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• Plagiarism -- Bree, 15:45:00 10/12/06 Thu
  I am aware that Ian McEwan has been accused of plagiarism in the past (Atticus?) and was hoping that someone could point me to where I might find any articles/papers on the topic.
  
  Thankyou!
  

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• Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory -- Glyn Carter, 10:23:32 09/01/06 Fri
  Part of Saturday's richness is that there are many ways of reading it. Yes there's the ongoing McEwan theme of rationality and science, and their integration with emotion.
  
  But I like to look at the elements of Saturday as an allegory of the Iraq war. (Of course much is not so much allegory as direct exposition, eg argument with daughter, Perowne's Iraqi professor patient).
  
  Most significantly, is not Baxter Saddam? Mad, brutal, intelligent, self-deluding, doomed, and needing to be dealt with.
  
  And might not the dying mother dying represent the passing of a the pre-9/11 world? The whole family being the comfortable/complacent west?
  
  I've done a bit of Googling, and can't see any reviewer who has speculated on this connection.
  
  Or am I thick?
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory -- Pristine, 08:12:08 09/02/06 Sat
    • Re: Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory -- Tom Melly, 02:24:01 09/14/06 Thu
      • Re: Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory -- michael pospie, 15:12:19 10/01/06 Sun
  • Re: Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory -- Tim de Ferrars, 13:08:04 10/02/06 Mon
    • Re: Baxter = Saddam: Saturday as allegory -- michael pospie, 12:52:14 10/08/06 Sun

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• Song written while reading Saturday -- Tim de Ferrars, 14:16:41 10/01/06 Sun
  I'm a songwriter. I don't perform music, but I post sketches of my songs on various websites for performers and collaborators. I recently wrote a song called Outside My Mind and posted it on the web in a sort of half-arranged form to see what interest it might attract. Someone asked me what it was about, and it was only then that I realized that I had been reading Saturday while writing the song, and that the song charted my reaction to the book. All of this was unplanned and entirely a product of the subconscious.
  
  I love the book, by the way: Ian McEwan has a great knack of weaving a technical subject matter deep into the cloth of human experience - you always learn as you read.
  
  Anyway, the song is here, unfinished and essentially unperformed, as it awaits both a proper arrangement and the right musicians to play it. Maybe you are a musician interested in taking it on; or maybe it lights a spark of recognition in your experience of this superb book.
  
  http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=418152
  
  The song is called Outside My Mind MP3 Mix.
  
  Best to you all.
  
  Tim de Ferrars
  
  ferret119@hotmail.com
  

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• Disguises -- Tosha, 17:29:39 09/21/06 Thu
  I read "Disguises" yesterday for a psychoanalysis class. We cannot all agree on one important detail. Do Linda and Claire really exsist, or is this a fantasy that Henry made up, or does anyone really know except for Ian?
  

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• Help plz -- marwa (the kite runner & atonement), 05:34:01 09/18/06 Mon
  hi all, i have read "the kite runner" by khaled Hosseini and "Atonement" for english. i have to write an essay about the topic, "how do the two authors show the main character's atonement for a mistake in the past?" i need 2000 words on the topic and i am struggling. what should i write other than the sins and the characters atonement. how should i fulfill my topic. please help me this essay is worth 20% of my final grade.
  any help is greatly apperciated.
  
  P.S. i need help asap as the essay is due on friday
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Help plz -- anonymous, 15:47:42 09/19/06 Tue

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• Huntington's Disease role in Saturday -- Simon, 04:06:52 09/07/06 Thu
  Hi!
  
  I'm wondering, what do people think that the role of Huntington's Disease is in Saturday? Like, what does it have on the plot, Baxter and the novel it self and also any symbolism?
  
  Cheers.
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Huntington's Disease role in Saturday -- damien curtis, 20:27:36 09/13/06 Wed

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• Atonement vs. Saturday -- Carly, 18:18:09 09/03/06 Sun
  For a university essay I am required to compare and contrast facets of McEwan's Atonement and Saturday. I was looking to see some alternate views of McEwan's readers, perhaps an insight into connecting themes, writing devices, use of symbolism and the settings of the novels in terms of location and time. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
  

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• Psychoanalysis -- rebecca, 14:37:25 07/25/06 Tue
  How much influence, if any, do you think McEwan gathers from psychoanalysists such as Freud and Winnicott? Is the idea of the Oedipus Complex relevent in "The Cement Garden"?
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Psychoanalysis -- AJ, 06:46:28 09/02/06 Sat

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• Ian McEwans View of Love -- Steven, 13:10:51 07/11/05 Mon
  Does any have any opions of what Ian McEwan views of Love are?
  Me i think he is trying to say that Love comes in many different ways and sometimes it might happen between two poeple it shouldnt happen or is unlikely to happen.
  I would love to hear you views about what you think.
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Ian McEwans View of Love -- Martino, 02:01:27 10/20/05 Thu
  • Re: Ian McEwans View of Love -- Vixen, 05:47:18 04/04/06 Tue
  • Re: Ian McEwans View of Love -- marwa, 07:46:51 09/01/06 Fri

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• pure prefection -- marwa, 07:22:31 09/01/06 Fri
  i always find reading a book of McEwan's a dazzaling advanture from which i come out hypnotized by the words of the book for days. i don't know why i'm writing this but i think it's because i want to tell you that your books are perfect in every sense of the word. i can't wait to finish Amastardam so i can start another novel of yours and i can't wait to read your new novel which you are hopefully writing and publishing very soon. every book of McEwan is a roller coaster ride from which you would come out dazzled and thrilled of excitment.
  

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• Perowne's fish stew -- Robert Mills, 13:47:15 08/25/06 Fri
  I have a just prepared a version (I couldn't get all the ingredients) of the fish stew described in chapter four of 'Saturday'. It was very good. I wonder if Ian McEwan has any more good recepies and if he enjoys cooking as much as I do?
  
  Robert Mills
  Surgeon, writer and food fan
  

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• Ian McEwan on Abu Ghraib/media request -- Tara McKelvey, 20:08:47 08/19/06 Sat
  In Slate magazine, journalist Christopher Hitchens writes, "McEwan observed recently that there were, in effect, two kinds of people: those who could have used or recognized the words Abu Ghraib a few years ago, and those to whom it became a new term only last year."Did McEwan really say that? If so, where is he quoted? I'm a journalist and I'd like to track down this quote. Has anybody seen it? Thanks so much.
  

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• Saturday -- Sandra (Yes!), 04:43:20 07/27/06 Thu
  Hello Mr. McEwan,
  
  I just finished reading "Saturday" and wanted to say how much I related to Perowne's visit with his Mother in the nursing home and his thoughts and feelings about her.
  
  All I can say is - you must have lived it. You put into words some complex feelings and observations that I hadn't been able to articulate and I thank you.
  
  Sandra in Toronto
  

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• Unreliability in Saturday? -- Fabian, 06:21:05 07/24/06 Mon
  Hi!
  
  I'm in the process of writing a term paper. The topic is unreliable narration in Enduring Love and Saturday. THe thing is, as it is quite obvious that Joe Rose in Enduring Love is an unreliable narrator to a certain extent, I don't know if this also applies to Saturday, especially as the novel is not narrated by Perwone himself. Mr. McEwan uses figural narrative situation which can only provide an unreliable focalizer (Perowne in this case). My question however: Is Perowne an unreliable focalizer? And how can you proof that?
  
  Thanks.
  
  Fabian
  

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• Theme of Saturday please respond! -- Jenna, 12:23:55 08/22/05 Mon
  Hi!
  i already posted this but got no replies.
  I was wondering if anyone knows some of the themes in Saturday. I'm having a hard time finding them.
  please reply!!!
  Thanks
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- Martino, 01:57:34 10/20/05 Thu
    • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- paul, 09:02:26 02/01/06 Wed
    • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- Dee J, 18:03:18 05/22/06 Mon
    • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- Thelma, 07:47:10 07/14/06 Fri
      • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- Jonathan, 11:38:29 07/14/06 Fri
    • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- jason romaine (saturday themes), 15:22:18 07/15/06 Sat
  • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- Paul, 08:34:34 02/03/06 Fri
  • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- gertz, 13:38:32 05/23/06 Tue
  • Re: Theme of Saturday please respond! -- John Stanford White, 19:05:55 05/25/06 Thu

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• McEwan's story, "To and Fro" -- mj, 10:44:16 07/08/06 Sat
  McEwan's two collections of short stories I never tire of reading. They're strange, macabre, free. One story in particular, however, haunts me mostly for the reason that I'm not sure what it's about. Does anyone have any thoughts or reflections on "To and Fro" (from In Between the Sheets, 1978) that could perhaps help me understand it a little better?
  

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• "or shall we die?" -- Jonathan, 01:06:15 07/01/06 Sat
  'Shall there be womanly times or shall we die?
  
  Are there men unafraid of gentleness?
  Can we have strength without aggression,
  Without disgust,
  Strength to bring feeling to the intellect?
  Shall we change or shall we die?'
  

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• My thought on Ian McEwan's work. -- jonathan, 11:10:59 06/26/06 Mon
  
  
  The differences between us and the changes that face us reveal physical and
  emotional expressions of vulnerability.
  
  Even if we avoid ourselves or wear masks, the vulnerability won't vanish.
  
  If we have feelings for something or someone
  our vulnerability rejects or connects with its/his vulnerability.
  
  If we increase or decrease from the degree of vulnerability,
  We harden or soften.
  
  Vulnerability is common to us and splits
  us apart.
  
  Polarizes relationships
  between us and
  the rest
  
  .
  

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• my thoghts on mcewan's work -- jonathan, 11:00:15 06/26/06 Mon
  The differences between us and the changes that face us reveal physical and
  emotional expressions of vulnerability.
  
  Even if we avoid ourselves or wear masks, the vulnerability won't vanish.
  
  If we have feelings for something or someone
  our vulnerability rejects or connects with its/his vulnerability.
  
  If we increase or decrease from the degree of vulnerability,
  We harden or soften.
  
