Blurred Line

I'm a big Ian McEwan fanboy, so I was very pleased when I found Enduring Love in pretty much perfect condition at a local used bookstore. The story follows Joe, who has everything going for him - he's got a great job and the perfect relationship. However, one day he becomes entangled in a hot air balloon accident. He and a number of other men are attempting to rescue those inside when the balloon ascends and leaves the would-be rescuers hanging on by the ropes. One of the other men, Jed Parry, a religious fanatic, forms an obsession with Joe, asserting with great certainty that the two of them are in love with one another. The obsession of Parry takes its toll on Joe in fascinating ways.

If there's any writer out there who has mastered inner conflict, it's McEwan. And, not surprisingly, it's his adeptness at showing the turmoil within Joe that drives this novel. Unlike a lot of literary novels, this one also qualifies as a real page-turner, it has a thriller-ish streak in it that'll drive you to keep on reading. The ending is rather interesting, but McEwan inserts a pair of Appendices in the back of the novel that tie things up. Depending on what kind of reader you are, you'll either love this, or think that the appendices undercut the ending of the story proper. Either way, I really enjoy this one and recommend it.

Also, if you're not much for reading, you can get your hands on a copy of the film adaptation (I haven't seen it, so I can't comment on it), starring none other than the new Mr. Bond, Daniel Craig.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Thursday, May 11, 2006 - Enduring Love I'm a big Ian McEwan fanboy, so I was very pleased when I found Enduring Love in pretty much perfect condition at a local used bookstore. The story follows Joe, who has everything going for him - he's got a great job and the perfect relationship. However, one day he becomes entangled in a hot air balloon accident. He and a number of other men are attempting to rescue those inside when the balloon ascends and leaves the would-be rescuers hanging on by the ropes. One of the other men, Jed Parry, a religious fanatic, forms an obsession with Joe, asserting with great certainty that the two of them are in love with one another. The obsession of Parry takes its toll on Joe in fascinating ways. If there's any writer out there who has mastered inner conflict, it's McEwan. And, not surprisingly, it's his adeptness at showing the turmoil within Joe that drives this novel. Unlike a lot of literary novels, this one also qualifies as a real page-turner, it has a thriller-ish streak in it that'll drive you to keep on reading. The ending is rather interesting, but McEwan inserts a pair of Appendices in the back of the novel that tie things up. Depending on what kind of reader you are, you'll either love this, or think that the appendices undercut the ending of the story proper. Either way, I really enjoy this one and recommend it. Also, if you're not much for reading, you can get your hands on a copy of the film adaptation (I haven't seen it, so I can't comment on it), starring none other than the new Mr. Bond, Daniel Craig. Cavan blogged at 10:28 AM \| 0 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart