1002. Saturday

Saturday
Ian McEwan
2005

Around 310 pages

If you have the excuse to use the word "penultimate," you take it, dammit. Seriously, I can't believe this is the second to last novel. More importantly, it's our last McEwan novel! He is one of my favorite authors, and the first order of business after finishing this List will be reading the rest of his works. Until then, here's the ranking:

1. Atonement

2. Saturday

3. Amsterdam

4. Enduring Love

5. The Cement Garden

6. The Comfort of Strangers

7. Black Dogs

8. A Child in Time

A Child in Time is only earning its spot because it wrecked me emotionally. I love all of these novels, and while Saturday couldn't quite dethrone Atonement, it came pretty damn close.

The story follows Henry Perowne, a 48-year-old neurosurgeon, on the day of February 15, 2003, the day of the demonstration against the invasion of Iraq, which was the largest protest in British history. I love stories that take place over the course of one day, and there were enough echoes of Mrs. Dalloway to make me very, very happy.

This wouldn't be the McEwan novel I would introduce new readers to, as it is a ponderous work that might strike some as pretentious or pompous. But I always love McEwan's style, pacing, and observations of family dynamics. And it made me want to play squash.

Thank you Ian McEwan, you were my port in a storm of really bad novels.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Translated into eight languages.

While researching the book, McEwan spent two years work-shadowing Neil Kitchen, a neurosurgeon at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, London.

UP NEXT: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

955. Atonement

Atonement
Ian McEwan
2001

Around 370 pages

Thank heavens for Ian McEwan. Of course, this novel is so depressing that it's hardly a cheerful pick me up, but I needed something moving that didn't include graphic scenes of sexual violence and sympathetic portrayals of child rapists. So in many ways, this was just what the doctor ordered.

In the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony misunderstands the relationship between her older sister Cecilia and Robbie, the son of her upper-class family's housekeeper. This misunderstanding has dire consequences for all of their lives, and it's a bad time to be a young person in England anyway.

It can be so frustrating when the characters in a story believe something that the reader knows is not true, that it can ruin the entire experience. But McEwan manages the perspectives and characters so masterfully that I never felt that way. He perfectly captures how catastrophes like this unfold. Just like in real life, so many little things have to go wrong for some tragedies to occur that it's hard not to feel like the fates are against you.

Loved the film adaptation as well, Joe Wright should adapt all my favorite novels.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2007.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

UP NEXT: Schooling by Heather McGowan

922. Amsterdam

Amsterdam
Ian McEwan
1998
Around 210 pages

Once again, McEwan provides a much needed boost after another joyless entry on the List. What better way to start a novel than at a funeral? This was brilliant from start to finish, and might just be my favorite McEwan book so far.

At the funeral of photographer and writer Molly Lane, three of her ex lovers meet, including newspaper editor Vernon Halliday, composer Clive Linley, and British Foreign Secretary Julian Garmony. Vernon and Clive reflect on Molly's death, which was caused by rapid crippling brain disease, and make an agreement to kill each other if they ever become so helpless. Vernon is also desperate for career success, and thinks he might get the attention he seeks by publishing some unsavory photos taken by Molly.

I can't heap enough praise on Ian McEwan, who is a master at crafting rich and exciting stories. His plots always take strange turns, but the events that take place are always completely in character and provide huge pay offs.

And he always sticks the landing. No notes, the perfect novel does exist.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Received the 1998 Booker Prize.

UP NEXT: Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi

911. Enduring Love

Enduring Love
Ian McEwan
1997
Around 250 pages

I love novels that start out with one very dramatic event, and the rest of the novel is dedicated to the fall out. And the master of this technique is Ian McEwan, who remains one of my favorite writers. If I give this four stars, it's only because it's not quite up to the level of other McEwan works, but he's still always on form no matter what.

Joe Rose is enjoying a picnic with his partner Clarissa, when they see a hot air balloon with a ten-year-old trapped inside, and the boy's grandfather being dragged along. Joe joins other men in the rescue attempt, which costs somebody their life. One of the other men becomes obsessed with Joe, because life is a nightmare, and looking at the wrong person once can mean you have lifelong stalker.

I have been on a hot air balloon, and it does feel like you are one light breeze away from total annihilation. This is a fascinating topic and McEwan understands character so well that he can craft a compelling narrative out of the most mundane events. It's no surprise that this is an exciting and well-paced novel. 

