'Enduring Love' Review

I’m a big Ian McEwan fan, in fact ‘Atonement’ is probably one of my favourite books of all time. I also really enjoyed ‘The Children Act’ so when I saw ‘Enduring Love’ being discussed on Between the Pages on BBC Two I immediately felt I had to read it. I found out that it’s a set text for lots of English students and felt a bit jealous that McEwan had never been an option whilst I was studying. I have finally gotten round to the book and finished it- so, here are my thoughts:

The overall concept of this book was something I really enjoyed; the implausible inciting incident, the themes of obsession, faith and rationalism. I found the two opposing characters really exciting and it sparked in me some internal discussions about the nature of love, faith and belief. However, the book just didn’t live up to the height of what I had hoped. 

I found that after the balloon accident, the book halted to a bit of a glacial pace. It was frustrating because the material was so good. The concept of someone suddenly appearing and forcing themselves into your life, deciding that you and them are destined to love each other and then refusing to leave you alone was unnerving and exciting. It just felt like it took too long to get to the point. I’ve heard stalking be referred to as ‘murder in slow motion’ and this is something the book definitely gets right but perhaps takes the ‘slow’ a bit too literal. Ironically, when the action and tension really gets going it feels a bit too quick. For a relatively short book I just felt that the pacing was off. 

My only other issue was the main character. This is a personal thing but I just found him annoying. I have no issue with protagonists being unlikable, abhorrent or even quite evil. When you read a lot there’s bound to be a few characters that you just don’t like and for me that was the narrator of this book. It doesn’t take anything away from the writing or story. It’s just something I find a bit jarring, much like my dislike of the character Sherlock whilst also liking Sherlock books.

This was by no means a book that I didn’t enjoy, I just wish there was more of it. Throughout there were little gems that I wish had more chance to shine. McEwan always has a great skill of internality, of taking you on the meandering roads of character’s minds, thoughts and feelings. Maybe I wanted to see more of the internal conflict of all three of the central characters. The appendix does this in a great way but I wish there was more of it in the actual body of the text. 

The book is still perfectly enjoyable and I would recommend it to others. I can see why it's been used for English students to study and analyse. However, it’s just not quite on the ‘Atonement’ level for me.