Over the course of what turns out to be a very long day, neurosurgeon Henry Perowne deals with war, love, growing old, confrontation, poetry, talent, memory, and Dover Beach. And that's just the stuff that is easy to categorize. My take on this tale is that it is a meditation on how one exists in the moment. It is also about the mechanisms we use to separate ourselves from our immediate surroundings. It's about how we connect to our physical and emotional self and what happens when we drift away. McEwan doesn't seem to be making any judgments about that drift, but it is integral to how the story moves along. I suppose I'm being a little vague. I don't want to give away the story. What I will say is that despite a little too much effort to wrap things up nicely, it's a decent novel and worth your time.
Rating: full house.
No comments:
Post a Comment