  Vulnerability is common to us and splits
  us apart.
  
  Polarizes relationships
  between us and
  the rest
  
  .
  

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• Amsterdam -- Klara Fronkova, 01:03:29 06/24/06 Sat
  Hi,Amsterdam is one of my favourit books. With two small kids I have little time to look on the internet at the library here in Prague. Today I have some free time and have to tell you of my long-term relationship with Amsterdam. It statisfies me when I feel like a story that is cleverly writen, not slow, amusing. It always makes me think of people's characters..."how we know so little about each other. We lie mostly submerged, like ice floes...", and of course ot the euthanasia. So close is David Herbert Lawrence in his "Sons and Lovers" description of the way he gave his mother the drink to help her die - to what Clive would have done to Molly if he could. It seems everybody is lunatic in these days or will become lunatic when older. Probably even myself will not be the exception. As this may happen I better write to you now. Oh, poor Klara...
  I am going to read the Saturday soon.
  

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• Atonement - a day in the summer of 1935 -- Andy, 15:30:16 06/22/06 Thu
  Hello. Is there any way to pinpoint the exact date when the events in Atonement take place? The publisher says it's the hottest day in the summer of 1935. I was just wondering if Ian Mcewan had a particular day in mind. Ie. 1st August.
  
  Thanks
  

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• Happy Birthday -- Francesca, 10:26:34 06/21/06 Wed
  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
  It is just by chance that I have just discovered today it is your birthday!!
  I have finished reading the last lines of "Saturday" ten minutes ago and I wanted to find out what your face looks like. So I searched for your website and here I am.
  Thanks for your books and the thinking they bring about.
  "Enduring love" is waiting on a shelf but as usual I am afraid to start reading because I know it will end soon.
  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR MCEWAN!!
  Francesca 71 - Milano
  

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• From Chile with love -- Riola, 00:58:17 06/21/06 Wed
  Dear Mr. McEwan,
  
  In your birthday, I wish Icould express me better to say you THANKS for all of you have given me through your work,but since English isn't my "mother tongue" and as I've actually never wanted to learn it because I've always thought it was the business language, today I must accept this like a punishment.
  What made this changing?
  Until the reading of Atonement - in spanish of course- any interest to read a novel in English. But with this work I felt I needed this language to arrive to understand completely the richness of the novel world.
  After that I've read almost all your novels, but still in spanish: The Innocent, Amsterdam, Black Dogs, I loved this last one. I loved the two main characters, I loved the description of the "Causses", cette region si magnifique au sud du Massif Central en France. I understood that you have non only the knowledge of the French language but of the French culture.I got the same when I read Atonement with the description of the war in the Nord of France, in Dunkerque.
  This work impelled me to travel to London on june 2005 to learn English " in situ". It was great, a wonderful experience. I lodged with a british family in the south of London. I took the train, the underground (the tube), the bus and , over all, I knew London on feet.However, I could stay some days in a little Bed & Breakfast in Gower Street, it was a very English and charming stay.
  Nearby the Henry Perowne Quarter, I could walk and follow the way that he made this single day of Febrery 2003.
  In my walk I bought "Saturday" in the New British Library and took a coffee reading the walls of the Snack Bar.This day was unforgettable. I enjoy it!
  You gave me the tips to love London. Your novel shows me the living city. Because of you I could feel the city.
  Finally, at my return I bought the Spanish version of Saturday and I could compare the two writings.How different is to read the original.
  
  P.D. I was amazed when I discovered the name of Chile in a English novel. It's about a painted bowl that Daisy had brought from a student trip to Chile.
  About me, from my student trip to London I only brought
  "Saturday".
  
  Best Wishes,
  Riola
  

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• Ian McEwan talk at Buxton Festival -- Heather, 10:54:47 06/01/06 Thu
  Hi, did you know that Ian McEwan will be appearing at Buxton Festival on 8 July? He will be talking about Atonement, Saturday and will read from his recent work Work in Progress. Tickets £9 and there will be a questions and answers session followed by a book signing! check out www.buxtonfestival.co.uk for more info! see you there!
  

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  • Re: Ian McEwan talk at Buxton Festival -- j whitta, 03:13:28 06/16/06 Fri

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• Saturday -- Elisabeth Cott, 01:25:03 09/30/05 Fri
  I wonder if anyone else noticed the subtle and humorous reference to one of Ian McEwan's own works, i.e. The Child in Time, when the Perowne character summarises what reading material he has recently ingested. I found Saturday just as absorbing as any other work by this exciting author and yes, such characters do exist and they do have daughters studying in Paris and all the other upper middle class crap which some readers may object to. Nevertheless, there are class conflicts of whcih McEwan is an astute observer. viz. Enduring Love. Descriptions of the widow in her shabby genteel academic environment and the geriatric hippy community are examples.
  

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  • Re: Saturday -- Toni Lock, 02:47:11 02/05/06 Sun
  • Re: Saturday -- Susan K., 10:14:56 06/08/06 Thu

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• how is "McEwan" pronounced? -- Emily Mann, 06:00:18 10/04/05 Tue
  Like McUen or Makavane or something else? Thanks!
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: how is "McEwan" pronounced? -- miss, 11:05:08 10/11/05 Tue
    • Re: how is "McEwan" pronounced? -- gertz, 05:56:32 05/28/06 Sun

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• Saturday - Fan mail -- John Stanford White, 18:19:02 05/25/06 Thu
  Dear Mr. McEwan,
  
  I am reading your book "Saturday". I am having a great problem rationing myself, and performing my duties as a self-employed engineer. It's like sitting down to a mysterious and delicious meal, that only seems to make me more hungry as I go on. I read bits of it to my wife, a neuro-psychiatrist, who explains some of the surgery to me, and shares my appreciation of the fineness of the work. This evening we cracked open one of her neurology texts to show the path of Rosalind's transsphenoidal hypophysectomy. The surgery is alive, and I can easily imagine the intensity and brilliance of its performance.
  
  Henry Perdowne is a very interesting person. I know people like him, surgeons in fact - supremely confident, decent, somewhat austere, philosophically materialistic. I only wish that he too could share his daughter's enthusiasm (and mine) for myth and storytelling. I have the impression that you do too - but then again, I am only in the middle of the book.
  
  When I finish reading the book, I am certain to be sad. As a result, I am sure to have to find solace in your other books, none of which I have read.
  
  So thank you for doing your work, writing this story that I find so intriguing. Life sure is complicated, and as such is realized rarely in a work of fiction. This is a marvelous book, and I look forward to reading more of your work.
  
  Best Wishes,
  
  John Stanford White
  

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• Saturday & Last Rites -- Daniel, 04:38:54 04/27/06 Thu
  Quite simply Mr McEwan writes the finest, most interesting prose I have ever read. His books are a joy and his themes are acute and engrossing.
  
  You can smell summertime in Enduring Love, you can feel the city in Saturday, you can hear the music in Amsterdam and you although you are not sure exactly why, you feel edgy and nervous after First Love Last Rites.
  
  It’s all wonderful stuff. Thank you Mr McEwan.
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Saturday & Last Rites -- gertz, 09:21:08 05/24/06 Wed

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• lovely enduring lurve -- Zephaniah, 07:26:28 11/11/03 Tue
  hello,i am currently studying the novel enduring love by the author Ian Mcewan, and was wondering if i am alone in my opinon or if there are fellow people like me who think that this book sucks and should be burnt!
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- crazy chick, 08:54:48 01/20/04 Tue
    • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- Hugh, 07:32:01 01/28/04 Wed
      • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- crazy chick, 09:48:44 01/29/04 Thu
      • Re: Enduring Love -- RACH, 04:21:40 05/06/04 Thu
        • Re: Enduring Love -- SiobhanG, 05:34:09 11/05/04 Fri
          • Re: Enduring Love -- Laurene Fowler, 06:15:02 04/25/05 Mon
          • Re: Enduring Love -- Helen, 09:56:13 05/14/05 Sat
        • Re: Enduring Love -- Eleanor, 12:13:17 11/19/04 Fri
        • Re: Enduring Love -- Jodie, 05:26:49 11/30/04 Tue
          • Re: Enduring Love -- Bill, 20:03:25 04/02/06 Sun
  • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- Laura, 05:01:51 11/03/04 Wed
  • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- james obrien, 01:36:47 12/06/04 Mon
    • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- amy, 08:39:53 04/08/05 Fri
  • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- Lolleh, 08:44:05 04/15/05 Fri
  • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- Daisy May, 07:38:34 03/20/06 Mon
  • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- Sydney, 19:43:33 03/29/06 Wed
    • Enduring Love -- Leila, 12:52:35 04/01/06 Sat
  • Re: lovely enduring lurve -- Rick, 09:42:22 05/20/06 Sat

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• Perowne V Strauss Match Point -- Chris Thompson, 07:25:40 05/11/06 Thu
  On Saturday's squash - That was never a let! Game set and match Strauss (He couldn't play his shot!)
  

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• InÉdit: For Young Writers -- Pristine, 09:16:34 05/06/06 Sat
  Hi all!
  
  I have a new website for young writers which also features an exclusive section on Atonement and the wonderful character Briony Tallis. Visit InÉdit at http://inedit.awardspace.com!
  
