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The Children Act by Ian McEwan
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The Children Act (original 2014; edition 2014)

by Ian McEwan

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2,9351824,713 (3.79)172
"Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child's welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts. But Fiona's professional success belies domestic strife. Her husband, Jack, asks her to consider an open marriage and, after an argument, moves out of their house. His departure leaves her adrift, wondering whether it was not love she had lost so much as a modern form of respectability; whether it was not contempt and ostracism she really fears. She decides to throw herself into her work, especially a complex case involving a seventeen-year-old boy whose parents will not permit a lifesaving blood transfusion because it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah's Witnesses. But Jack doesn't leave her thoughts, and the pressure to resolve the case--as well as her crumbling marriage--tests Fiona in ways that will keep readers thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page"--… (more)
Member:invisiblelizard
Title:The Children Act
Authors:Ian McEwan
Info:Nan A. Talese (2014), Hardcover, 240 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:fiction

Work Information

The Children Act by Ian McEwan (2014)

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English (172)  German (5)  Spanish (5)  Dutch (2)  Swedish (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (186)
Showing 1-5 of 172 (next | show all)
If family disputes and family law interest you, this is a book for you.

The central character is Fiona Maye, a High Court Judge. She presides over the usual, routine disputes between divorcing spouses, who gets what, what happens to the kids. But she also gets to decide what happens to Siamese twins when the hospital wants to sacrifice one to save the other, and the parents disagree. And when the hospital wants to save the life of an almost adult who agrees with his parents, devout followers of Jehovah's Witnesses, that transfusion is not an option. McEwan throws a twist when My Lady's, as they call her, husband announces they are at a low point and he wants to have an affair. Her reaction is quick. The time to ask for an open marriage is before marriage, not after more than twenty years. She asks him to leave immediately and changes the locks. Decisions are what she does.

The stage is set. Will she intervene and override the wishes of both the patient and his parents and save his life? How will the young patient react, and if she rules for the hospital, what will the young man do with his life? What will the parents do? Will her own new situation make her see her role any differently? Will she and her husband have second thoughts and find a way back to each other? Or will they become yet another case before the court?

Normally I like to give the entire plot away in my reviews. In this case, it would probably ruin it for you. You'll have to find out for yourself. ( )
  Ed_Schneider | Mar 20, 2024 |
Family Drama
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
Great story and great writing style. ( )
  ellink | Jan 22, 2024 |
This book was terrible. There was barely a plot, it was very wordy without actually saying anything, and I felt McEwan's portrayal of a teenage boy was incredibly off. (I've certainly never known any 18 year old boys wanting to kiss 60 year old women...) I continued reading only because I thought it might get better... it didn't. Don't waste your time on this one. ( )
  RachelRachelRachel | Nov 21, 2023 |
A tough call. Many disagree with reducing the effect of a piece of literature to a simple star rating, but truth be told I do it more for myself and less for others. It's a way of keeping track and a shorthand for the books I enjoyed, or hated, or books that were just middling. A near five-star read for me, this book is written in a register which just works, or does so at least for me. The story of a British High Court judge — specializing in family law? (I can't be sure) — middle age and feeling it, forced to deal with a marriage in strife while she would rather put herself fully into her work, for which she seems to have considerable talent. Novels of manners, novels of the quiet intricacies of family life can go so wrong, so easily, that I'm caught off guard when someone gets it exactly right. Not that this is wholly either, but it is a novel of human intricacies, and this is what seems to trip up so many writers. McEwan seems to remember to make the stories interesting, that in fact the greatest writer of them all would poison, or stab, or rape, or to chase by bear if it came to that, and the greatest sin would be to bore, to have people sitting endless in salons chatting in mutual navel-gazing. My favorite novels are when the writer balances the equation, getting both sides right. Here is the story of these people and they are real, or seem so to us — and here is why this story is interesting absent all of that faffing about. I've read two or three or four other McEwan novels (I've lost track) but at this point I've decided to line them all up in row, everything the man has written, and read them every one, over time. I can offer no higher recommendation than that. ( )
  MichaelDavidMullins | Oct 17, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 172 (next | show all)
Ian McEwan, master of obsession, fumbles with his latest, The Children Act
 
McEwan, always a smart, engaging writer, here takes more than one familiar situation and creates at every turn something new and emotionally rewarding in a way he hasn’t done so well since On Chesil Beach (2007).
added by Nickelini | editKirkus Reviews (Sep 9, 2014)
 
Although thrillingly close to the child within us, McEwan nonetheless writes for, and about, the grown-ups. In a climate that breeds juvenile cynicism, we more than ever need his adult art.
 

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Ian McEwanprimary authorall editionscalculated
Torrescasana, AlbertTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
'When a court determines any question with respect to...the upbringing of a child...the child's welfare shall be the court's paramount consideration.'

Section 1(a) The Children Act (1989)
Dedication
To Ray Dolan
First words
London. Trinity term one week old.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
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"Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child's welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts. But Fiona's professional success belies domestic strife. Her husband, Jack, asks her to consider an open marriage and, after an argument, moves out of their house. His departure leaves her adrift, wondering whether it was not love she had lost so much as a modern form of respectability; whether it was not contempt and ostracism she really fears. She decides to throw herself into her work, especially a complex case involving a seventeen-year-old boy whose parents will not permit a lifesaving blood transfusion because it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah's Witnesses. But Jack doesn't leave her thoughts, and the pressure to resolve the case--as well as her crumbling marriage--tests Fiona in ways that will keep readers thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page"--

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Book description
Fiona Maye is a leading High Court judge, presiding over cases in the family court. She is renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude and sensitivity. But her professional success belies a private sorrow and domestic strife. There is a lingering regret of her childlessness, and now her marriage of thirty years is in crisis.

At the same time, she is called on to try an urgent case: for religious reasons, a beautiful seventeen-year-old boy, Adam, is refusing medical treatment that could save his life, and his devout parents share his wishes. Time is running out. Should the secular court overrule sincerely held faith? In the course of reaching a decision Fiona visits Adam in hospital - an encounter which stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. Her judgment has momentous consequences for them both.
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