2.Dünya Savaşı sonrası Berlin'i paylaşan müttefiklerin Sovyet hatlarına sızmak için yürüttükleri gerçek bir operasyon, kurgusal kişilikler ile anlatılıyor. Yazar bu çerçevede galip ve mağrur devletlerin birbirlerine ve yenilmiş bir ülkenin vatandaşlarına bakış açılarını, çevirdikleri dolapları çok iyi vurgulamış.

Yabancı bir ülkede üstlerinin kendilerinden beklentilerini yerine getirmeye çalışan acemi bir teknisyen olan kahramanımız ise hem işini hem de tasvip edilmeyen ilişkisini büyük bir gizlilik içinde yürütmeye çalışırken yaşadığı ikilem, kuşkuları, söyleyemedikleri ve bulduğu çözüm yolu kitabı etkileyici kılıyor.

( 14.01.2015 )

Io ti odio. IO TI ODIO IAN MCEWAN.
Ed è per questo che mi leggerò tutto quello che hai scritto, pure le liste della spesa. Maledizione.

Сексуално-любовна драма на фона на Студената война, като историята сама по себе си не беше лоша, но от този автор очаквам много, много повече.

Тази книга има странният шанс да е завършена и подписана през септември 1989. В епилога от 1987 героите си заричат да побързат пак да идат в Берлин, за да видят Стената, преди да е паднала. А докато излезе от печат, Стената вече е паднала. Иначе основното действие се развива преди Стената – в златния век на параноята по следене и дезинформация в началото на Студената война, когато половината население на Берлин се изживява в разузнаваческия бранш и търгува информация на борсата за шпиони фрилансери в кафене Прага. А американците копаят тунел до над 100 метра отвъд границата със съветския сектор, за да подслушват с най-съвременна звукозаписна техника трафика по магистралните съобщителни кабели. Прахосвайки щедър военен бюджет, ако и да са наясно че със сигурност един ден ще бъдат разкрити. Кой ден обаче? Заради предателство, немарливост или лошо стечение на обстоятелствата? Дотук историята е по реални събития. И точно в този недоразачистен от разрушенията Берлин през 1955 пристига Ленард Марнъм, голобрад младеж от Тотнъм, телефонен техник с трето (от четири) ниво на достъп до тайните на тунела и … се залюбва с една 5 години по възрастна и много години по-опитна германка. С родители в съветския сектор, служба - в британския и мъж алкохолик - в американския. И в свят, в който всеки подозира всекиго, и никой никому не се очаква да има пълно доверие (англичаните и американците също се шпионират един друг, даже в тунела, а от французите странят като от чума), това с което връзката им буди интерес, е, че е подложена на натиск и изпитания от съвсем друго битово и … криминално битово естество. А ако има нещо да се заравя, къде ли би било най-добре в роман, в който се говори за тунел? Главите, описващи как се оборудва подслушвателен тунел с внимание до последния детайл (примерно как да се поддържа константна влага и от машините да не се излъчва и половин градус повече топлина, че да се получи белег от разтопен тънък слой сняг или слана на асфалта отгоре през зимата) и до последната културна и народно-психолигична разлика между британци и американци в избора на ниво на комфорт (примерно права опряна стълба в шахтата срещу вита с парапет) и как се разфасова това, което трябва да се опакова в куфари за декодери, са шедьоври сами по себе си.

When you're in love, you do strange things, but they don't seem strange at the time. Last night we watched Deep End, a 1970 movie starring Jane Asher which explored this theme well. The main character is a shy 15 year old boy, who becomes obsessed with the lovely Ms Asher. His actions all seem more or less logical in the context of the story; but somehow they lead to a brilliant and disquieting final scene where they're standing in a disused swimming pool, boiling snow in an electric kettle that's been hastily connected to the overhead floodlights and straining the result through her underwear.

Well, if you found that intriguing, consider checking out the movie. And you might also want to read The Innocent, where a similarly naive male character gets involved with another older woman, does a number of seemingly logical things, and ends up in an even more bizarre situation...

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book and the direction the plot took. The development from the seemingly innocent characters that are introduced at the start to the almost-haunted characters that are left by the end was unexpected, but made the plot engaging and surprisingly exciting. I was not prepared for how dark and gritty the plot rapidly became from about the halfway point but it was executed well through the sophisticated writing style.
4.75*

Read: May 2017

I am really beginning to love Ian McEwan's work. The Innocent is the fifth novel I have read by McEwan in recent years and while it is not quite up at the heady heights of Atonement and The Cement Garden in my opinion, it is a wonderful novel in its own right; incredibly well written, dark, atmospheric, funny in places and tragic in others.

The Innocent is based around the real events of Operation Gold; a joint task force of American and British intelligence in Berlin who dug tunnels to tap into Russian communications. The protagonist of The Innocent is Leonard, a British operative sent out to Berlin to participate in Operation Gold. He is the 'innocent' of the story as he gets caught up in a series of events that he soon loses control over.

