The Comfort of Strangers

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Delicious!!
Review: I just finished this book over the weekend. This was the first time I was reading Ian McEwan and loved it, only because of the simple reason: He writes real well. The story centers around two so-called-lovers , Colin and Mary are vacationing in Venice ( We assume that the place is Venice as it is never once mentioned in the book, but the descriptions are good enough to reach that conclusion: Wonder why McEwan did not add the name of the place?)and suddenly bump into a couple - a rather strange couple - Robert and Caroline who seem to be quite odd and it is maybe this weirdness that attracts them to the couple. After this, I won't give away more..All I can say is that this 134 page book was an amazing read for me!! Truly enigmatic!!

Rating:
Summary: Second Novel by Ian McEwan
Review: I would guess like many readers I came upon this writer's work when he began receiving international acclaim for his work, "Amsterdam", in 1998 when the novel won The Booker Prize. I have read his work that has been published after that tale, and now have been going back to his earlier work, a decision that can be very rewarding, or quite the opposite. I suppose expecting earlier work to be less mature or skillful is reasonable, but there are also writers that appear with an initial work that is very good or even excellent, and they manage, with some exceptions, to keep the quality of work very high. Other writers peak with their first book, there are no rules.

"The Comfort Of Strangers" is the second novel that Mr. McEwan published, and it would be fair to call it more of a short story. I don't know what divides a short story from a novella from a novel; it appears publishers use the terms interchangeably at times. From the two earlier works I have read, this book along with, "The Innocent", Mr. McEwan to date, sits in the category of writers who get better as they hone their craft. This may appear to be the normal course of a writer's development, but we all have read otherwise.

My primary complaint with this book is that the author worked around the fringes of what many would consider taboo conduct, darts in for a moment or two of detail, but does not fully explore the issues he touches upon, nor does he complete his tale. Another author that I am a great admirer of is Penelope Fitzgerald who said she never let her characters decide where they would go in a story, she decided their every move. Now again this may sound obvious, who controls their characters if not the author, but she was speaking of having a plan for her players from opening page to closing paragraph. Mr. McEwan does not manage the detail of his characters here, he asks the reader to fill in the detail or in some cases the blanks. In this book I do not like the decision he made, but for admirers of his work that wish to go back to his earlier published material, this is a quick and interesting read of an author that has gone on to be internationally recognized.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful but Weird
Review: McEwan is a wonderful descriptive writer. For example: "In one direction, the street vanished into total darkness; in the other, a diffused blue-gray light was making visible a series of low buildings which descended like blocks cut in granite and converged in the gloom where the street curved away. Thousands of feet above, an attenuated finger of cloud pointed across the line of the curve and reddened. A cool, salty wind blew along the street and stirred a cellophane wrapper against the step on which Colin and Mary were sitting."

In my opinion, McEwan's goal in "The Comfort of Strangers" is to exercise his marvelous descriptive powers, which truly allow the reader to see and feel the experiences of Colin and Mary, his primary characters. At the same time, this descriptive power seems complete, in and of itself, and makes it unnecessary for McEwan to have much of a story. Indeed, his plot might be summed up as two disorganized people not really connecting, on their vacation.

For me, this book was an intense and pleasurable read, with its prose as exacting and suggestive as fine poetry. This, perhaps, explains why the book's ending seems arbitrary and contrived. The book, after all, is not about plot but about the power of great writing to capture experience. At the book's climax, my marginalia say "What?!" Read "The Comfort of Strangers" and see what I mean.

Rating:
Summary: A "Literary Thriller"
Review: Never having read McEwan I decided, on a whim, to start with the immensely discomforting The Comfort of Strangers.

In less gifted hands, the story would simply qualify as a psychological suspense/thriller but McEwan's immense talents yield a "literary thriller" that makes for compelling reading and packs not only a visceral whallop but an intensely emotional one.

McEwan expertly depicts the ennui between long-time lovers Colin and Mary as they vacation in Italy while subtly overlaying their seemingly directionless wanderings and chance encounter with the charismatic, enigmatic Robert and his wife Caroline with ominous foreboding. The sense that something is not quite right with Robert's overtures of friendship and his relationship with Caroline serve as a subconscious catalyst in sparking renewed sexual energy between Colin and Mary -- as if they unite against a common yet unkownable, unspeakable threat.

Despite the ever-present aura of impending disaster, so rapidly and succintly does McEwan spin the circumstances of the climax and denoument and so smartly but simply does he trap the lovers and propel them to their doom that I remain, weeks later, haunted by the powerful impact of the chilling conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Thriller
Review: This book may not cover a whole lot of action, but it moves along very quickly. The writing of McEwan describes the scenes to such an extent that the reader feels the intensity experienced by Colin and Mary. Throughout the novel, this intensity builds, making for one of the most exciting and well written books I have ever read.