The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

This topic has been created for those of you who are reading any of the Mookse Madness books by Ian McEwan.
These are the four books that have been selected.

The Cement Garden
The Child in Time
Atonement
The Children Act

It seems like some writers love to hate McEwan. I’ve only read Saturday and I thought it was okay. Nothing to hate about it.

I like Saturday more than many readers do, but I think it's one of his weaker efforts. I hope you find something love in some of these, Wendy!

I’m sure I will. If Saturday is a weaker of his books then I am in for some pleasant hours. I remember Saturday as a page turner.

I have read all except The Child In Time, which I have now started, so McEwan will be my first complete MM19 author.

I like most of his books but I don't think we have his best four in this list.

I like Saturday a lot, and The Innocent, The Comfort of Strangers, and Enduring Love.

Though I have to say Atonement probably deserves to be considered his masterpiece. The Cement Garden is great too. I was less enamoured with The Children Act.

There are some I haven't yet read, most notably Amsterdam.

I like your comparison to Joyce Carol Oates.

I am about 50 pages into A Child in Time, and I am far from convinced that I will like it yet.

I finished it last night. I like it well enough but it's a departure from what I consider to be his style. I don't think it's going to win MM.

I liked it too. The only one of his I haven't enjoyed reading is the one which won the Booker, Amsterdam.
PS Feel free to point out any of its merits I missed.

Hugh wrote: "I am about 50 pages into A Child in Time, and I am far from convinced that I will like it yet."

I am reading this one too. I am having to be patient with the references to science that were perhaps challenging at the time the book was written, but seem so dated or misinterpreted now.

I am well into the second half now, and I am enjoying it a little more, but I still find McEwan a little frustrating. For me this book is trying to do too many things, and I agree that it seems quite dated, but it is interesting.

It is a departure in that most McEwan books revolve around a single disastrous chance happening (that is included here too) but the consequences are usually tightly held to the event, whereas here he is delving into several situations prior to the event. I don't think it holds together as well as the more formulaic output of his other earlier novels. I wouldn't normally tout a formulaic author, but with McEwan it worked well across several books because the catastrophic event and its consequences were so different in each one.

The non-linearity of time was a scientific theory which gripped people's imagination thirty years ago. Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" was published the year after "The Child in Time". Any author wanting to use that theory in a novel might not write a linear story with an event and its consequences, and McEwan misunderstands, mangles and misuses the science less than some others. (I read some pretty dire Quantum Leap type novels around that time, but the titles are mercifully lost.)

I don’t think I will read every book on the MM list, but barring any catastrophe I will read every author. Of the 4 above which are most recommended? I have Atonement and it sounds like A Child in Time is not gathering fans in this group.
Maybe I will order Cement Garden next.

Finished The Child in Time on Friday night, and to be honest the ending struck me as far too contrived. Some interesting ideas, but the whole didn't work for me. Really hoping the Children Act is better, otherwise the 3 McEwans will be the least enjoyable I have read from this list (I did like Atonement and his recent Nutshell more too). My review

I’ll definitely order Cement Garden then.

I think Atonement will be my choice here - if Nutshell had made the list I may also have picked that or Sweet Tooth.

Comments here have put me off The Child In Time and The Children's Act seems to be a distillation of everything that annoys me in his writing (rather than what delights me) so I have always avoided that.

I decided therefore to pick Cement Garden for this challenge as there was a copy at my local library - I found it hard to relate to his more recent work.

A few thoughts including on the contrast between Cement snooker and Saturday's squash here

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have now read The Children Act, which was OK (my review), a little better than The Cement Garden and The Child in Time, but it won't be displacing Atonement for me. I still think McEwan makes his plotting rather too visible at the expense of character development.

I rather wish we'd chosen Nutshell, which I liked more, not least because it is funnier and more playful.

The first few times I tried to read Atonement I just couldn't finish it. Maybe hearing from you all what you liked about it will help me appreciate it. What is it about Atonement that you liked? Is there something I should be looking out for? Thanks!