The reason it's not a five star novel for me is that I found the story a little hard to get into at first and Leonard wasn't very likeable  mostly because of his attempt to rape Maria, but as soon as I became invested in Leonard's character and the situation he got caught up in, I couldnt put this book down.

Rating: 4/5 stars

3,75 stelle (here we go again...)
Lo zio Ian è sempre una garanzia.

En el Berlín dividido de los años 1950, Ian McEwan construye con El inocente un relato que va más allá de una novela de espionaje para adentrarse en la vulnerabilidad humana en un mundo gobernado por secretos. Desde el inicio, nos plantea dos preguntas cruciales: ¿podemos proteger lo que amamos sin destruirlo? ¿Qué significa conocer la verdad en un entorno de mentiras y medias verdades?

Estas preguntas no tardan en conectarse con el núcleo temático de la novela: la tensión entre la inocencia y la culpa, en un escenario donde cada acción está impregnada de dobles significados. Como en el cine de Hitchcock, McEwan se adentra en la compleja contradicción entre inocencia y culpa, transformando este dilema en un debate psicológico donde lo sabido y lo ignorado se confunden, envolviendo a los personajes en una atmósfera opresiva. En esta novela, la inocencia no es simplemente un "no lo hice", sino un "tal vez lo hice, pero aún no sé cómo explicarlo". McEwan nos introduce así en un laberinto de aislamiento, donde sus personajes luchan por comprender sus emociones, y donde la desconexión con la realidad y el resto del mundo se convierte en un caldo de cultivo para la manipulación y la culpa.

La historia sigue a Leonard Marnham, un joven empleado de correos inglés experto en telecomunicaciones pero inexperto en la vida, enviado a Berlín para un proyecto secreto anglo-norteamericano de escuchas. Allí se ve atrapado en el laberinto del espionaje del Berlín de los años 1950, un lugar aún marcado por las ruinas de la guerra y las cicatrices de un mundo dividido y pronto se ve arrastrado hacia una vorágine de desconfianza y revelaciones que lo despojan de la pureza que lo definía. A medida que se sumerge en el juego peligroso de la guerra fría, sus actos se llenan de dudas, su identidad se fragmenta y la ingenuidad que una vez fue su mayor defensa comienza a ser su mayor vulnerabilidad. Su psicología, antes definida por su ignorancia sobre los aspectos oscuros de la vida, comienza a abrirse a una verdad más compleja y aterradora. En ese proceso, la angustia de no saber quién es o cómo debe actuar se convierte en su más profundo conflicto interior.

A medida que se enreda con la complejidad de las operaciones clandestinas, su comprensión del mundo y de sí mismo comienza a desmoronarse. Leonard se ve frente a una versión de sí mismo cuya existencia ignoraba. Su relación con Maria, una mujer alemana que es tanto refugio como enigma, intensifica esta transformación. McEwan aborda la inocencia con un enfoque que evoca los juegos psicológicos de Henry James, pero con un eco de Stephen King, donde lo cotidiano deviene pesadilla.

A lo largo de la novela, McEwan maneja con maestría la ambigüedad y el suspense, utilizando la tensión entre inocencia y conocimiento para sumergirnos en una atmósfera de paranoia y desconcierto. Como en las películas de Hitchcock, lo que inicialmente percibimos como claro y evidente se transforma en algo más complejo e inescrutable a medida que avanzamos en la trama. Leonard, al igual que muchos de los personajes de McEwan, está atrapado entre el deseo de entender y la incapacidad de comprender por completo su propia situación. En este mundo de secretos, lo peor no siempre es la culpa, sino la incertidumbre que nos rodea, esa sensación de estar viviendo en la periferia de algo mucho más grande que nosotros. A medida que Leonard se ve atrapado en dilemas éticos y morales, se enfrenta a la disyuntiva de tomar decisiones que desafían su concepto de lealtad, moralidad y lo correcto. McEwan aborda la fragilidad de la inocencia como un estado permeable, donde las líneas entre culpa y verdad son difusas, facetas de una misma realidad que puede ser corroída o distorsionada por el contexto, las decisiones y las circunstancias.

El inocente no solo nos presenta un relato de espionaje, sino una reflexión sobre lo que significa ser humano en un mundo que constantemente nos desafía a cuestionar nuestra comprensión de lo que es verdadero. Una ambigüedad deliberada permea toda la novela, generando más preguntas que certezas. Esa incertidumbre persiste mucho después de cerrar el libro, dejando al lector atrapado en la misma ambigüedad que define la vida de Leonard. Su inocencia no es solo el eje de la trama, sino la clave que impulsa una historia tan cautivadora como perturbadora. El lector se queda con una sensación de inquietud, como si la inocencia, en todas sus formas, fuera algo efímero y vulnerable, y como si, en el momento en que se busca entender completamente lo que está sucediendo, la verdad se disuelva aún más.

