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.

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!

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.

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”.

Meh... And I genuinely love his other works.

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.

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.

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.

In his second (and, I believe, last) collection of short stories McEwan, who is described in a back cover blurb as "the most exciting fiction writer in England under thirty" (those were the days, he just celebrated his 70th birthday) thrilled me with four to five of the seven outings. My favourites are "In Between the Sheets" (about a father confronted with dangerous desires concerning his daughter and her teenage girlfriend) and "Psychopolis" (four characters are introduced and meet for a dinner that reminds me of Polanski's "Carnage"). "Reflections of a Kept Ape" and "Dead As They Come" describe absurd relationships and are build on freaky (and kind of funny) ideas that McEwan doesn't abandon but bring to fruition. "Pornography", the first story, also is about relationships and sex, but the philandering O'Byrne lands in a tale that could have been by Roald Dahl in a very dark mood. The other two outings were too fragmented for my taste. If I were asked to analyze them in detail I might find out what McEwan is about here, but I wasn't that interested in those two.

I recently read Stanley Fish's "How to write a sentence" and the last sentence of "In Between the Sheets" was really expertly done. Beautiful and innocently looking, but with a hint of terrible ambivalence. I like it when I have to think twice or more times about the ending of a text.

The second collection published my Ian McEwan contains some great short stories from the 7 but some ones that fall short but McEwans prose shines in every story (even To and Fro which i don’t even know what it’s about)


Pornography - 4.5/5
oh that was fucked up im understanding straight away where Ian Macabre came from. Great little twist ending, brilliant

Reflections of a kept ape - 3/5
A strange story to say the least but i felt sorry for the narrator, Ian McEwans prose is brilliant

Two fragments: March 199- - 2.5/5
The first part of this was very good i enjoyed the setting and the relationship between the two characters. The Second part i wish carried that on, cool concept tho

Dead as they come - 5/5
The language and description of his feelings towards Helen at the start are written so well and the whole relationship is sold to the reader beautifully. very scary that this is what some men want

In Between the Sheets - 3/5
The titular story was quite interesting and had some strange and sinister elements. fuck dads/men

To and Fro - 1.5/5
if someone can tell me what this short story is about ill give you a fiver

Psychopolis - 3.5/5
The last story of the collection contains again some brilliant writing from Ian McEwan. The story highlights differences in social settings and attitudes of americans and britons. very fun

In Between the Sheets is Ian McEwan's second book that, like his first, is drawn from the stories he was producing for his creative writing degree at the University of East Anglia. It's a hard collection to rate, as some of the stories are quite brilliant, while others are experiments that McEwan failed to execute successfully.

The collection's first story, "Pornography", falls somewhere in the middle of that continuum. The main character is (Michael) O'Byrne, who works in a pornography store owned by his brother, Harold. Harold is ten years older and short, so that O'Byrne calls him "Little Runt". O'Byrne informs his brother that he is late to work because he was getting treatment for "the clap" (gonorrhea). The reader learns that O'Byrne is two-timing two nurses, Lucy Drew and Pauline Shepherd. Pauline is quite passive, and O'Byrne treats her with condescension, whereas Lucy takes charge, hitting him, swearing at him, and even urinating on him on one occasion. "The trouble with you," she tells him, "is that you're scared of what you like". When both women catch the clap from O'Byrne, they figure out he is cheating them both and decide to take revenge. Lucy ties O'Byrne up as if embarking on a new sex game, but then Pauline shows up at her place, and the two nurses prepare to castrate him. The story closes with O'Byrne once again caught between horror and excitement.

"Reflections of a Kept Ape" is told from the point of the titular ape. The ape has been having a brief, passionate affair with a woman named Sally Klee, the author of one successful novel. However, things have soured between the pair, and she now disgusts him, leaving the ape to puzzle out what went wrong. As he observes Sally, the ape notices that she appears to be working on a new novel, but when he investigates, she turns out simply to be retyping her first book.

"Two Fragments: March 199-" is a post-apocalyptic tale that focuses on Henry and his young daughter, Marie. It describes their scramble to find the basic supplies of life, as well as man collecting money from a crowd to stab his daughter with sword, although this does not come to fruition. Henry leaves Marie with a neighbor and visits his lover, Diane. Together they reflect on how objects from the modern world, such as telephones and radios, lose all value when they are disconnected from the systems that sustain them. They reminisce about their early days together, when things were not yet so desperate in the city. On his way home, Henry helps a Chinese man lift a cupboard up some steep stairs. The Chinese family offers him some soup as compensation, but the daughter, who can speak English, tells him to leave, which he does.

The best story in the collection is "Dead As They Come", which is recounted a rich, middle-aged man who becomes obsessed with a store mannequin he dubs "Helen". At the opening of the story, he schemes about how to bring her from the store to his own. Once this is done, he describes their supposedly passionate affair, waxing lyrical about Helen's sophistication and noting what a good listener she is. Gradually, though, he notices that Helen has become cold to him, and he suspects that she is having an affair with his chauffeur, Brian. In a fit of jealousy, he "rapes" and "kills" Helen, and then proceeds to destroy all his art as well.

The title story, "In Between the Sheets", is taken from the Rolling Stones song "Live With Me". It begins with Stephen Cooke having a wet dream, in which the dream's scenario replicates a meeting with his estranged wife in a coffee shop where the waitress is a young child. Stephen meets his wife to discuss his daughter, Miranda. Miranda has a new friend, a dwarf named Charmian, with whom she appears to be having a sexual relationship, and Stephen wants them to visit for Miranda's birthday celebrations. After the birthday dinner, the girls retreat to a shared bed. Stephen wakes in the middle of the night, hearing a sound that is exactly like when his wife used to orgasm, something she rarely did, and one of the reasons behind their breakup. Stephen investigates and encounters Miranda, her form shifting between child and adult, just like the waitress in the coffee shop.

"To and Fro" is an experimental piece. There is a character called Leech, and some other weird stuff. Overall, though, I have no idea what this story is about.

Finally, "Psychopolis" is a story about how weird Los Angeles is. The narrator achieves this through various characters, such as Mary, who asks him to handcuff her to the bed for a weekend and not release her no matter what. The narrator is an amateur flute player, and he uses this opportunity to show Mary his skills. Then there is Terence Latterly, a man unlucky in love. When his date, Sylvie, asks him if he will do anything for her, he agrees, and so she has him pee in his pants at a restaurant, immediately after which she introduces him to her parents. The story culminates with a dinner at which Mary, Terence, the narrator, and a former New Yorker named George Malone discuss religion. Terence threatens to shoot George with a gun from which he has removed the bullets. The narrator ponders the perverse appeal of Los Angeles, which he thinks resembles his poor attempts at playing music.

As with McEwan's previous collection, First Love, Last Rites, there is only one truly stand-out story in this book, "Dead as They Come", which is up there with the very best of McEwan's fiction. The rest of the pieces, though, show a writer still trying to find his voice.

I am not a fan of short stories - let us say that I am just unable to appreciate their valours. Not knowing it was a collection of them, I picked up this book by accident.
Well, let me say that it will not turn me into a fan of collections of stories. Although written very early in the author's literary career, they are well executed and, well, innovative, if at times QUITE disturbing. Also, their quality (or my ability to grasp what is actually going on) diminishes as the reader progresses through the book.
However, I do NOT wish I had not read them, as it explained the origin of some of the stories referenced in McEwan's novel "Sweet Tooth", which I had finished just before picking up this one.