  Pristine
  

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• Book Club Discussion Group -- Ruth Trammell, 13:45:17 05/08/05 Sun
  We are reading Atonement for our book club, Do you have a set of discussion/review type material on this book. Thank you for your assistance
  

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  • Re: Book Club Discussion Group -- Tracey, 15:18:40 05/27/05 Fri

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• France -- Nikki, 13:35:13 05/04/06 Thu
  Ian, I don't know if you read this stuff, but I'm an old friend of Polly's (I'm the one who started out teaching at sussex when she was in her final year and we found we had lots in common and not much of an age gap! you and I have met a few times), so I thought I might ask you an impertinent question here: we're just setting up a book edition on English/British presence in France, and I know you're a fan of certain regions of France. Any chance you'd pen a few lines on it? (I think I had the conversation about your fave places in France over an Indian in Brighton one time, but alcohol seems to have taken over the precise memory..)
  Have been whittling away at academic disciplines, stereotypes, bullshit and pomposity for a number of years, so it'd be good to have a chiming voice on Brits in France.
  Cheers
  Nikki
  (n.j.cooper@bris.ac.uk
  

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• Saturday Project -- Sean McMahon, 17:08:03 04/30/06 Sun
  Alright, now I bought Saturday off of Amazon.com and i am about 10 pages into and the project is due in two days. I would like to read the book but don't have enough time. I was wondering if someone could give me a summary of the book. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
  

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• Books in "science canon" - from talk on 30th anniversary of "Selfish Gene" -- Anuj Bhagwati, 06:08:02 04/30/06 Sun
  I feel that the canon - which contains many excellent books needs to be expanded as currently it contains too little on physics that is not "theory of everything" or cosmology. The canon should include something about the many other parts of physics as well - there are a number of good books to choose from. And what about chemistry, which is also unrepresented?
  
  For a more complete education one should also include titles on math/ statistics, and engineering.
  

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• I need help!!! -- Ramiro Muñoz (MEXICO), 16:03:15 04/27/06 Thu
  To whom it may concern,
  
  I am currently studying a B.A. in English and I'm looking forward to receiving my degree next July 2007. However, as an 8th semester student I have to think about a thesis project. Whereas many people are trying to discuss everything about lingüistics, dialectology, etc... I have made up my mind and decided to translate Ian's Daydreamer. I have been searching in the internet and I have found there is no translation to Spanish so my proposal is acceptable but I want to be quite sure. Could you tell me if there is a translation to spanish of Ian's Daydreamer? You can answer via e mail to masonfellowcraft (at) gmail (dot) com
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: I need help!!! -- Ryan, 19:48:06 04/28/06 Fri

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• Saturday -- Molly, 15:10:42 04/24/06 Mon
  Finally Saturday in paperback reached South Africa and I have just devoured it after months of waiting. Not able to do its magnificence justice I revert to the words of the author himself: “certainly my pleasure in reading is not necessarily the witnessing of something new, but of something familiar which I haven’t seen described." Anyone who felt impatience at the novel's pace is living an unexamined life.
  One criticism; I am a compulsive reader but Saturday has rendered all other writing incomparable and dull for a while. I haven't managed to enjoy any other book since I finished it!
  

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• your article published in the Brazilian newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" -- Roberto Berlinck, 08:13:03 04/24/06 Mon
  I've read your article published (translated) in the Brazilian newspaper "Folha de São Paulo" yesterday (April 23rd), titled "The Gates of Comprehension" (literally) where you discuss on the scientific literature. Very interesting. I share many of your points, but I would include in your list of excellent science books "The Growth of Biological Thought" by Ernst Mayr, as one of the best books on the story of biology I've ever read, and also "Wonderful Life" by Stephen J. Gould, very nice book as well.
  
  with best regards,
  
  Roberto Berlinck
  Associate Professor
  Instituto de Química de São Carlos
  Universidade de São Paulo
  CP 780, CEP 13560-970
  São Carlos, SP, Brazil
  

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• In Prose of Science -- Anthony Burch, 00:16:01 04/22/06 Sat
  I read your "In prose of science" in The Age Melbourne Australia 22nd April 2006 pages. It appears to be a reprint of a Guardian article. Not having remembered reading any of your books, at first I perceived the article to have been written by an academic and thought I would follow it up from that perspective. I am 'doing' a PhD about knowledge transfer and there is much in your article that is eloquent in terms of how quality literature and literature traditions are forces to be reckoned with in terms of how ideas, concepts, images and knowledge are transferred between creators and users. What is defined as 'quality' is of course another matter.
  tony burch
  

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• POV in Saturday -- Pristine Ong, 09:18:24 04/19/06 Wed
  Being a high school student and amateur writer, I found the use of third person POV in Saturday quite interesting. My question is: why the third person POV? Unlike Atonement, in which the "accounts" by the different characters and the unique narration (the narrator being Briony) called for the third person POV, Saturday was told essentially from only one focal point. Obviously, Mr McEwan had his reasons for that, but what were they?
  

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• Saturday Fish Stew -- Charles Kremer, 13:17:25 04/15/06 Sat
  I just wanted Mr. McEwan and his readers to know that, after reading Saturday and loving it, I decided to cook his fish stew. I do not consider myself much of a cook at all but loved the generosity and ease of his preparations so I decided to extract the recipe from the relevant pages and go shopping and do it myself. It was a resounding success, definitely the best meal I have ever made, and really quick and simple. I recommend it highly.
  Charles
  (an ex-English American in California)
  

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  • Recipe for Fish Stew (Edited by Ian McEwan) -- Ryan, 21:11:16 04/15/06 Sat

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• Enduring love -- Meaghan, 15:37:16 04/12/06 Wed
  I enjoyed this book. What I am not enjoying is the paper I am trying to write on enduring love. How does the title point to essential themes in the novel????
  

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  • Re: Enduring love -- McEwan Fan, 03:19:46 04/13/06 Thu
  • Re: Enduring love -- minnjimm, 15:51:58 04/14/06 Fri

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• The Innocent -- jay, 09:19:56 10/21/05 Fri
  Is "The Innocent" just a spectacular novel or, like the tunnel itself, overreaches itslef and ultimatley fails?
  

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  • Re: The Innocent -- Mallo, 12:38:45 10/24/05 Mon
    • Re: The Innocent -- Kilgore Trout, 18:58:59 04/12/06 Wed

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• saturday - spanish edition -- isaac, 11:28:47 04/10/06 Mon
  Firstly, sorry for my elementary english...
  I've just finished the spanish edition (translation of Jaime Zulaika) of Saturday. I have enjoyed it in all the aspects. I'm a young reader, this is the first Ian McEwan's book I have read, but for sure it won't be the last.
  
  Specially I enjoyed the way how Henry Perone tries to be coherent with his acts, how he thinks in all his acts. Nowadays, in my opinion, people don't tend to think so much... He tries to be consequent with its feelings, often opposite to the majority.
  
  I also admire how McEwan deals with the subject of love in a traditional marriage. I consider that the social tendence is that the media tends to despice the traditional conception of love, as opposed to the "advantages" of promiscuity.
  
  In fact, I enjoyed a lot this novel.
  
  THANKS! and sorry again for my bad english
  

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• Ian's literary agent -- Becky Cherriman, 08:02:45 04/04/06 Tue
  Hello
  
  Does anyone know who Ian's literary agent is? I'm a fan and looking for an agent for my own, recently completed, novel.
  
  Thanks
  Becky
  

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• Ian McEwans talk on The Selfish gene -- sid davies - Bramhall, Cheshire, 07:23:20 04/04/06 Tue
  My next door neighbour - an aethist has given me a copy of the Guardian's resume of your talk.
  As an 80 year old ex mariner and enterpreneur I am widely travelled and read almost exclusively non-fiction, mainly the biographies of well known people, particularly explorers and those who have had signifigant influence in our world.
  I am suprised that you and Richard Dawkins feel it neccessary to constantly attack those who have faith. The whole ambience of your opinions seems to be condescending and "holier than thou". The article quotes you as saying
  "We thought that since it has nothing useful at all to say about cosmology, the age of the earth, the origin of the species, the curing of disease or any other aspects of the physical world, it had retreated finally to where it belongs, to the privacy of individual conscience"
  What crass superiority you claim in these words.
  People of true faith accept that they do not know all the answers but are confident that, with the evidence all aound us, there is a Creator.
  It seems to me that both yourself and Richard Dawkins have been cosseted in your little worlds and have little real idea of what makes the world tick !
  

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• atonement -- tanya, 14:42:23 09/22/04 Wed
  hey does anyone have any opinions about atonement?what do you think about the characterisations/ Ithink Briony is attention seeking and insecure whilst lola is purely manipulative and canniving . what do you think?
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: atonement -- H, 04:17:20 09/23/04 Thu
    • Re: atonement -- Sabrina, 03:21:05 09/27/04 Mon
      • Re: atonement -- H, 07:36:43 09/27/04 Mon
      • Re: atonement -- Nick, 08:17:40 03/04/06 Sat
  • Re: atonement -- Sabrina, 04:51:07 10/01/04 Fri
    • Re: atonement -- H, 10:16:04 10/01/04 Fri
    • Re: atonement -- brandon, 21:19:49 11/02/04 Tue
  • Re: atonement -- Jonathan Adamson, 05:16:25 10/06/04 Wed
  • Re: atonement -- brandon, 21:11:08 11/02/04 Tue
    • Re: atonement -- jess, 12:51:02 01/03/05 Mon
      • Re: atonement -- Olivier, 00:30:22 01/28/05 Fri
  • Re: atonement -- freddie, 15:38:52 01/30/05 Sun
    • Re: atonement -- Julia, 22:01:11 02/27/05 Sun
  • Re: atonement -- eric, 15:57:13 03/07/05 Mon
    • Re: atonement -- Catherine, 08:45:10 02/22/06 Wed
    • Re: atonement -- Paula, 11:23:18 04/02/06 Sun

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• Incredible -- Janke, 00:35:23 03/31/06 Fri
  I have sort of avoided McEwans, because I believed it was scary murders, blood and crimes, but yesterday I read The cement garden, and I am blown away!! I am starting on "Saturday" today, and I can hardly wait to get home from work. This is so good, so unbelievable good, painful reading, unusual perspectives and still so close to life itself. When I read the other comments, I keep thinking; who are these people, saying it is terrible and no good. Get real, this is litterature at its best!!
  

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• Writing -- Brad, 21:47:10 03/23/06 Thu
  I am a great admirer of the works of Ian Mcewan. His work has gotten better and better and I have to say, especially with Saturday, he is a very enlightened humanist. He walks the tightrope of putting politics into his fiction and saying some things I have not seen expressed elsewhere by our contemporary writers. Good for him for taking that step and thanks for making me think deeper about our present 'world situation.' Looking forward to the next one...
  I am interested in his work habits. If anyone knows, how does he work, when, how many words would he write a day? How much revising do you do Mr McEwan? An aspiring novelist would love to know.
  

