetched. I don't think it would be that easy to do something like that. Very, very silly.
Furthermore, the characters were not at all likeable. I especially disliked Clive for the thing he failed to do whilst hiking (don't want to give it away). I know it is supposed to give the character some complexity, but how can anyone like someone so morally dubious. He was also incredibly pretentious, going on and on about his symphony and thinking himself a genius. Vernon was not likeable either.
I wish he wrote more about Molly. She seemed very interesting, but she is already dead when the book starts.
All in all, this book was dissapointing. I thought it would be building up to something unexpected and exciting, but it didn't. (show less)
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I would not say that this is a great book, however the story was good especially towards the end. The ex-lovers being their own demise. Classic. It was a little draggy in the beginning though.
Daniel Albert Isaac 18 days agoThis book has been added to these lists:
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