Summer is over, winter is upon us: reading is a constant. One I loved — every single page — is Ian McEwan’s The Children Act.
Let’s review my feelings for Mr. McEwan’s work. I thoroughly enjoyed his last two efforts, the spy spoof Sweet Tooth and the environmental satire Solar. Both are wise and well crafted. His most famous work, Atonement, left me cold. I ate up its beginning, but really Briony: there’s no atoning.
His newly published The Children Act is 221 pages of tightly-wound perfection. It tells the story of Fiona Maye, a middle-aged High Court judge whose husband, an academic, leaves her for his young statistician. Understandably, Fiona is furious. She carries on at work, handling the case of a critically ill 17-year-old boy whose parents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, will not agree to have his blood transfused.
Later, the boy presents Fiona with a personal choice, which she dismisses. Would she have considered differently if she were a mother? If she had children at home? If her marriage were whole?
This is a great choice for a book club. Lots to discuss.
From there I picked up Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests, which received rave reviews all over. Hmm. Not sure I agree. I will say it kept me engaged.
The story is set after World War One, in a once grand home outside of London, peopled by a widow and her adult daughter Frances, a lesbian. They’re broke and grieving the war deaths of sons and brothers. It’s a dreary place. Enter a glamorous couple, who board with them.
Frances falls for the wife, who slowly responds. Theirs is a very sexy affair. The husband is charming but flighty: he is beat up in the alley and is often out late drinking with friends. He’s found dead. The women’s affair unravels because of the police investigation and trial. Was theirs a true love, or a perfect set up?
On to Us, by David Nicholls, author of One Day. I loved One Day, though not its movie: a sweet, endearing, swiftly told, shockingly sad read. Of course I expected the same from his latest.
Nope. Us is a back and forth “how we met†story of a now middle-aged British couple, about to split up, going off on a European vacation with their unpleasant teenage son. The telling is tiresome and no one is likable. I left them on page 147, in Amsterdam.
Finally, John Kenney’s Truth in Advertising, which won this year’s Thurber Prize for American Humor. Deserved. It’s witty, well drawn, dark, silly: today’s Mad Men.
Fin, our hero, is a self-loathing ad man heading towards 40, once nearly married (ouch!) and disconnected from his family. His plans for Christmas: Mexico, alone.
I loved this read: a smart rom com that skewers advertising. Yes, he is reunited with family and yes he gets the girl…but none of it is easy, or treacly. Nicely told, and very funny.