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• Reptiles -- Laura HG, 10:39:22 03/21/06 Tue
  Without looking, I can cite two references in McEwan's works to people in positions of power as being reptiles; Lord Parmeter in A Child In Time, and Garmony in Amsterdam. David Icke's theories come directly to mind. Could Icke be an influence? I am writing my dissertation on McEwan and would be very interested to know how credible it would be to propose this.
  If there is a way I could contact Mr McEwan in person I would be highly grateful to be informed.
  Laura
  

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• Atonement -- Art, 12:38:12 03/18/06 Sat
  I listened to Atonement while driving around. The first (nearly) half is really slow and I almost quit but that would have been a big mistake. McEwan writes beatifully but beyond that the characters are so real. It is hard to get them out of your head. The book is complex and powerful. Saturday takes place over a single day and the first half of Atonement gives the reader the impression that McEwan is doing something similar. What a surprise when it turns out that Atonement is not about a day but a life.
  

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• The Daydreamer -- lorie, 22:26:25 03/17/06 Fri
  URGENT!
  
  hi! im required to make a criticism on The Daydreamer. Could anyone help me? Specifically, the structure, themes and conflicts of the story, can anybody tell me something about those? i also need info about ian mcewan and m having a difficult time looking for sites. Help me PLEASE... PLEASE... PLEASE...
  

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• the cement garden of Rome: does mr. mc ewan want to know? -- massimo viggiani, 01:40:38 03/12/06 Sun
  I was an italian reader of ian mc ewan. i said i was because i am disgusted by his closeness to our mayor of rome, waltere veltroni, who is transorming our city in a garden of cement. of course when mc ewan comes here takes a stroll with the mayor in the main spots of the historical centre, but they don't dare to walk in the suburbs, where mr. veltroni is preparins a wasteland of big shopping malls and houses for rich people. The mayor of rome is depicted as a good man, someone really really careful. the reality is different. i suggest everyone to take a walk in the roman suburbs, where people suffer for traffic and evictions. thanks to non-critic people like mc ewan, politicians like veltroni have an easy life, protected from any critic and celebrated without any good reason. lietrature should something else than a way to climb the social ladder and strike a pose close to the a deaf power.
  next monday we are demonstrating against the new city planning, 70 million of cube metres without any real help for poor people without a house and a devastation for the environment. of course you won't find any of this in mc'ewan' pages or in the mainstream newspapers, because the builders control the media down here in rome.
  for any othere information please contact:
  http://romalibera.blog.tiscali.it
  flexiblewolf@libero.it
  thanks
  

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• Atonement -- Kerry, 05:19:52 03/07/06 Tue
  Hi - I have to use one of Ian McEwan's books for an idea for an art project, read the blurb for 'Atonement' and loved the sound of it, was wondering if someone could e-mail me the basic story of the book as I am the slowest reader in the world...and project is for next monday! -kerryreid@hotmail.com
  

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• Saturday -- Chris Parry, 04:38:32 03/05/06 Sun
  I loved Saturday, all of life in one day, and how this on all levels can be threatened so easily.It is beautifully written and while all the characters and their lives seem rather perfect, this serves to emphasise how much there is to lose,not materially but metaphorically.
  

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• The Cement Garden -- Kate, 10:21:12 02/07/06 Tue
  Hi there,
  I'm currently working on my dissertation based around The Cement Garden', but cannot decide upon the focus. I just wondered if anyone had any ideas or are willing to discuss the novel?
  

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  • Re: The Cement Garden -- Rob, 13:45:15 02/21/06 Tue

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• Black Dogs -- Nitra, 18:17:52 02/20/06 Mon
  Can someone give my their summary and opinion on this novel? "Black Dogs"
  

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• The urn on the front cover of Atonement -- joe, 11:24:13 11/24/05 Thu
  Can anyone tell me about the urn on the front cover of Atonement? Where the picture was taken, and any info in relation to the urn. Thank you very much.
  

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  • Re: The urn on the front cover of Atonement -- HF42, 06:09:47 02/12/06 Sun

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• A Child in Time and Saturday comparison -- Alex, 16:15:46 02/07/06 Tue
  Hello,
  
  I am currently in the midst of writing a 3,000 word essay comparing Saturday and a child in time, and the idea of McEwan and his writing. Wondering if anyone had any personal opinions on these two books.
  
  cheers
  

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• Baxter and the poem in SATURDAY -- Claudia, 19:29:02 01/27/06 Fri
  Why couldn't the daughter read one of her poems to Baxter? Her poems would forever be sullied were she to read one to Baxter? She feared the poems were too sexual? What do others think? I felt so terribly sad during the scene where Baxter responded to the poem, felt this enormous gulf between him and this perfect family, this family that had brilliance, money, class, love, passion. And there was Baxter with nothing but some amazing touch of humanity.
  

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• Enduring Love -- Sophie, 11:29:18 11/20/05 Sun
  Hello All, I am studying the amazing enduring love for A level english literature and was wondering if anyone had any ideas on the conflict between the three protaganists in the novel? Any help much appreciated.
  

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  • Re: Enduring Love -- Fiona, 04:57:49 01/19/06 Thu
    • Re: Enduring Love -- Minty Valentine, 06:09:52 01/27/06 Fri

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• Saturday -- Bob Verhoog, 01:01:42 01/19/06 Thu
  Dear Ian,
  
  As surgeon and reader I'm impressed by Your book Saturday.
  
  Thank You for offering it to us.
  
  Please rectify in a new edition on page 78 Mondrian by Mondriaan. (Jonathan Cape)
  
  Sincerely Yours,
  
  Bob Verhoog
  

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• Atonement dissertation -- Juan Carlos Diaz, 22:53:49 01/18/06 Wed
  I want to express my gratitude and amusement for such a great novel. It is amazing the quantity of knowledge, inspiration and philosophy we have discussed in class about Briony story. I am not as illustrated on literature as I some times wish to be; nevertheless, with the atonement I find myself immensely motivated.
  Thank you
  

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• Just a couple of editing errors/typos... -- Chris, 19:36:06 01/03/06 Tue
  Not here to pass judgment. If anyone involved in editing or reprinting is interested...
  In my paperback edition, on p190, Wolfowitz is misspelled Wolfovitz, and on p213, we have 'His forearms looks strong.'
  Cheers
  C
  

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• The Cement Garden -- Blacky, 06:33:27 11/29/05 Tue
  I'm writting a 13 pages essay about The Cement Garden and what I'm looking for is someone i can dicuss the novel with.... i have surfed on the net and found lots of infos about the book and Ian McEwan.... but i would love to dicuss the issues and the characters in the book with someone.... i believe it gives a better understanding... so if anyone is fresh and would like to discuss a little bit with me then please contact me at: parismichael86@hotmail.com
  
  sincerly, Blacky
  

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  • Re: The Cement Garden -- Jennie, 03:40:57 12/08/05 Thu
  • Re: The Cement Garden -- Jennie, 03:42:32 12/08/05 Thu
    • Re: The Cement Garden -- Blacky, 10:14:11 12/12/05 Mon

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• Green Sleeves -- natalya khokholova, 19:13:25 11/11/05 Fri
  Can anybody tell me, does the Jack's song in "The cement garden" "Lady Greensleeves" have any meaning?
  

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  • Re: Green Sleeves -- Jennie, 03:46:05 12/08/05 Thu

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• atonement and amsterdam -- sabrina, 17:53:59 11/29/05 Tue
  I read both atonement and amsterdam and i now have to write an essay talking about both of them. however, im having trouble coming up with a final topic that relates to both books. they're very different and its to late to change my book? any suggestions.
  
  by the way, in atonement, was it paul marshall that raped lola? i might of missed that or was it never mentioned who actually did it?
  

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  • Re: atonement and amsterdam -- Elizabeth, 17:43:51 11/30/05 Wed
  • Re: atonement and amsterdam -- Karen Hardison, 18:46:31 12/04/05 Sun

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• PSYCHOPOLIS -- LAURA, 12:10:18 09/09/05 Fri
  Do you think that "Psychopolis" is narrated by a man or by a woman????
  I´m dying to know what other people think!!
  

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  • Re: PSYCHOPOLIS -- Daniel, 21:30:34 11/27/05 Sun
  • Re: PSYCHOPOLIS -- tracy, 10:31:43 11/29/05 Tue

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• Saturday's last pages -- patrizia, 10:30:13 11/25/05 Fri
  I think Saturday is a masterpiece and as I happened to be wandering the streets of London on February 15 2003, I can really understand that weird feeling of desolation you could breath that day.
  But the last pages are absolutely wonderful. Henry is having an epiphany,very very similar to gabriel Conroy's epiphany at the and of The Dead. Henry is also thinking about death, as gabriel, about the death of an old person: his mother here( it was aunt julia in The Dead). As gabriel, Henry too is looking out of the window, thinking about the events of the last hours and looking at his sleeping wife. During his interior monologue, he has also been wondering about his role as Rosalind's husband(the same as Gabriel with Gretta) and even the cold air of the room seems to be the same.The same reflection on human life, one hundred years later, not in Dublin but in London. I would like to know if anyone else noticed the parallel and if you appreciated it too.
  

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• sabato -- oristella, 02:04:55 11/19/05 Sat
  secondo voi la posizione di Daisy, pacifista, e quella di Henry, pro-intervento, sono entrambe equidistanti dalla proposta del PRT "iraq libero"?
  http://www.radicalparty.org/iraq_campaign/
  
  Qualcuno era a conoscenza di questa proposta?
  
  according to you the position of Daisy, pacifist, and that one of Henry, for-participation, are both equidistant ones from the proposal of the free PRT "iraq"? http://www.radicalparty.org/iraq_campaign/
  Someone was to acquaintance of this proposal?
  
  grazie Babel-fish!
  

