I just finished reading Amsterdam written by Ian McEwan. This little novel won the Booker Prize in 1998.
My review…
It’s a tiny bizarre masterpiece!
At 178 pages, it was a short book, and so I picked it up to fit it in between two big books. I was immersed into it from the very first scene- a funeral of a young woman whose ex lovers, and her husband and a political bigwig of England are all present at this event.
The tension was already set. Threats were issued. People were avoiding each other.
How all these lives changed, mostly for the worse, over the next few days, weeks is what this novel is about. And the shadow (or should I say ghost) of the dead woman looms over all their lives and the connected events.
It is darkly comedic. It questions people’s moral boundaries as opposed to self-serving actions. And masterpieces are hashed into wasted nothings.
The book moves slowly but steadily all throughout. Little details about the characters lives make us get to know them better, and their relationships. The hollowness of their connections foretells of the impending doom. And this doom involves the politics of the country at the highest level too. Which means we must expect something big to go down!
But the last 30 or so pages take us into the doom we expect with such ferocity, and intensity that I had to actually go back and make sure I was reading right. The events turn utterly dark. The little hints left in the book throughout make their presence felt in this deeply disturbing end.
And I realized that a book had all this darkness foretold just by beginning with a funeral. That really set the tone for all the melancholy and dark emotions that tint the entire book.
The novel is tightly knit with just the words it needs. There are no extras. We don’t see the history of all characters in all its details. In fact we don’t know much about a lot. But we know enough. To be shocked at the characters’ behaviours and actions. By their intent. By their deeply disturbing interiors.
This is the first Ian McEwan book I have read. Which surprises me too. How could I have missed reading one of the leading writers of our times all these years? But I am hooked. And ready to dig into more of his writing.