Nutshell by Ian McEwan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What a marvellous conceit this book is. It tells the story of a woman having an affair with her brother in law,and of the two plotting something sinister. Only, the story is told by the most unexpected narrator - the foetus of the unfaithful woman. And far from being gibberish the language and tone of the narrative sways to the other end of the scale - it is eloquent, astute, perceptive and exquisite.
How can the author get away with this you wonder? Right from the first part of book..."So here I am, upside down in a woman. Arms patiently crossed, waiting, waiting and wondering who I'm in, what I'm in for" we understand that this is no ordinary narrator. He is sharp and he peppers his monologues with exceptional opinions about things in life which he has experienced second hand through his mother's womb.
"I'm hearing pillow talk of deadly intent and I'm terrified by what awaits me, by what might draw me in," gives an insight right at the beginning of something sinister brewing between his mother and her lover. We don't doubt the foetus' intelligence or sharpness or its ability to discern information as he goes about quoting podcasts, lectures or radio programs that his mother hears when she has trouble sleeping. We even get an assurance for this unusual ability- "...I have my sources, I listen."
The pillow talk of course is between his (it is a 'boy') mother Trudy and her lover, Claude who is her husband John's only brother. Our narrator doesn't like Claude, and finds him "dull to the point of brilliance, vapid beyond invention, his banality as finely wrought as the arabesques of the Blue Mosque." Whoop!
The book goes on to reveal the sinister plotting of the lovers against his unsuspecting, poet of a father (a big man, my genome's other half, whose helical twists of fate concern me greatly) and its consequence on the unborn, hapless narrator of this book. Also, on reading this book my vague notions of the eloquence and articulation on various topics of a learned person from the developed world, got strengthened.
This is my first Ian Mc Ewan book and I loved it. I am definitely going to pick up a couple of others once I live down the beautiful prose and re-readable sentences of this book. The story line is thin and the ending is kind of expected but the narration is flawless and the credit goes to the author who takes us through the foetus's point of view of what's happening outside the womb. This is book is purely a re-readable delight of thoughts.
View all my reviews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
 |
| Nutshell - Ian McEwan |
What a marvellous conceit this book is. It tells the story of a woman having an affair with her brother in law,and of the two plotting something sinister. Only, the story is told by the most unexpected narrator - the foetus of the unfaithful woman. And far from being gibberish the language and tone of the narrative sways to the other end of the scale - it is eloquent, astute, perceptive and exquisite.
How can the author get away with this you wonder? Right from the first part of book..."So here I am, upside down in a woman. Arms patiently crossed, waiting, waiting and wondering who I'm in, what I'm in for" we understand that this is no ordinary narrator. He is sharp and he peppers his monologues with exceptional opinions about things in life which he has experienced second hand through his mother's womb.
"I'm hearing pillow talk of deadly intent and I'm terrified by what awaits me, by what might draw me in," gives an insight right at the beginning of something sinister brewing between his mother and her lover. We don't doubt the foetus' intelligence or sharpness or its ability to discern information as he goes about quoting podcasts, lectures or radio programs that his mother hears when she has trouble sleeping. We even get an assurance for this unusual ability- "...I have my sources, I listen."
The pillow talk of course is between his (it is a 'boy') mother Trudy and her lover, Claude who is her husband John's only brother. Our narrator doesn't like Claude, and finds him "dull to the point of brilliance, vapid beyond invention, his banality as finely wrought as the arabesques of the Blue Mosque." Whoop!
The book goes on to reveal the sinister plotting of the lovers against his unsuspecting, poet of a father (a big man, my genome's other half, whose helical twists of fate concern me greatly) and its consequence on the unborn, hapless narrator of this book. Also, on reading this book my vague notions of the eloquence and articulation on various topics of a learned person from the developed world, got strengthened.
This is my first Ian Mc Ewan book and I loved it. I am definitely going to pick up a couple of others once I live down the beautiful prose and re-readable sentences of this book. The story line is thin and the ending is kind of expected but the narration is flawless and the credit goes to the author who takes us through the foetus's point of view of what's happening outside the womb. This is book is purely a re-readable delight of thoughts.
View all my reviews
Comments