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• Saturday - Faulty Research -- John Griffiths, 05:10:30 11/17/05 Thu
  I really enjoyed Saturday, well written (of course) and for the most part well researched. What a pity then about a basic flaw in his research. On at least 3 occasions he talks about Baxter's impending descent in nightmare hallucination. This is not what happens in Huntington's Disease. It is true that a minority of Huntington's Disease sufferers experience some psychosis but the majority do not. Even this minority usually suffer it intermittently. The real nightmare of Huntington's Disease is the level of insight that the patient continues to experience, usually right to the end of their life. This dreadful disease has eaten their body and mind and they are fully aware of what is happening to them.
  My first wife had Huntington's Disease, as did 2 of her brothers and 2 of her sisters, all now dead from the disease. (http://members.aol.com/griff2296.html for anyone interested).
  Mr McEwan spent a year watching a neuro-surgeon at work. A single day spent with a Huntington's Disease sufferer and/or their family would have been as well spent.
  

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  • Re: Saturday - Faulty Research -- John Griffiths, 05:20:15 11/17/05 Thu

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• Atonement -- Alex Smith, 06:29:04 11/16/05 Wed
  I am studying Mc Ewans atonement for my A-Level coursework my question is deception and truth in the novel has anyone got any ideas? Help please.
  

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• help please?! -- Cat, 06:00:12 11/13/05 Sun
  im studying The Cement Garden for my A level english coursework and it has to be handed in tomorrow and im a bit stuck! this is my title:
  
  McEwan shows us all of the narcissism and moral lapses of troubled teenagers, yet still somehow makes them lovable. To what extent do you agree with this point of view?
  
  but i cant realy think of anything to right! could anyone give me any pointers please?
  

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• saturday -- lucia, 10:49:37 11/04/05 Fri
  I've read this book and I love it...thanks!
  

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• Enduring love: Is Jed real or a part of Joe's imagination? -- Emma, 06:59:14 02/12/05 Sat
  I am studying Enduring love for my AS level and have just had a very confusing lesson on whether Jed is real or not. The 2 scientists names in appendix 1 and 2(Robert Wenn and Antonio Camia) spell the name Ian McEwan therefore the sub varient of de Clarambault's syndrome does not exist which also means that the letter in appendix 2 does not exist whih questions whether Jed exists. This form of postmodernism challenges our perception and trust of novels was this Ian McEwan's intention? Does Jed exist? Does Enduring love play a masterful trick on the reader through misleading them about 'reality' in the story? please help!
  confused AS level student
  xx
  

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  • Re: Enduring love: Is Jed real or a part of Joe's imagination? -- Wily, 15:18:44 02/16/05 Wed
    • Re: Enduring love: Is Jed real or a part of Joe's imagination? -- Emma, 07:14:37 03/12/05 Sat
      • Re: Enduring love: Is Jed real or a part of Joe's imagination? -- Laurence Fowler, 06:10:33 04/25/05 Mon
  • Re: Enduring love: Is Jed real or a part of Joe's imagination? -- TomKincaid, 12:34:12 03/31/05 Thu
    • Re: Enduring love: Is Jed real or a part of Joe's imagination? -- el, 20:51:32 11/01/05 Tue

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• Unexpected events -- James coad, 08:05:38 11/01/05 Tue
  i have recently been studying ENDURING LOVE and i am writind and researching the impact of unexpected events within the novel i know the balloon incident is vital to this but what other unexpected events are there?
  
  please reply back HELP
  

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• Pornography -- M, 14:08:07 10/29/05 Sat
  Has anyone read this short story, Pornography? I read it but I would like some additional imput on the symbols and the overall theme of it. Thanks
  

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  • Re: Pornography -- Brian Howell, 01:54:26 10/30/05 Sun

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• Oddities in Atonement? -- Brian Howell, 05:06:03 10/29/05 Sat
  I am still intrigued/baffled by a couple of incidents in Atonement which don’t seem typical of McEwan, especially where sex is involved, which he’s very good at but fairly circumspect about usually. The first takes place in Chapter 14 of Part One (p. 175 of the UK Vintage paperback edition) when the doctor goes upstairs to examine Lola. It’s described thus:
  
  ‘Leon led the doctor upstairs who descended some time later intangibly enlarged by his professional encounter with the core of all their concerns.’
  
  It’s a bizarrely humorous, almost slapstick moment when you would expect total senisitivity to the tragic situation (or at least what seems one). I wonder what McEwan was thinking of when he put this in?
  
  [On a side note, I actually didn’t notice what was being said here first time because what pulled me up short was the odd grammar (‘the doctor upstairs who …’) which I think can be explained by his intention to reflect something of the writing of the time (stream-of-consciousness/experimental writing?) and, as I think he put it in an interview, the chaos of what was going on in Europe at the time. I also noticed that he fairly consistently leaves out commas after ‘who’ in places you’d normally expect them (to save a long explanation). Did anyone else notice this?]
  
  The other thing was the references to Lola on the island. There are a couple of mentions of Lola having something in her mouth when Briony finds her. From Briony’s point of view: ‘The voice was faint and distorted, as though impeded by something like a bubble, some mucus in her throat’ (p.165.) It’s referred to again on the next page with the mention of ‘dry swallowing, a heaving convulsion of muscle in her throat that was audible as a series of sinewy clicks’. I just wonder if this is a subtle way of implying that she and Marshall had had oral sex.
  
  Hope this is not too out there. Be interested in any thoughts.
  

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• Re: Atonement: Symbolism -- Marquis Bowden, 15:42:58 03/08/05 Tue
  what are the symbols of atonement
  

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  • Re: Atonement: Symbolism -- carys, 11:36:51 10/21/05 Fri

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• Ian McEwan- an increasingly formidable writer. -- Morten, 09:30:18 08/17/05 Wed
  I'm currently writing an essay on three of Ian McEwan's novels (Enduring Love, Atonement and Saturday), and the more I read by him, and about him, the more I feel he is one of the most psychologically intriguing and formidable writers of our time. Saturday is a work of brilliance, an excellent portrayal of modern man.
  
  I hope the Swedish Academy will award him with the Nobel Prize for Literature he undoubtedly deserves, however, other great writers have in the past been robbed of this honour (Jorge Luis Borges, Isak Dinesen, Graham Greene, etc).
  

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  • Re: Ian McEwan- an increasingly formidable writer. -- Kerry Tinker, 03:03:09 08/19/05 Fri
  • Re: Ian McEwan- an increasingly formidable writer. -- Louise Syms, 09:24:15 10/19/05 Wed

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• Ian McEwan - Atonement -- Student, 06:10:06 10/03/05 Mon
  In my A-level class we are studying Atonement for yr 13, preparing for an exam on divided societies. Does anyone have any suggestions as to whether or not there is a second attack on Cecilia, in the chapter where Briony finds her cousin distraught in the dark.
  My class is pondering as to wheteher or not Cecilia was attacked for a second time (the first being in the nursery). Also whether you have any information on Briony as a narrator. Thank-you
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Ian McEwan - Atonement -- Tasha, 06:54:48 10/06/05 Thu

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• the daydreamer -- simonetta, 10:25:21 08/29/05 Mon
  hi.I'm an English teacher. This year I'd like to read "the daydreamer" with my Italian students (5th form). Can anyone give me suggestions about criticism on this particular book? Thanks
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: the daydreamer -- Suzie, 06:30:33 10/02/05 Sun

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• Review of Saturday by Prof. David Womersley - Is Ian McEwan our Samuel Butler? -- Michael Mosbacher, 08:14:16 09/26/05 Mon
  David Womersley - Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford - reviews Ian McEwan's Saturday on the website of the think tank, Social Affairs Unit - www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk Prof. Womersley finds that McEwan "is coming ever closer to another novelist whose imagination was jolted into productivity and disagreement by Darwin: Samuel Butler".
  Link: www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000589.php
  

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• first love, last rites -- lindsey webster, 06:46:40 09/21/05 Wed
  has anyone read this collection of short stories and if so do you think it is a good choice for my higher english personal study?
  

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• Al Stewart reference in McEwan? -- Patrick Laplagne, 23:25:20 09/18/05 Sun
  I have been told that one of Ian McEwan's novels contains a reference to the music of Al Stewart (of Year of the Cat fame). More specifically, the song referenced is "Roads to Moscow", which appears on Al's 1974 album "Past, Present and Future".
  
  I would be grateful if someone could tell me which of Ian McEwan's works contains this reference. I have looked but have been unable to find it.
  
  Thanks in advance for your help.
  
  PL
  

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• Death in Amsterdam -- Darrin, 12:57:07 07/31/05 Sun
  Amsterdam is the second book I've read by Ian McEwen. I've read Atonement and enjoyed it completely. I am having trouble with Amsterdam and that is the motivation that led to the murder at the end. The two friends made a pact end each others' lives if either showed signs of, for lack of better term, losing it. Towards the end of the book, it seemed like each Clive and Vernon were motivated by anger and revenge rather than selflessly carrying out a friend's wish. The revenge motive doesn't seem to be consistent with the characters or the mood of the book and the euthanasia case is not a strong one. I can be way off on all fronts however I'm searching for other p.o.v's because I finished the book 2 weeks ago and this is still bothering me.
  

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  • Re: Death in Amsterdam -- Tomaso, 06:07:05 08/01/05 Mon
    • Re: Death in Amsterdam -- susan, 14:44:15 09/17/05 Sat

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• Saturday -- Fitzrovian, 07:49:41 08/01/05 Mon
  Was Saturday eerily prescient?
  Not really. We knew the attacks were coming. But it's odd how near the novel was set to some of the events - Tavistock square, Warren Street, Kings Cross, UCH. I wonder if Perowne would have decided to move out of central London, as he fears at the end of the novel.
  

