On Chesil Beach and In Between the Sheets – Ian McEwan

This time I’m tackling two books at a time, and I can do that because a) I have already talked about McEwan more than enough, and b) put together, the two books barely get over 300 pages. As usual, I got the first of the two from the local farm, and the second was from a wonderful Amnesty International book-sale in Blackheath.

In short: reading the two books quite simply confirmed what I already knew/felt/thought about McEwan. His early stuff (in this case In Between the Sheets) remains dark, incestuous, pornographic and overall – when he doesn’t completely lose the plot (in all senses) – those short stories are frantically interesting and well-written. Most of the books he published recently (in this case On Chesil Beach) read like the author’s celebration of his own talent as a writer: sure, McEwan’s prose remains great, but his plots just bore me these days (and I do realize that the big surprise in the end is meant to make the reader reconsider everything he initially thought about the couple’s troubled wedding night – but is it really that much of a surprise?!?).

So yeah, only a couple more books and then I’ll stop reading McEwan. Well, only a couple more books and I’ll have read everything he actually wrote. 

Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

I read this book while playing spot the difference between the novel and Apocalypse Now. That was fun. I had already realized that Conrad’s writing is not dated, but this book confirmed it. True, there are passages that are fairly dull, mostly in the lead-up to the actual expedition up the Congo, but this is understandable if not expectable.

The novel is still unsettling, probably like Conrad’s life must have been. The fact that the boat is floating up the Congo and not the Nung to me makes it even more obscure and mysterious. However, I wish I had the liberty of picturing Kurtz and Marlow without the faces of Brando and Sheen.

Also, it’s kind of a shame that there is no talk of surfing in the book, but hey, you can’t have everything...