Al terminar la lectura de El inocente, me quedé con una sensación difícil de definir, como si la historia no se hubiese terminado del todo, sino que siguiera resonando en algún rincón de mi mente. McEwan no solo juega con la ambigüedad de sus personajes, sino también con la de quienes leemos, obligándonos a cuestionarnos nuestras propias ideas sobre la verdad y la inocencia. Más de una vez me pregunté si, en el lugar de Leonard, habría actuado de manera diferente, o si las circunstancias me habrían arrastrado hacia los mismos dilemas morales. Esa incomodidad que deja el libro, ese reflejo que devuelve como un espejo deformado, es para mí lo que hace que la novela trascienda su trama y se convierta en una experiencia emocional e intelectual que perdura, como esa pisada que dejamos en la arena y no se borra hasta que sube la marea.

it took me at least 50 pages to get into this, it begins relatively dry with nothing particularly interesting about leonard but oh boy how the tables turn. even aside from the circumstances of the crux of the narrative (no spoilers!) leonard is extremely morally questionable and the events that make this most obvious concern his treatment of maria. mcewan seems to delight in pulling away the curtain from this innocent ‘nice guy’ who’s just as capable of horrific acts as the drunk, abusive otto (which rings all too true for women everywhere). the insight into his psyche was both intriguing and horrifying as the novel progresses.
the pace accelerates at a ridiculous rate in the last hundred pages or so, i was sat mouthing ‘what the fuck?!’ to myself throughout the gradual descent into madness.
the political setting added some enjoyable intrigue but in reality it was the insanity and the ambiguity of the characterisations that sold me on this. all i’m left with is: maria deserved better, i said what i said.

I love-love-love Ian McEwan, and I'm going to remember this holiday season as the time I "rediscovered" Ian McEwan. I read a lot of books by him a few years ago, but not ALL of his books. And I read everything new he publishes. But I ended up reading this book rather inadvertently. It just came out on the Kindle in December, and I stumbled across it and "preordered" it thinking that it was a new publication -- only to later discover that he had written it in '89 and it was only the Kindle version that was new. Well, I was happy to discover a vintage McEwan that I ended up thoroughly enjoying. Like all books by McEwan that I have read, "The Innocent" was perfectly written style-wise *and* had a fascinating plot on top of that. I don't ask for plot usually -- or not jaw-dropping plots like his at least -- but McEwan always comes through with literary writing that has great characters, nuanced descriptions of situations and emotions, themes that give you pause for thought, and plots and plot twists that keep the pages turning.

Rough description: The novel is an espionage novel based on an actual event in Berlin during the Cold War. The espionage aspect is the backdrop for a personal drama, but personal and public do intersect to a very interesting end. Disclaimer: The book is not for the faint of heart, as there is some seriously gruesome stuff in here!

Reflection on why I haven't read all of McEwan's novels: It's funny, given how much I like him, that I haven't read everything by him (I'm now on my 8th book by him, but there are a couple more that I haven't read). But I think the reason is that I like him so much that I'm almost afraid to read his very earliest fiction because I'm afraid it will disappoint... And I can't say that I have uniformly loved everything I have read by him, and so, I have reason to be a bit wary. That said, I am now planning to fill in the holes, because after rooting around unsuccessfully for something to read after the high of finishing "The Corrections," I realize that I just want to sink into more amazing writing like McEwan's, and fortunately there are a few more novels out there by him that I haven't read!

All time favorite McEwan is "Atonement," which was also my introduction to him...

This was my first time reading an Ian McEwan book, and overall, I was disappointed. The post-World War II Berlin setting allows exploration of the complexities of personal morality, using the protagonist Leonard as a vehicle, and mirroring the political tension of the Cold War. McEwan may be using Leonard’s unlikeable and ambiguous nature to represent Britain during this tumultuous era.

Despite being portrayed as morally ambiguous, I think that Leonard’s flaws and questionable decisions make him wholly unlikeable. I have no sympathy for Leonard, particularly after the rape scene near the beginning of the book. Not only are women portrayed through the male gaze for the entirety of the book (possibly representing the time in which it is set), but this is also the case in the rape scene. Although McEwan explores the complexity of Leonard’s actions through writing from his point of view, I think he misses the mark by barely acknowledging the trauma that Maria has experienced. Despite being set in 1955, the book was written in 1990, when you would hope most writing would include a more feminist perspective.

McEwan's writing style is characterized by plain and descriptive language. Whilst I appreciate this conveys the bleak atmosphere of post-war Berlin, I found the descriptions more boring than informative. I would have liked more action throughout the book, and I do not think it is fair to call this a psychological thriller.

Having said this, the climax is graphic and exciting. The fight between Leonard and Otto is my favourite part of the book. It is clever how McEwan uses this to represent the war between England and Germany. Otto’s death is the peak of Leonard’s regrettable actions however, the narrative takes a turn here. Killing Otto is more clear-cut than Leonard’s previous actions. At this point, the title becomes ironic; Leonard has committed a brutal and arguably unnecessary crime yet is maintaining his innocence.