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  Replies:

  • Re: Saturday -- Fionnuala, 02:46:33 09/11/05 Sun

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• Illustrations for 'The Daydreamer' -- Natalie Fernandes, 13:59:22 09/02/05 Fri
  Hello, my name is Natalie Fernandes. I produced 20 illustrations for 'The Daydreamer' for my degree project and would really like Mr McEwan to see them for himself on my website; www.illustrationzoo.co.uk Does anyone know where to send a letter or email so that it will reach him? Please let me know if you do, and feel free to take a look at my website, perhaps email me at natlarafernandes, I'll love to know what you think, particularly if you have read the book. Thanks.
  Natalie xxx
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Illustrations for 'The Daydreamer' -- Ryan, 19:19:06 09/02/05 Fri
    • Re: Illustrations for 'The Daydreamer' -- eric, 15:46:40 09/05/05 Mon

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• What's Paul Johnson talking about? -- Russell Durbin, 20:00:14 09/01/05 Thu
  I have to admit, I'm not familiar with McEwan's work. But I ran across this essay ("The Ayatollah of Atheism and Darwin’s Altars" By: Paul Johnson The Spectator (UK) August 31, 2005) in which Johnson writes:
  
  "At a revivalist meeting of Darwinians two or three years ago, I heard the chairman, the fiction-writer Ian McEwan, call out, ‘Yes, we do think God is an old man in the sky with a beard, and his name is Charles Darwin.’"
  
  Can anyone tell me (1) what meeting Johnson is talking about, (2)if McEwan really said such a thing, and, if so (3)is there some context to it that would make McEwan seem more rational than the lunatic Johnson seems to be describing?
  

  [Edit]
  

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• South Bank Show downloads -- Max Kroger, 12:26:17 08/30/05 Tue
  I was thinking of putting up the whole South Bank Show edition on McEwan from February 2005 as a series of decent quality downloads. I have some webspace to play with and I thought it could be useful, as well as stimulating, for people who haven't seen it to be able to get hold of it. If anyone thinks it's a worthwhile idea, let me know here.
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Atonement discussion at Cambridge U. -- Uriel, 07:06:04 08/29/05 Mon
  Readers may be interested in my description of a summer program at Cambridge University, part of which involved some confusion over Atonement, at http://urielw.com/cambridge/1.htm .
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Sleep in Atonement and Saturday -- David, 16:09:05 08/27/05 Sat
  Interesting that both Atonement and Saturday end with their main characters falling asleep. All the more interesting as you might characterize Atonement as basically pesimisstic and Saturday basically optimistic, so does the sleep mean two different things in both books or are there similarities? Does it draw an important connection between Henry and Briony, or does it more illustrate their differences?
  
  For example, in Atonement the sleep seems to be an admission that only oblivion can erase Briony's guilt--when she wakes the hard facts of her life will not have changed. In Saturday it's a well deserved rest for Henry and he has every intention to wake up a better man than when he started the day. But can we sure that Henry will change much, or even that he understands much? Will he understand himself and his world any better or even as well as Briony understands hers, in its terrible clarity?
  
  That's on my mind. Any thoughts?
  

  [Edit]
  

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• UK/US difference in The Child in Time -- Brian Howell, 22:10:56 07/08/05 Fri
  Hi all, my first post
  
  I don't know how widespread this is and probably doesn't bother most people
  but until I started reading Ian McEwan's The Child in Time with my Japanese
  students I had never been aware of minor (editorial?) changes in US and UK
  editions. By chance, one student had a US edition. I lost count of how many
  small substitions there were in the US edition for the UK original. Anyway,
  from time to time we noticed that the odd word or phrase was changed and in one case some sentences were missing from the US edition. Doubtless some will say it's not something to be worried about, but it surely brings up
  the
  subject of the text. Is it worth studying and going deep into a piece of
  fiction if the odd word here or there is changed like this? In the case of
  the missing phrase ('lollipop lady'='crossing guard'?), obviously that may
  be unfamiliar to a lot of US readers (?), but it's not as if you can't find
  it out or the text needs to be dummed down. Most people reading McEwan are not going to be the kind of readers who are put off by a few Britishisms
  (when the whole novel is as British as you can get, subject-wise). And with
  that excision bang goes a nice cultural detail plus the fact that the
  lollipop lady meant something to Kate. Anyway here they are.
  
  "It was a two-minute walk to the supermarket, over the four-lane road by a
  crossing. Near where they waited to cross was a motorbike salesroom, an
  international meeting place for bikers. Melon-bellied men in worn leathers
  leaned against or sat astride their stationary machines. When Kate withdrew
  the knuckle she had been sucking and pointed, the low sun illuminated a
  smoking finger. However, she found no word to frame what she saw. They
  crossed at last, in front of an impatient pack of cars that snarled forward
  the moment they reached the center island. [UK has here: 'Kate looked out
  for the lollipop lady, the one who always recognised her. Stephen explained
  it was Saturday.'] There were crowds, he held her hand tightly as they
  moved towards the entrance. Amid voices, shouts, the electromechanical rattle at the checkout counters, they found a cart. Kate was smiling hugely to
  herself as she made herself comfortable in her seat."
  
  Some more gems I've come across thanks to a student: the US edition
  replaces the UK edition's 'nauseous' with 'nauseated', and 'personal
  assistant' is curtailed to just 'assistant', all this in Chapter One. Also,
  'skirting board' is changed to 'baseboard'.
  
  Probably the oddest thing I've found recently is the addition of a sentence
  in the US edition that's just not in the (albeit earlier) U.K. edition.
  
  There are also plenty of 'which's that have been changed to 'that's.
  
  I'm curious to know if the McEwan knew about this and if so would he have O.K.'d it. I guess he must have. And - has anyone noticed this kind of thing in other novels?
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: UK/US difference in The Child in Time -- D Hale, 20:23:13 08/21/05 Sun

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• "Saturday" - pronunciation of the name "Perowne" in American English -- Sarah Hansen, 14:29:32 05/07/05 Sat
  Would somebody be kind enough to tell me how to pronounce the name "Perowne" in American English? Does it rhyme with "brown"?
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: "Saturday" - pronunciation of the name "Perowne" in American English -- Margaret, 09:03:32 06/05/05 Sun
  • "Perowne" = Per-owne -- Ryan, 16:33:19 06/06/05 Mon
    • Re: "Perowne" = Per-owne -- Margaret, 13:31:31 06/14/05 Tue
      • Henry Perowne = Henri Perron ? -- bettina, 07:48:35 08/16/05 Tue
  • Re: "Saturday" - pronunciation of the name "Perowne" in American English -- Mark Perowne, 01:15:10 08/13/05 Sat
  • Re: "Saturday" - pronunciation of the name "Perowne" in American English -- Pat Oddy, 00:06:32 08/21/05 Sun

  ---

• Theme of Saturday -- Jenna, 14:29:29 08/20/05 Sat
  Hi!
  I was wondering if anyone knows some of the themes in Saturday. I'm having a hard time finding them. Thanks!
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Role of Lola in Atonement (spoiler) -- Brian Howell, 23:34:09 07/08/05 Fri
  It's only the second time round that it now seems obvious to me that something has been going on between Lola and Marshall well before the rape in the grounds of the house. He seems to be hanging around the children a lot and there's an indication that there has been some sort of advance made. At the dinner we are told that Marshall has a scratch on his face; just before that, Lola tells Briony that she (Lola, fifteen years old) has been wrestled to the floor by her nine-year-old twin brothers. She also has a scratch on her arm (which is not consistent with Briony's assumption that the boys have been giving her 'Chinese burns'). Seems unlikely, and I think this has to be a cover-up. She is also on the verge of telling Briony some secret but decides not to. Any thoughts on this?
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Role of Lola in Atonement (spoiler) -- Jim, 13:21:54 08/19/05 Fri

  ---

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  [Edit]
  

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• booker 2005 -- diana hamilton, 17:49:48 08/10/05 Wed
  
  long, long time & many mango seasons ....
  but so hope it'll be booker x 2
  x di
  

  [Edit]
  

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• sorry, but what you say is bullshit -- Alexander A. Alexander, 15:19:07 07/25/05 Mon
  hi,
  
  sorry to say, but I just heard (excepts of) an interview of you in austrian television. You are suprised that London returned to normality so soon (if I understood it correctly). If that is correct then I am very suprised that London did not live in agony for the last decades. Before the friday agreement (I know it's called diffent ...) London should have been afraid of bombs every single day the last couple of decades.
  
  regards
  a.a.a.
  

  [Edit]
  

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• HA! I'm onto you, McEwan.. -- jaa65, 20:52:10 07/18/05 Mon
  ‘Mother Tongue’ is worth reading if you enjoyed ‘Saturday’.
  
  From 'Mother Tongue' (http://books.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4275798-99930,00.html):
  “When I was six, and we were living in army quarters in Singapore, I remember how I liked to loll unobtrusively on the floor behind the sofa when my mother had a friend round. I would listen in to these roaming, intimate heart-to-hearts. Broadly, they fell into two groups - operations, and bad behaviour. How compelling and gory they were, these accounts of flesh under knife, and the aftermath. I'm sure they exerted their subliminal pull on my first short stories. And with so many bad people in the world, what a lucky six-year-old I thought I was, when my mother and her friends were always on the side of the good.”
  
  Pg.158 of 'Saturday' (the American hardcover edition):
  “Nor did it occur to her. He barely knew it at the time, but he grew up thinking her intelligence was limited. He used to think she was without curiosity. But that wasn't right. She liked a good exploratory heart-to-heart with her neighbours. The eight-year-old Henry liked to flop on the floor behind the furniture and listen in. Illness and operations were important subjects, especially those associate with childbirth. That was when he first heard the phrase "under the knife" as well as "under the doctor." "What the doctor said" was a powerful invocation. This eavesdropping may have set Henry on his career.”
  