This wasn't as emotional as A Child in Time, thank the heavens, but was still a moving read. Highly recommended.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2004.

UP NEXT: Great Apes by Will Self

841. Black Dogs

Black Dogs
Ian McEwan
1992
Around 180 pages

Ian McEwan is Azor Ahai, the hero that was promised. We've been in a slump lately, occasionally alleviated by okay works. But McEwan always delivers quality novels, and we haven't even reached his best works yet.

Jeremy is the son-in-law of Bernard and June Tremaine. Seeking to understand how their deep love could fracture by ideological differences, Jeremy undertakes writing June's memoirs. McEwan is an entertaining writer and manages to keep the plot moving forward even when he is exploring transcendental ideas.

So for anybody else, this would be their masterpiece, but because it's McEwan, we know he is capable of better than this, and his later novels aren't so dependent on the climax to tie everything together. Still a great work, he's a master of creating suspense.

And we didn't have to linger on the concept of losing your child to serial killer in a supermarket this time, so that's nice.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Zadie Smith dubbed Black Dogs a "brilliant, flinty little novel, bursting with big ideas."

UP NEXT: Asphodel by Hilda Doolittle

794. The Child in Time

The Child in Time
Ian McEwan
1987
Around 265 pages

Ian McEwan is another author capable of shattering my heart into a million pieces, and for this novel, he writes about the worst thing you can think of. I'm not a parent, but even I understand that the worst thing that is capable of happening to a human being is losing a child. I imagine a lot of people are unable to pick this novel up with such a dark central concept.

Stephen Lewis loses track of his three-year-old daughter Kate at a supermarket. Naturally, he develops a drinking problem and his wife moves away and becomes a recluse. McEwan details the pain of loss, guilt, and grief so well that it's hard to believe he's not speaking from experience.

I can't honestly recommend this novel, as it will definitely make your heart ache, and there are other wonderful McEwan reads where he doesn't twist the knife so brutally. But of course, this is a five star novel. I can't imagine choosing such a disturbing subject to write a novel about. Just thinking about having to be in that headspace...McEwan is a braver man than I.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a BBC television film starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

UP NEXT: Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

723. The Comfort of Strangers

The Comfort of Strangers
Ian McEwan
1981
Around 130 pages

I believe sexuality has only been handled in a healthy way a handful of times on the List. Which tells me that humanity is full of freaks. Ian McEwan is such a compelling writer, with such disturbing premises, that it is impossible to not stop and stare.

Mary and Colin are a British couple on holiday in a city, trying to give their dying relationship mouth to mouth. They meet Robert, a native with some, um, colorful stories, and his wife Caroline. They are creepy as hell, but Mary and Colin haven't watched enough horror movies to go running for the hills.

As a huge fan of horror movies, I was pleased with this one. It plays out like a movie with the slow build, and I was unsurprised that it was taken to the big screen. Still not the best McEwan is capable of, but an intriguing and unsettling entry nonetheless.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into 1990 film starring Christopher Walken.

UP NEXT: On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin

700. The Cement Garden

The Cement Garden
Ian McEwan
1978

Around 140 pages

700! Now we are officially entering the home stretch, and rounding off with some of my favorite novels of all time. This is the era of John Irving, Ian McEwan, and Douglas Adams. What a time to be alive!

Four children want to keep their mother's recent death a secret, as they have already lost their father and don't want to end up in foster care. They encase her body in concrete in the basement and attempt to live on their own. This involves the older two siblings, Jack and Julie, filling in as mother and father, if you catch my drift.

Ian McEwan is a favorite author of mine. I wouldn't call this his masterpiece, but all of his novels are brilliant and built on a fascinating premise. This is a disturbing read that I'm sure would make King and Poe proud. 

Some of the authors of our "shocking" reads are so eager to unsettle us, that you can practically sense the desperation, but I never get that feeling with McEwan. There is something about his prose that is very calm, even when he is dwelling on distasteful.

Happy to have you on the roster Ian!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a film in 1993.

Several critics suggested that the plot bore a close resemblance to Julian Gloag's Our Mother's House. McEwan denied having read that work and no formal charges of plagiarism were filed.

UP NEXT: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams