Amsterdam (#9)

As usual, I am a bit backed up on my reading/book posts.  I am starting to get into a bit of theme with my recent reads as our trip to Europe approaches...

... and since it is one of our destinations, it made sense to read Ian McEwan's Amsterdam.  Or I should say re-read?!   I read this one a couple of years back.  I am pretty sure Amsterdam was my first venture with McEwan and he has yet to disappoint me... Atonement was my first book of this reading year... and Saturday was the W&C Book of the Year (Fiction) in 2006.

I say pretty sure... since this re-read certainly proved my shaky memory when it comes to me and books.  I don't know if it's an age thing (can I hyper-link any more in this post?!?) or just that I read a good number of books it is the brain/memory capacity just isn't there... or else my uncanny ability to recall song titles and artists from the 1980s is taking up all my cranial space.  The good thing about this phenomena is that given my ever-growing library, I will always have something "new" to read!

Fortunately, the one thing I did remember about the book is that it is only briefly set in Amsterdam.  Now that sounds like it would shoot a big 'ole hole in my desire to read something about where we're going strategy... but alas the bulk of the novel (or more accurately, at under 200 pages, novella) takes place in London which, conveniently enough, is our first vacation stop.

The novel opens with the untimely death of Molly Lane.  At the funeral, we meet two friends and former lovers of Molly, Clive and Vernon, who tangle a bit with Molly's widower George and soon learn of her interesting relationship with Julian Garmony, a right-winger tabbed to be Britain's next prime minister.  The friendship becomes strained as both make some bad decisions ... and well... to say anything more would not be wise or nice of me!   

But I will say, I have crowned McEwan the king of the "downward spiral."  Once his characters make that leap (or sometimes just a hop) over to the dark side of the moral fence, things generally don't go very well.  If you are looking for happy endings, I suggest you look elsewhere.

2008 1-2-3-4-5 Reading Challenge: + 190 Pages (Total: 3,133 pages - Finished: 3/29/2008)
+21 pages ahead of pace (+21 change in pace since last book).