  It’s funny, finding something like this. I feel like I’ve spotted a boom mic in some Hollywood block buster. *shrugs*
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: HA! I'm onto you, McEwan.. -- jaa65, 21:22:40 07/18/05 Mon

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• Saturday's protagonist. Henry or Perowne? -- kathy, 15:09:06 07/18/05 Mon
  Does anyone know why McEwan sometimes refers to his protagonist as Henry and sometimes as Perowne? I enjoyed the book, but I was distracted by the way McEwan used both names.
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Grandeur in this view of life: a case of convergent evolution -- Mark Pallen, 02:17:09 07/15/05 Fri
  As a Darwin fan, I was much amused by the quotation from the end of Origin of Species that permeated the early part of "Saturday". The radio's repetition of the phrase "There is grandeur in this view of life" is an uncanny example of convergent evolution, given its similarity to one of the tracks we produced for our Origin of Species in Dub album, which I put together with a Jamaican colleague for our Darwin Day celebration at the University of Birmingham. Check out the track here:
  
  
  And then re-read the appropriate section from the novel :-)
  
  Check out the background to whole album here:
  
  And background info on the tracks themselves here:
  
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Grandeur in this view of life: a case of convergent evolution -- Mark Pallen, 02:22:00 07/15/05 Fri

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• Anesthesia -- Kathleen Hughes, 16:09:39 07/14/05 Thu
  I think a better name for
  "Saturday" would be "anesthesia". I thought the book was really boring. I kept waiting for it to come to a conclusion, I just didn't get the point. If life is pointless, then so is literature like this.
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Do Ian McEwan's books belong in a specific genre? -- Fiona Huber, 06:20:39 07/10/05 Sun
  Of course I know the name of Ian McEwan, and I occasionally buy books...
  Are Mr McEwan's books of a specific literary genre? For example, are the locations British and with the emphasis on the class system, so typical of Britain? That would not be interesting for me.
  I would be grateful to have recommendations.
  
  Viele Grüsse!
  F Huber (in the canton of Zürich)
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Do Ian McEwan's books belong in a specific genre? -- Michael Marx, 14:03:01 07/10/05 Sun

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• squash playing and aging -- dave wilson, 18:07:41 06/16/05 Thu
  As a 64-year old who is still improving at squash, which I play 4-5 times a week, I found off-putting Perowne's musings about quitting squash before he turns 50. Clearly, the problem is not his age, but that Perowne is out of shape--he plays only once a week, which explains why he wants to rest after every game. I understand that as a busy neurosurgeon his time to play is limited, but if he is much in demand he can schedule his time such that he could play more frequently.
  
  My rant completed, I must say that the book was excellent despite the above deficiency.
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: squash playing and aging -- Brian Howell, 23:44:59 07/08/05 Fri

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• The Innocent -- Pat Fairchild, 07:08:16 06/28/05 Tue
  I just read The Innocent, and it rings bells of a movie I saw bits and pieces of years ago. Has this been made into a movie? If so, could you give me the title and stars? I found The Innocent to be lovely and funny.
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: The Innocent -- Hanne, 13:52:57 07/01/05 Fri
  • Re: The Innocent -- Seth, 19:41:05 07/01/05 Fri

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• Search for Interviews with Ian McEwan -- Lucia Angelucci, 09:05:12 07/01/05 Fri
  Hello,
  I am looking for the following interviews as I need them for a dissertation, can anyone tell me where to find or how to get them? I am in Rome, Italy, so any clue as to their whereabouts in this country would be great.
  Help much appreciated!
  
  Thanks,
  LA
  
  Hamilton Ian: "Points of Departure", The New Review, Vol 5 n. 2
  Autumn 1978, pp. 9-21
  
  Ricks, Christpher: "Adolescence and After", The Listener, 12 April 1979, p. 526-527
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Happy Birthday -- Jerry S., 20:17:41 06/20/05 Mon
  Happy Birthday to you,
  Happy Birthday to you,
  Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday,
  Happy Birthday to you !
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Atonement & ww II -- David Perrings, 15:42:12 06/17/05 Fri
  Back in april I posted the following message,
  
  Atonement -- David Perrings, 13:26:05 04/13/05 Wed
  Atonement:
  
  The book that asks the question – Was Hitler simply a guy who’s psychological development was arrested at the onset of puberty ?
  
  Today 6/17/05 I came across this news article on the internet.
  
  Profile: Young Hitler was a feminine boy
  ITHACA, N.Y., April 1 (UPI) -- A 1943 U.S. psychological profile of Adolf Hitler says as a young soldier he was "annoyingly subservient" and had nightmares resembling homosexual panic.
  The profile says the German dictator was a feminine boy, averse to manual work, the New York Times reported Friday.
  The mass killings Hitler conducted during World War II were partly the result of a desperate loathing of his own submissive weakness and the humiliation of being beaten by a sadistic father, the Times reported.
  The profile was commissioned by the Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and posted this month by Cornell University Law Library on its Web site.
  Although declassified some years ago, the report has not been widely cited or available to the public. The library published the analysis after receiving permission from a relative of its author, the late Dr. Henry A. Murray, a prominent personality expert at Harvard in the middle of the last century.
  Some experts, however, are not convinced the report is without significant shortcomings, the Times said.
  
  Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
  
  I found it interesting
  
  David Perrings
  

  [Edit]
  

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• The Daydreamer -- Jo, 02:42:30 06/16/05 Thu
  Having just read The Daydreamer with our class we were interested as to whether 'Lurkey-Turkey' was a real game, and if so, how do you play it!
  

  [Edit]
  

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• An Iraqi perspective -- Hassan Abdulrazzak, 17:45:38 06/03/05 Fri
  An Iraqi perspective
  
  The possibility that Baxter is meant to be a the metaphorical equivalent of the 9/11 terrorists and the good doctor representing the rational, Western world and how companionably it must deal with those who wrong it, is certainly one interpretation of this novel that can not be entirely dismissed. If this is the interpretation that McEwan wanted us to make then one can argue it certainly shows a very simplistic, if not wrong, understanding of the history leading up to 9/11 on his part. After all, there is no link between Perowne and Baxter prior to their first encounter. Whereas even the most pro-American commentator would have to admit that there is a strong historical link between America and its Islamic fundamentalist enemies.
  
  Having said all this, I remain uncertain whether the analogy outlined above is one that McEwan wanted to make. He is certainly pro-American but retains a certain degree of skepticism about the merits of the war in Iraq. It is this skepticism which is preventing him from entering full heartedly into Christopher Hitchens’ territory.
  
  For a full review of the novel from an Iraqi-Brit perspective, you can follow this link:
  
  http://mathaba.net/MNN/www.anotheriraq.com/x.htm?http://mathaba.net/MNN/www.anotheriraq.com/item/?x=228167
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Your personal opinions of Clarissa in E.L?? -- Alexes, 05:36:06 04/29/04 Thu
  i am studying english literature at A level and am doing a coursework assignment on Enduring Love (and not having a good time with it)....ive been looking for quotes about clarissa, her role, if people like her or if they hate her etc...so just some short quotes would be nice please, along the lines of "clarissa is an important character, who displays a more open minded view of the world in comparison to Joe"..or something similar or opposite or whatever...
  
  thanks
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • please could u also leave a name of some sort :) -- Alexes, 05:38:34 04/29/04 Thu
  • Re: Your personal opinions of Clarissa in E.L?? -- Amiee Porter, 04:59:55 05/03/04 Mon
    • Re: Your personal opinions of Clarissa in E.L?? -- Harvz, 08:35:53 06/06/04 Sun
    • Re: Your personal opinions of Clarissa in E.L?? -- izzy, 09:13:48 01/16/05 Sun
      • Re: Your personal opinions of Clarissa in E.L?? -- Laydee LL, 05:31:59 05/26/05 Thu
        • Re: Your personal opinions of Clarissa in E.L?? -- Sarah, 12:47:57 05/26/05 Thu

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• enduring love -- ?????????????, 14:16:09 05/15/05 Sun
  o h8 enduring love, and many of my peers do also, did u have 2 rite a book dat examiners love 2 test on u twat
  

  [Edit]
  

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• The Daydreamer -- Anne Van Eeghem, 11:20:12 05/15/05 Sun
  Just finished "The Daydreamer". I immensely enjoyed these interconnected little stories, especially the one about the cat William ("Old Bill", I'm sure it must have been one of Ian McEwan's own cats, it betrays such tenderness) and this baby called Kenneth. Huge fun, immensely imaginative ! My kingdom for childhood ! Anne
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Saturday and A Child in Time link -- Barbara P., 07:11:04 05/15/05 Sun
  Did those of you who have read A Child in Time and Saturday catch the connection? Perowne is thinking about the novels his daughter has recommended and one of them includes a scene where a man observes his mother and father prior to their marriage, discussing their unplanned pregnancy which is him~ This was a key scene in A Child in Time. Looks like McEwan's sense of humour is in tact, wonder if he now thinks that scene in Child was silly? But I thought it was great AND loved the reference to it in Saturday. (But nothing tops Atonement!!)
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Enduring Love -- David Parry, 14:14:41 12/17/02 Tue
  In the novel 'Enduring Love' I feel that there are many types of love that endure. My favourite of which is Jed's love for Joe. Even though Jed is locked away, his love for Joe is still so strong. Jed's love for Joe may be delusional, but I feel that it is the most purest form of love within the novel.
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Enduring Love -- Duncan, 14:23:45 12/17/02 Tue
    • Re: Enduring Love -- A Star, 08:37:18 01/03/03 Fri
    • Re: Enduring Love -- Melissa Comery, 08:19:40 10/19/03 Sun
      • Re: Enduring Love -- jak forster, 06:22:19 11/27/03 Thu
        • Re: Enduring Love. to jak forster. -- izzy, 07:56:42 01/16/05 Sun
      • Re: Enduring Love to melissa comery. -- izzy, 07:58:37 01/16/05 Sun
  • Re: Enduring Love -- david le barzic, 08:49:16 01/11/03 Sat
    • Re: Enduring Love -- Ryan, 23:04:10 01/11/03 Sat
      • Re: Enduring Love -- Amanda, 05:54:19 01/17/03 Fri
        • Re: Enduring Love -- Cerlaya, 14:25:42 01/01/04 Thu
          • Re: Enduring Love -- natalie, 04:03:50 10/09/04 Sat
    • Re: Enduring Love -- Viki Darnell, 08:14:59 11/12/03 Wed
      • Re: Enduring Love -- teeny, 02:48:01 01/01/04 Thu
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Kevin Clynes, 14:57:41 01/18/03 Sat
    • Re: Enduring Love -- Duncan, 15:02:33 01/18/03 Sat
      • Re: Enduring Love syndrome -- victoria, 12:37:08 11/18/03 Tue
        • Re: Enduring Love syndrome -- Cailyn, 20:17:23 11/25/03 Tue
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Kevin Clynes, 14:58:51 01/18/03 Sat
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Penny, 03:40:19 01/27/03 Mon
    • Re: Enduring Love -- sum1, 03:45:24 03/31/03 Mon
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Dan Zare, 04:27:10 03/30/03 Sun
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Jeni, 04:47:29 04/17/03 Thu
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Sarah, 07:11:18 09/03/03 Wed
    • Re: Enduring Love -- Gemma, 06:23:33 12/18/03 Thu
      • Re: Enduring Love -- alice, 08:51:42 02/02/05 Wed
  • Re: Enduring Love -- peter, 06:58:38 11/13/03 Thu
    • Re: Enduring Love -- Helen, 10:52:33 05/14/05 Sat
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Fievel, 08:25:29 01/06/04 Tue
  • Re: Enduring Love -- Janet, 01:29:26 01/12/04 Mon
  • Re: Enduring Love -- heidi, 23:00:10 04/02/04 Fri
    • Re: Enduring Love -- *, 10:00:44 07/11/04 Sun

