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In Between the Sheets

ian mcewan

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At once chilling and beguiling, the seven stories in this collection engage and implicate us in the most fearful ways imaginable. McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement and one of literature's most acclaimed practitioners of literary unease, is "an acute psychologist of the ordinary mind" ( The New York Times Book Review).

A two-timing pornographer becomes an unwilling object in the fantasies of one of his victims. A jaded millionaire buys himself the perfect mistress and plunges into a hell of jealousy and despair. And in the course of a weekend with his teenage daughter, a guilt-ridden father discovers the depths of his own blundering innocence.

Don’t miss Ian McEwan’s new novel, Lessons .

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1977

This edition

Format
160 pages, Paperback
Published
November 1, 1994 by Anchor
ISBN
9780679749837
ASIN
0679749837
Language
English

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About the author

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ian mcewan

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Ian McEwan studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1970 and later received his MA degree in English Literature at the University of East Anglia.

McEwan's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; the Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and the Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999. He has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded a CBE in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday and his novel On Chesil Beach was named Galaxy Book of the Year at the 2008 British Book Awards where McEwan was also named Reader's Digest Author of the Year.

McEwan lives in London.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
25(25%)
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33(33%)
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42(42%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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Girisajin
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Sweet-and-sour, slightly twisted short stories about sex and relationships. I wouldn't want to read any of these stories as a novel, but they were great as vignettes. McEwan is amazing at blending the touching, funny, and unsettling.
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Blepblepbleg
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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From the second of the short stories in this book..."Moreover, good short stories are notoriously hard to write...and mediocre stories lie thick on the ground." They certainly do between these covers!
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georgegothoes
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is a brilliant collections of short stories which is hard to put down. Each short story in itself is a bit weird but still one can (kind of) relate to the characters. The stories give very honest, detailed insight into the psyche of all sorts of people (especially revolving around sexuality as the title suggests). McEwan manages to depict sexual taboos without being too explicit and sometimes in a random, funny way that makes reading this collection so worth-while. "Psychopolis" has been my favourite short story for years, and in my opinion shows the superficial, egocentric relationships typical of our age - not only between two lovers but between so-called friends and poeple in general. I will definitely read this collection again.
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-rkr-
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Seven short stories in this quick read, some feel unfinished or an interesting idea that could be expanded. Weirdos and creeps feature throughout. I thought the best was “Psychopolis”.
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gilisonwallace
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Why the hell do I keep reading McEwan when I don't like him?
Yes, the Cement Garden was great (although I read it 20 years ago, and maybe should give it a second look). And his other book of short stories was really good.
But nearly everything else is over-valued.
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UnfortunateGam3r
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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McEwan piszok jól ír piszkosul kényelmetleneket. Nem is puszta kényelmetlenség ez, nem csak babrálás a komfortzónánkkal, hanem néha konkrétan sanda szándékból elkövetett zaklatás. Egy olyan elbeszélés, mint mondjuk az "Egy kis hazai", tudatosan annak határait piszkálja, amit a közmegegyezés - vagy mondjam talán úgy: az általános emberi jóízlés? - szerint az irodalomnak azért mégsem kéne témául választania. Vagy ha mégis megteszi, úgy véljük, kommentálnia kéne, reflektálnia rá, érzékeltetni, tisztában van a súlyával. De McEwan csak ábrázol. Így belegondolva, talán nem is maga a téma a legriasztóbb. Hanem hogy az író képes ábrázolni, csak úgy, mintha nem is lenne róla véleménye.

A kötet utolsó két elbeszélése egy mesegyűjteményből érkezett vendégszerepelni. Bennük is tetten érhető az, ami a kötet novelláit nyugtalanítóvá teszi. Csak itt épp egy gyermeket látunk, ahogy titkos vágyai valami riasztóba fordulnak át. A végkifejletben azért feloldozást nyerünk, de valahogy az volt az érzésem, ez a történetek belső logikája ellenére történik. Valahol (nem is olyan) mélyen diszkomfort mesék ezek, ahogy a kötet novellái is diszkomfort történetek.

Amúgy a "Geometria" című elbeszélés az egyik legpazarabb kispróza, amit az utóbbi időben olvastam. Ha a vége nem olyan kiszámítható, használnám vele kapcsolatban a "tökéletes" jelzőt is.
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DeathRage
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This is the second book written by Ian McEwan, which includes 7 very disturbing short stories. I was leary of it because of the title and table of contents, but decided to read anyway due to this self-imposed goal to get through all of Ian McEwan's books. Honestly, I didn't understand most of the stories. Some of the endings left me completely hanging with no clue about what just happened. Warning: there are some graphic words and images in most of the stories.
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