Enduring Love: A Novel
by Ian McEwan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ian McEwanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-12-29
ISBN: 0385494149
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of Enduring Love: A Novel
Book Review: Well Crafted
Summary: 5 Stars
Overview:
Some of the reviews of this novel are not terribly flattering. For example, Philippe Vandenbroeck, suggests that the author has an, "infatuation for little, but ultimately uninteresting tales of obsession", and that the flat and uninteresting characters are incapable of supporting the story to its conclusion. I couldn't disagree more. The characters and their interactions are dynamic, as evinced by the perturbations in their mental states and their interactions that result from the events of the book, their moods, mentalities, mannerisms, and motivations are different, unique, and contribute to their individuality. They each react and act in the various events surrounding the interactions between Jed Parry and Joe Rose in independent and realistic fashions, and their histories are detailed and involved in their decisions and their prejudices. The characters truly stand out as literary creations that the plot is dependent upon for its impact. Other characters, more poorly defined, less perfectly integrated, would have led, inescapably, to a more mundane conclusion and a book that wasn't worth reading, rather than the masterpiece that Ian McEwan has delivered.
A. Plot
The plot of the book is straightforward, and can be gleaned from the plot summary above the product details. In brief, a group of characters stumble upon a tragic ballooning accident, where a man dies. Two of the people who run to help are completely unaware of the change that their lives are about to undergo. Joe Rose and Jed Parry share a moment over the body of the fallen man, and Jed realizes that Joe Rose loves him. Jed Parry, an obsessively religious lunatic, begins to stalk Joe Rose, including calling him 29 times in a single day, and becoming increasingly unhinged in his pursuit of his love. This leads to a desperate face-off between the two and a final climax between Clarissa and Joe, of a fashion that may not be predictable.
While the plot is not unique, particularly developed, or intricate, it does move along at an appropriate pace. This was one aspect of the book that I appreciated. Unlike many authors, Ian McEwan doesn't feel the need to stretch his stories. They are born, they live the span of their life, then they end. They are not extended further than they need to be. This is actually quite a refreshing situation.
B. Characters
Many of the reviewers were flagrantly upset with the characters in this novel. They claimed that Joe and Clarissa were unrealistic, that their trust in one another was superficial. This was amusing, because this was, in essence, one of the main points of the entire book, and so many missed it. Fortunately, RBradbury451 caught it, and said, quite eloquently, "Ironically, the real love that the existed between the protagonist, Joe Rose and his mate, Clarissa, was consensual, and, by contrast, fragile, unsupported by religious sanction. Love can fail. Most of us have experienced, at one time or another, the failure of love. McEwan contrasts the rigid, tenacious nature of pathological love with the fluid and fragile nature of the real thing."
The increasing disattachment of Clarissa, the stubborn pernicity of Jed, and watching Joe fall apart into a state of mental disarray so great that he cannot even begin to do his job or lead his life is clear evidence of the author having set his mind into the situation and following it to its natural conclusions.
C. Setting
The story is set in England, in something less than a modern time. It could, for example, be set in the 1960's. It is unlikely to be completely contemporary, as we have knowledge of the dangers of stalkers and obsessive personalities. Although the First Appendix would suggest that the events related probably take place closer to the 1990's, a time frame that is partially consistent with the references toward the Human Genome Project (whose reference is strange, as the majority of this project was spearheaded by the US Government, in competition with J. Craig Venter's company, Celera). The time is ambiguous, perhaps to defocus our attention from this aspect of the story, as it is less important than other elements, refocusing our attention instead on what is said, rather than what is not said.
D. Theme
The major obvious theme here is obsession, but that is not the story that Ian McEwan is really telling. The other obvious theme here, as stated by RBradbury451, and the author himself, was that the intrusion of psychopathology into what is one of mankind's most beautiful experiences is tragic and disturbing.
Many have commented on these rather obvious themes and in so focusing, have missed the deeper significance of small events. For example, Fairly Literate, suggests, "there were also minor inconsistencies in the text eg joe claims to have lime-flavour ice-cream in the restaurant, but when he relates the incident to the police it is apple-flavour."
Indeed, this is symptomatic of an underlying current in the story about the narratives of man. The religious overtones of Jed Parry's letters. The aggressive atheism of Joe Rose. The scholastic focus of Clarissa on whether or not Keats has written to Severn, a fairly minor event in the life of the man, but of overwhelming importance to her personally. All of these things, along with the greater story at hand, point us in the direction that Mr. McEwan really wants us to go.
