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Loading... The Cement Garden (original 1978; edition 2003)by Ian McEwan
Work InformationThe Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (Author) (1978)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I understand the concept of unreliable narrators, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. ( ) The Psychological Meaning of Social Normalcy The Cement Garden is the gripping story of a small family, artificially isolated from society, and struggling with events others would consider normal, and which the rest of us in society maintain strict rules. It is a well-crafted reflection on society and normalcy. It is technically well-written, poetic and confident in tone, a superb psychological portrait. Four children, who previously lost their father, now tend their ailing mother, whom they will soon lose as well. Two boys and two girls (two young and two teenaged), they attend school as normal, but the family has always been isolated. The mother hardly let them leave the house when she was alive, so they have no clue how to handle her body now that she's died, and take it to the basement. As a subplot, the older boy and girl explore sexuality with each other, in a candid scene, handled very deftly given its nature. Suprisingly, we are not bothered by these activities as such. McEwan's psychological portraits are convincing, and his characters seem entirely normal. His writing skill is evident when one realizes the sympathy with which these four characters are drawn. The novel's tension comes unexpectedly from a banal source: The older girl has a boyfriend, a conventional person, but McEwan has convinced us the family is normal, so to us, the boyfriend is an outsider. How will the boyfriend act? Will he discover the secret? If so, will he reveal it? Will he become an insider, clean up the mess and help the four become legitimate, will he blackmail them, or will he tell society and let them be punished as normal? If the latter, will society punish them harshly? At the end, one wonders how horrible the youth could really have been, even if they lived outside social norms. What is the line between innocently mistaken and socially unacceptable? The novel is an excellent exploration of this question. Inquisitive readers will be able judge for themselves. P.S. One minor complaint: I have heard the movie omits the book's last paragraph, which I think was wise. The author might have withheld the explicit conclusion, forcing the reader to guess what might happen. This does not detract from the book's quality in any way, nor the reader's ability to consider the matter on their own. I just think that, as a matter of style, it might have been left a bit unfinished. We're only talking about one paragraph, anyway. CW: What an unsettling little book. I read this about 5 years ago and I can still remember with clarity some of the more disturbing scenes. I don't think I liked it at the time and probably would have given it 1 star immediately after. To be honest I don't think it is a book anyone can 'like', but we can appreciate how the author created tension and a feeling of unease throughout the entire novel. Quality writing of an unpleasant book.
The Cement Garden is in many ways a shocking book, morbid, full of repellent imagery—and irresistibly readable. It is also the work of a writer in full control of his materials. Belongs to Publisher SeriesAndanzas (4) Blackbirds (1993.2) detebe (20648) Otavan kirjasto (205) Points Point-Virgule (V6) — 4 more Notable Lists
In the relentless summer heat, four abruptly orphaned children retreat into a shadowy, isolated world, and find their own strange and unsettling ways of fending for themselves. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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