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Title: Black Dogs : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0-385-49432-7 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 (17 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Another tour de force from McEwan
Comment: Ian McEwan, one of my favorite novelists, has an uncanny way of creating a sense of forboding and fear from everyday events, and this book is no exception. In this case, we follow the story of June and Bernard, who marry in the wake of WWII, and are deeply in love. As young people they are idealistic and out to save the world, but quickly realize they are really going down two separate paths--Bernard is rational and political, June deeply intuitive and convinced of the reality of god and the spiritual in everyday life, as the result of a frightening incident that occurs at the very beginning of their marriage. These two sadly cannot live without--or with--each other. McEwan explores these two diametrically points of view, but betrays his own feelings too. McEwan clearly believes in the existence of evil--in everyday life, as portrayed in a terribly cruel incident between a parent and child in a restaurant, and in a mystical way, in the incident of the black dogs. But he also believes in healing and redemption--as June finds peace in her home, as Bernard suddenly realizes and is changed by his realization of the personal pain of war. We do not really know the truth of the incident of the dogs--an exagerration of a real incident, or the reality of overwhelming evil in the world. It doesn't matter--this is a beautifully written, thought-provoking work.
Rating: 3
Summary: brilliant prose rescues overcooked story...
Comment: Ian McEwan certainly writes wonderful prose. When matched with a fine story, as with Atonement, one can easily say he is one of the best novelists around. Unfortunately in Black Dogs the author chose to stretch what should have been a short story into a short novel, leading to barely passable results.
Black Dogs is based on the confrontation between a pair of wild dogs and a young woman, and its aftermath, shortly after WW II. Beyond this rather frightening episode, with the fear factor captured beautifully by McEwan, we are led into a rather silly mish-mash of mysticism - eg, were these dogs some supernatural entities meant to represent something other than nasty canines? Not being a particularly mystical person myself, I found all this to be a bunch of nonsense stretched to tedious proportions by the author.
Bottom line: generally a pleasurable read but McEwan has written much, much better.
Rating: 5
Summary: McEwan at his menacing best : a hidden classic
Comment: Ian McEwan's "Black Dogs (BD)", though quite different, is every bit as awesome as "Enduring Love" and "Atonement". In less than 150 pages, McEwan gives meaning to the concept of "evil", the indescribable and unutterable sense of horror we recognise but often cannot articulate.
Here, June Tremain's shattering encounter with evil while taking a walk in the French countryside one day drives a permanent wedge between her and her newly wed husband Bernard and radically alters her world view of life. Quite inexplicably, she abandons her life's work with Bernard, renounces her membership of the British Communist Party, and withdraws into a life of solitude, quiet reflection and contemplative mysticism. Her betrayal of the cause on which they built their marriage baffles and embitters Bernard. He came close but because he never shared his wife's experience, he is left stranded across the philosophical divide. Was it chance or fate that chose June (and not Bernard) ? Perhaps it was June's more gentle nature that made her vulnerable. We may never know but their contrasting reaction to the butterfly that visited them at the railway station leaves a clue.
It is left to Jeremy, the Tremains' son-in-law, to uncover the truth. The preface explains Jeremy's parent fixation and his undertaking to write June's memoirs. But Jeremy is also the perfect literary devise to peel away the layers that shroud the mystery and tell the story backwards. Again, McEwan shows why he is the reigning Master of the Sinister genre. I could feel the hairs at the back of my neck grow erect as the brooding menace intensified with each chapter. Every human encounter, whether with Jeremy and Bernard as they jostle with the crowds to watch the Wall come down in Berlin, or Jeremy alone with strangers in a countryside motel, is stalked by a latent violence just waiting to erupt. Jeremy's close shave with the king spider one night in an empty cottage hauntingly foreshadows the revelation of June's frightening encounter with the "black dogs", which McEwan adroitly leaves to the last while leaving the reader with a last gasp of horror when the truth behind the canine predators are revealed.
In its depiction of evil, "Black Dogs" recalls "The Comfort Of Strangers (COS)" but it is a superior work in conception and execution. It is a hidden gem and a McEwan classic that deserves wider recognition and is destined for a long shelf life. Spread the word around. Go read it !
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Title: Enduring Love : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494149 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0679749845 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Innocent : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494335 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0679750185 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 13 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Amsterdam : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494246 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 02 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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