How much of our memory is reliable? How much of what we know to be true is? Joe knows that he has an obsessive stalker. Clarissa knows that he does not. Joe knows that he ate apple flavored ice cream in the restaurant, and he also knows that it is lime. He knows that the two men in the restaurant are there to kill him, while the police know that their intended target is someone else. Jed knows that Joe loves him, and look where that takes things. How much do you know that isn't true? What do you actually know, actually remember, and what is the result of a narrative, constructed to make events have an explanation when they otherwise would not? That is McEwan's point here, I think, along with the corrupted intrusion of an undying possessive love by an otherwise unsuccessful person.
E. Point of View
The point of view is almost entirely a retrospective from Joe Rose, after most of the events in the book have taken place. While this, prima facie, rules out the possibility of Joe Rose dying at the hands of his mentally beseiged, would-be-love, it becomes obvious from the disembodied recall that this is not necessarily the case. The interesting exception to this is the chapter which is the perspective of Clarissa-through-Joe, wherein we see his understanding of her feelings and her motivations. The point of view in this case contributes significantly to our understanding of the situation, particularly as it develops into a curious case of whether Jed Parry is even real.
F. Aesthetics
The disembodied recollections, the focus on specific and extreme details, and the , combine to suggest a master's hand in the framing of the story. The point of view is almost exclusively Joe's, and his increasing distance from his lover, along with the chapter where he provides his lover's point of view, contribute to the feeling of persecution that Joe begins to exhibit. This persecution, the doubt, all weave together to create a masterful atmosphere of paranoia. Is Parry real? Is he really dangerous?
Conclusion:
With good characters, whose actions are surprisingly dependent upon their pasts and their respective mentalities, this is a character study that actually works. While the plot is neither incredibly complicated nor intricate, it is worth reading, both for what is here as well as what is not. The length is not excessive, the characters are interesting and defined. Those who are reticent to explore a story of a dark, undying, and inappropriately passionate love probably would do well to avoid this book. Those who are interested in happy endings probably shouldn't look for one here. But, if you are interested in a well-crafted story, heavy in subtext and worth reading and thinking about, you may want to give this one a try. It is worth it, I think.
A-
Harkius
Summary of Enduring Love: A Novel
On a windy spring day in the Chilterns, the calm, organized life of science writer Joe Rose is shattered when he witnesses a tragic accident: a hot-air balloon with a boy trapped in its basket is being tossed by the wind, and in the attempt to save the child, a man is killed. A stranger named Jed Parry joins Rose in helping to bring the balloon to safety. But unknown to Rose, something passes between Parry and himself on that day--something that gives birth to an obsession in Parry so powerful that it will test the limits of Rose's beloved rationalism, threaten the love of his wife, Clarissa, and drive him to the brink of murder and madness. Brilliant and compassionate, this is a novel of love, faith, and suspense, and of how life can change in an instant.Joe Rose has planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after six weeks in the States. To complete the picture, there's even a "helium balloon drifting dreamily across the wooded valley." But as Joe and Clarissa watch the balloon touch down, their idyll comes to an abrupt end. The pilot catches his leg in the anchor rope, while the only passenger, a boy, is too scared to jump down. As the wind whips into action, Joe and four other men rush to secure the basket. Mother Nature, however, isn't feeling very maternal. "A mighty fist socked the balloon in two rapid blows, one-two, the second more vicious than the first," and at once the rescuers are airborne. Joe manages to drop to the ground, as do most of his companions, but one man is lifted sky-high, only to fall to his death.
In itself, the accident would change the survivors' lives, filling them with an uneasy combination of shame, happiness, and endless self-reproach. (In one of the novel's many ironies, the balloon eventually lands safely, the boy unscathed.) But fate has far more unpleasant things in store for Joe. Meeting the eye of fellow rescuer Jed Parry, for example, turns out to be a very bad move. For Jed is instantly obsessed, making the first of many calls to Joe and Clarissa's London flat that very night. Soon he's openly shadowing Joe and writing him endless letters. (One insane epistle begins, "I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable.") Worst of all, Jed's version of love comes to seem a distortion of Joe's feelings for Clarissa.
Apart from the incessant stalking, it is the conditionals--the contingencies--that most frustrate Joe, a scientific journalist. If only he and Clarissa had gone straight home from the airport... If only the wind hadn't picked up... If only he had saved Jed's 29 messages in a single day... Ian McEwan has long been a poet of the arbitrary nightmare, his characters ineluctably swept up in others' fantasies, skidding into deepening violence, and--worst of all--becoming strangers to those who love them. Even his prose itself is a masterful and methodical exercise in defamiliarization. But Enduring Love and its underrated predecessor, Black Dogs, are also meditations on knowledge and perception as well as brilliant manipulations of our own expectations. By the novel's end, you will be surprisingly unafraid of hot-air balloons, but you won't be too keen on looking a stranger in the eye.
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