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• Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Lizzy, 04:21:57 12/22/04 Wed
  Hi ...does any one know whether or not Joe and Clarissa are married in Enduring Love? Its probably not very important but I just wondered because Joe mentions their 'childless marriage of love' but there is no mention of them being husband and wife Also I have seen critics refer to them as 'long term partners'. Can any one help?
  Thank you!
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Jennie, 10:29:04 12/26/04 Sun
  • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Lucy, 08:36:00 12/30/04 Thu
  • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Emma, 09:59:58 01/13/05 Thu
  • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- pav, 13:06:04 01/14/05 Fri
  • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Jas, 17:26:38 01/15/05 Sat
  • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . .their not married! -- izzy, 09:16:42 01/16/05 Sun
  • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Wily, 10:41:39 01/18/05 Tue
    • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Sarah, 05:40:36 02/21/05 Mon
      • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- amy, 07:28:48 04/08/05 Fri
        • Re: Joe & Clarissa . . . . -- Helen, 10:29:14 05/14/05 Sat

  ---

• Enduring Love- Bonnie/Bonny -- Becky, 05:27:41 02/09/05 Wed
  I was just wondering if anybody else noticed that in Enduring Love the character Bonny has her name spelled two different ways. In chapter 24, on the same page (227 in my copy) her name is spelt Bonny and Bonnie. Is this a mistake? I wondered if it could have been intentional and a way of suggesting that Joe is indecisive or unreliable (seems a little unlikely if you ask me but whatever). So, did anybody else notice it and what do you think about it.
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Enduring Love- Bonnie/Bonny -- sarah, 04:42:48 03/08/05 Tue
    • Re: Enduring Love- Bonnie/Bonny -- Sarah, 00:44:39 05/01/05 Sun
    • Re: Enduring Love- Bonnie/Bonny -- Helen, 10:02:21 05/14/05 Sat

  ---

• Atonement -- Anne Van Eeghem, 03:17:06 05/13/05 Fri
  After Orfeo & Euridice, Tristan & Isolde, Romeo & Juliet, Péleas & Mélisande, now we have Robbie & Cecilia ! A truly moving and universally appealing story. To these heroic protagonists, no barriers are troo strong to overcome and to unite them. Just brilliant!
  

  [Edit]
  

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• Comfort of Strangers -- Adam, 19:15:37 04/23/05 Sat
  There are two parts of this book that I don't completely grasp. First, when Robert strikes Colin in the stomach, the message Robert was sending him and the reason even after the event Colin and Mary would continue dinner and see them again. The second is the final scene in Robert's house, starting with Mary going into the bedroom ending with the slicing of Colin's wrist. It seemed like more was happening then was said, or that more should of happened.
  

  [Edit]
  
  Replies:

  • Re: Comfort of Strangers -- Anne, 10:05:44 05/12/05 Thu

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• Meaning of Amsterdam's Closing Line? -- Uriel, 10:50:29 03/20/05 Sun
  I've just finished reading Ian McEwan's fantastically wonderful and enjoyable AMSTERDAM. I strongly suspect that the last line, in which George Lane's "mind was already settling luxuriously on the fascinating matter of the guest list" for a memorial service he plans to hold for his departed wife Molly, contains a final jab of humor. But I don't see it. Why is the matter "fascinating"?
  
  Help appreciated!
  
  Thanks,
  
  Uriel
  --
  http://urielw.com/ratat3.htm
  

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  • Re: Meaning of Amsterdam's Closing Line? -- william, 01:20:01 04/05/05 Tue
    • Re: Meaning of Amsterdam's Closing Line? -- Miss Anomie, 05:24:42 05/12/05 Thu

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• Atonement -- emma morad, 05:03:29 05/05/05 Thu
  Dear Mr McEwan,
  It was on the third or fourth page when I realised "Atonement" was going to be a completely different read.
  It left me, not exactly wanting to read it again, nor sad when I finshed it, but moved as I have only ever been by one other book, Bleak House. And something else, everything I have picked up since is so inferior.
  I know this must have been a real story, covered up to hide peoples names, and I know that because the illogical parts in the story are so true of life, and cannot be thought up, but have to be seen, or experienced. I think you are the observer, I think you are Briony.
  Best bits: the moment Briony knows she is a novelist, when Robbie starts to ramble close to death about where he wants to eat his food and the moment when Nettle knows he is dying. The tenderness between the two soldiers was more powerful for me than any Wifred Owen poem, pure brilliance.
  Emma Morad.
  

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  • Re: Atonement -- eric, 16:41:27 05/09/05 Mon

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• Amsterdam -- Diva_dancer, 18:20:09 05/08/05 Sun
  I read the book Amsterdam and find it has no depth to it whatsoever... i have to pick out 12 event then rank them positivly or negativly affecting the protagonist... which would be who Clive or Vernon?? I was thinking both.. please help
  

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• enduring love -the film- -- marina, 02:39:49 05/05/05 Thu
  last night I saw -Enduring Love-
  I'd like to have your feedback, I'd like to have IAN McEwan feedback.
  thanks
  

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• Is it possible to meet Ian McEwan?? -- Rebecca Knowles, 07:38:56 05/04/05 Wed
  Hello. I am thinking about doing my dissertation on Ian McEwan next year. I haven't decided on a title yet but I enjoyed 'First Love, Last Rites' so much that I think I would enjoy writing my dissertation on him.
  
  So anyway, is there anyway of setting up an interview with Ian if I do decide to do my dissertation on him? One of my lecturers managed to interview pat barker during her dissertation writing so I hope it is possible.
  

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  • Re: Is it possible to meet Ian McEwan?? -- H, 01:32:05 05/05/05 Thu

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• reviewing Saturday -- Sally Valente, 16:20:09 04/30/05 Sat
  The book "Saturday" is one of the most well written books I have read in a long time. It's as if McEwan was a painter & the pages of the book was his canvas. With minimal dialogue he managed to convey so much. I thought the scenes with his wife were very touching. It was refreshing to read about a family who did care about each other even though there were the odd disagreements - political & otherwise. His characters were deftly drawn. Baxter certainly elicited fear & pity. I felt the book quite poignant at times with Perowne's ruminations and I was sorry when the book came to a close.
  

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• Darwin -- Mark Maraquin, 13:22:13 04/27/05 Wed
  I read in the March 21, 2005 issue of
  Time that Mr. McEwan was fond of quoting Darwin, "there is a grandeur in this view of life." Consider for a moment that I stood on the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea 2000 years before Darwin saw his beasts coming from the sea. I also saw a second beast come out of the caves and do great wonders, including dropping bombs, this was actually the first beast only EVOLVED to the point of not living in the caves and making bombs. The dumb beast ended up dropping the bombs on himself! But this is good, because the dumb beast was destroying his own planet!
  The result? A remnant survives, creating heaven on earth. Peace and Goodwill toward men. There is a grander grandeur in MY view. Mr. Darwin didn't know what he had, neither did the theologians. Ha ha ha ha ha.
  

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• Henry Perowne's Fish Stew -- Ryan, 22:00:15 04/19/05 Tue
  The recipe for Henry Perowne's Fish Stew is now available on the Ian McEwan Website: www.ianmcewan.com
  
  Best,
  Ryan
  

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  • Re: Henry Perowne's Fish Stew -- Margaret Slezak, 22:57:52 04/20/05 Wed

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• Saturday -- Margaret Slezak, 00:07:39 04/09/05 Sat
  I want to cook the fish stew that Henry cooks in Saturday. Has anyone written out the recipe?
  

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  • Fish Stew -- Ryan, 23:01:56 04/18/05 Mon

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• ian mcewan facts -- andreas, 12:06:31 03/31/05 Thu
  hi i am writing an essaye about ian mcewan, strangely ennough i have problems finding information about him, for how long he has been writing, were he was born etc, so this should be the place for information i think :D, if you have answers for me, please asnwer to my e-mail: basket_player@hotmail.com with the subject "Ian McEwan
  

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  • Re: ian mcewan facts -- bookaholic, 23:36:29 04/17/05 Sun

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• I am looking for help on his story First Love, Last Rites -- Shawn, 18:04:21 04/11/05 Mon
  I am workin on a paper, looking at theintrospection of the characters in First Love, Last Rites. I am having trouble finding anything. I am in english 111, not the best at essays, but always lookin for help...so any would be appreciated...thanks
  
  later
  
  shawn
  

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• HELP -- Anna, 15:11:13 04/11/05 Mon
  I am currently writing an extended essay on narrative technique in Atonement an would appreciate any help. I am somewhat stuck on focalization and focalized, so if anyone out there has anything to offer i would be more than thank ful!
  Thank you Anna
  

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• McEwan does Toronto -- Uriel, 07:01:00 04/08/05 Fri
  ... and intensifies Perowne-like doubts about the news: Meeting Ian McEwan.
  

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