After reading Atonement, I was very excited to start Black Dogs, which is a totally different style of book (novella) with a totally different plotline (based before and during the fall of the Berlin Wall). Wow, was I disappointed. The plot is not intriguing, the characters are flat, and the action is minimal. When something eventful does occur, it's overly dramatized to the point of being ridiculous.

I hate to say it, but this book was pretty bad. If you really love how McEwan writes, I suppose you can enjoy some of his pretty sentences, but this is not the page-turner Atonement was.

Wat is McEwan toch een geweldige schrijver. In dit boek (uit de vroege jaren 90) gebeurt er niet zo heel veel. De verteller kijkt naar zijn schoonouders en vertelt hun verhaal, of hoe zij dat elk apart hebben beleefd, dat het verhaal van het individuele lijden in WOII wordt, van de keuzes die mensen maken, van de val van de Berlijnse muur en van het kwaad (de black dogs uit de titel) in ieder van ons. Hoe je dat allemaal boeiend en coherent maakt, lees je in dit boek.

Ian McEwan's longer novels (like this one) seem to me to be a mix of narrative, politics and philosophy (and occasionally another element - e.g. psychology in Enduring Love). Sometimes the non-narrative elements may be considered too heavy-handed and didactic by some readers but then I would suggest that it would be wiser to choose a McEwan novella (The Cement Garden, On Chesil Beach etc) or a different author. Personally I enjoy the mixture but see from the reviews that it is far from universally popular.

"Zlo o kome govorim živi u svima nama. Uzme maha u pojedincu, u ličnim životima, unutar porodice, i upravo deca najviše pate. I onda, kada su uslovi povoljni, u različitim zemljama, u različitim vremenima, užasno surovo bukne zloba protiv života, i svi su iznenađeni dubinom mržnje u sebi. Onda potone i čeka. To je nešto u našem srcu."

There is some sexy writing here, and McEwan never lacks for making his characters feel both intelligent and real, but something tells me I’ll be forgetting about this one by next year.

Just not for me. I’m sorry. I wanted desperately to like McEwan as my stepfather has written books critiquing his work before but ‘Black Dogs’ just did not gel with me.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this. An incredibly satisfying quick read, accumulating in the powerful image (both symbolically and literally) for the narrator's mother-in-law at the end of the novel, which is the title of the book. I was also shocked to find a few people didn't like it. This book is part memoir, part fiction, and at the same time an examination of explosions of violence.

Hay una historia, por supuesto. Tan bien escrita como de costumbre. Pero el foco real no está puesto en ella.
Entiendo que este libro es una invitación a reflexionar sobre las ideologías y creencias humanas, los motivos por los cuales nos aferramos a ellas y las defendemos, cómo nos transforman y definen. Y, sobre todo los motivos por los cuales, un buen día, las abandonamos. Este libro habla sobre ese momento de revelación en que un ser humano se cuestiona las convicciones que lo definían y transformaban, a las que defendía y a las cuales se aferraba, para dar lugar a algo nuevo y distinto, aunque no necesariamente más acertado que lo anterior. O podría ser que sí. Tal vez. Quién sabe.

McEwan, un poco en modo Zadie Smith, elige hacernos escuchar las dos perspectivas (la de la que cambió y la del que cree que ese cambio fue una locura) en las voces de un matrimonio separado. Y logra hacerlo calmada y objetivamente. Gran mérito.

Una lectura menos fascinante que muchas otras de McEwan. Pero que deja pensando.

Forte et quod scio nolim,et quod nescio volo.


I cani neri :simbolo dell'inquietudine innominabile e irragionevole che talvolta ti assale e incarnazione delle minacce che ti senti dentro.
Quando non sai bene cosa vuoi
o forse non vuoi quello che sai
(e vuoi quello che non sai)

Le nostre esistenze si erano raccolte attorno a questo attimo sublime:un luogo sacro che vantava cinquemila anni di storia , il nostro amore reciproco , la luce ,l'immenso spazio che ci si apriva davanti. Eppure noi non sapevamo coglierne l'essenza,non sapevamo tenercela dentro. Non eravamo capaci di vivere liberi il nostro presente.
E insistevamo nel voler liberare gli altri,volevamo pensare alla loro infelicità,usavamo la loro miseria per mascherare la nostra. Che si fondava sull'incapacità di accettare le cose semplici e belle che la vita ci offriva ed esserne soddisfatti. La politica ,quella fatta di ideali, si occupa solo del futuro.Ho impiegato il resto della mia vita per scoprire che nel momento in cui si entra completamente nel proprio presente, vi si scoprono spazi infiniti , tempo infinito ,
chiamalo Dio se ti pare

"Há um prazer simples em entrar e sair de uma aldeia a pé. Temporariamente, é possível sustentar a ilusão de que, enquanto outros têm vidas fixas à volta de casas, relações e trabalho, nós somos auto-suficientes e livres, sem o estorvo de bens e obrigações. É uma sensação privilegiada de leveza, impossível de experimentar quando se passa de carro, como parte do trânsito."

"Bernhard şimdiki zamanda var olmayı vurdumduymazlık olarak görüyor. Ama bu saçmalık."

40'lı yıllarda Bernhard ve June çok mutlu ideal bir çifttirler. Birbirlerinin ruh eşi olduğunu düşünürler idealleri vardır, ta ki bir ana kadar. Sadece bir an iki insanı farklı yollara savurabilir, başka kapılar açılabilir önlerine...

Πρώιμος αλλά εξαιρετικός Ίαν ΜακΓιουαν σε ένα σύντομο μυθιστόρημα όπου στοχάζεται τις τύχες της Ευρώπης μεταξύ δύο οροσήμων: την ήττα της ναζιστικής Γερμανίας και την πτώση του τείχους του Βερολίνου. Με ποιον τρόπο δύναται η Ευρώπη να πορευτεί προς ένα καλύτερο αύριο; Με τον τρόπο του κομισάριου ή με τον τρόπο του γιόγκι; (Δεν είναι τυχαία η πολυ φευγαλέα -ειναι αλήθεια - μέσα στο κείμενο αναφορά στον γνωστό δίπολο). Τα επιχειρήματα προσφέρονται άφθονα και από τις δύο πλευρές και η απόφαση επαφίεται στον αναγνώστη. Bonus η γνωριμία με μια υπέροχη περιοχή της Νότιας Γαλλίας, την περιοχή των Ασβεστολιθικών Υψιπέδων (Causses) κοντά στο Μονπελιέ, προστατευόμενη της ΟΥΝΕΣΚΟ. 4,5