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Title: The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0-679-75018-5 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 13 January, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (36 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: CEMENT TOO HEAVY TO RESIST
Comment: The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan is a book that captures its reader from the starting gate, "I did not kill my father...", and never lets up until it's climactic ending. Four siblings living in a deteriorating environment are left orphans in a large house. The children subsequently take on the roles of a modified "nuclear family", with Julie and Jack as the parents, and Tom and Sue as the offspring. The father's passing is barely noticed, but the mother's demise leaves a strong impression upon the children. So strong is the attachment that like Norman Bates in PSYCHO they refuse to part with the body which they have entombed in cement within the house.
The book also contains numerous metaphors. The decay of the outside neighborhood, for example, reflects the crumbling family life which occurrs within the house. The cement which entombs the mother, likewise surrounds the house and its occupants. These and many others lend deeper meaning to the story and are sprinkled throughout the book.
The book also has elements of other great fiction, namely Lord of The Flies, and Catcher In The Rye. The deterioration of accepted behavior resulting from the loss of order, and the despair and loneliness of daily events as seen through the eyes of an adolescent are blended together to yield a potent stew.
The book is short in length but is very long on impact.
Rating: 2
Summary: Unbelievably bad
Comment: I thought that this book would be twisted and disturbing. And I thought that Ian McEwan's writing would be flawless and flow wonderfully, considering all the accolades he's gotten, but I was extremely disappointed. The story line was too unfeasible and didn't make sense logistically. The characters weren't developed enough and it seemed like a rough sketch of a book, rather than a finished product.
Rating: 5
Summary: Gets under your skin
Comment: The material is so dark, so nonchalantly sinister, that one would expect it to be difficult to read. On the contrary, because McEwan is so brilliantly adept with character, the book reads like a page-turner. This is an amazing feat. McEwan shows us all of the narcissism and moral lapses of troubled teenagers, yet still somehow makes them lovable. Jack, Julie, Sue, and Tom are some of the most vividly rendered characters in fiction. Though McEwan's prose continued to improve in the years after THE CEMENT GARDEN, culminating with ATONEMENT, he had this basic and phenomenal ability even with his first book. It's fascinating to read such a talented debut after seeing his other works....
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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: Black Dogs : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494327 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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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: Amsterdam : A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385494246 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 02 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Child in Time by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385497520 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 02 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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