Despite a few critical reviews of this book I’ve seen and the bad reviews of the movie which I fortunately haven’t seen I approached this book with an open mind and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a novel based on a true story of a mentally ill told nicely by McEwan in an engaging and gripping way.Saying anything about the plot of the book would most likely spoil the pleasure of reading it as it surprises you from the very first chapter. There were a few moments throughout the book where I thought “well this is a bit weird turn of events, why would he come up with this, it doesn’t make sense, it’s not realistic” but that was before I knew that it all was a true story and the fact that it all happened is even more shocking.
This will be a short review then as I won’t tell you much about the book. Suffice to say it shows how weird the human nature can be at times and how other people can make us screw our lives without our consent or consciousness. A great example of that it is life that writes the most shocking and surprising stories.
I really enjoyed reading this book and uncovering the story, I waited to find out what the next chapter will bring. There was one point where I thought “come on, move on, get on with the story” but that happened soon after so overall a good experience. Although, after reading a few reviews of the movie I wouldn’t recommend you watch it before reading the book. And if you watched the movie and didn’t like it I think it’s still worth reaching for the book. There seems to be a few crucial scenes missing in the movie which I think can make or break how you perceive the story McEwan tells us about here.
My rating: YYYYY
