User Profile

Ian McEwan is a good storyteller, and I have enjoyed some of his other books, so when I saw this for $2 in a charity shop, I thought it would be worth a read. I have tried to avoid being too specific in this review about the book's ending, but some of the things I've said are a bit spoiler-y.

The story felt slow to get going, but once Serena, the protagonist, finally began her job at MI5, the book felt more engaging. I was interested the glimpses into daily life in 1970s Britain – strikes, fuel shortages, IRA attacks... Serena's budding friendship with Shirley Shilling, her colleague at MI5, felt promising, like it would perhaps lead to some interesting twists in the story.

At first, I found Serena interesting and relatable. Unfortunately, her affair with a married man and general propensity to think with her lady-parts made me like her less and less as the story wore on. By the end of the book, I found it difficult to find any redeeming characteristics whatsoever. Her boyfriend, Tom, struck me as a mediocre writer with delusions of grandeur. Many of the other characters felt like they existed only to serve the plot and disappeared once they'd outlived their usefulness (some, like Shirley Shilling, were brought back as soon as they became useful again). With the benefit of hindsight, this seems appropriate: since the two main characters are completely self-absorbed, it makes sense that, in telling their story, they would portray other people in purely utilitarian terms.

Based on the premise of the book, I was expecting mystery and espionage. What I got was more of a clumsy love story between two people who probably should have known better, with a few "spy" elements thrown in. The ending was somewhat predictable (it was always obvious that if Serena pursued a relationship with Tom, there would be trouble), though the final chapter was unexpected. Unfortunately, the "surprise" aspect of the ending did not work for me. It seemed to come out of nowhere and seemed to serve no purpose other than, perhaps, to reveal what happens after the events of the book. (Though, if I'd liked Serena and Tom better, I might have cared more about what happened next).

When I take a step back and look at the book as a whole, I think it is well-written and clever. For large swathes of the book, I didn't want to put it down. I got enough enjoyment out of it to keep reading until the end, but I was ultimately dissatisfied with the characters, the main conflict, and the ending. I'd give it 2.5 stars.