Monday, March 12, 2007

Eurgh!

Dear G*d! As you may know from my sidebar, I am currently reading Ian McEwan's The Innocent. My favorite book is arguably Atonement by Ian McEwan, though Amsterdam and Saturday rank highly among my list of favorite books. McEwan is a master at depicting the devil in his characters, good and bad, and this has been apparent in all the books I've read, but from what I've heard these books are considered somewhat McEwan-lite fare in comparison to some of his other books. However, I've reached a new view of McEwan's capabilities in The Innocent. I have somewhat of an iron stomach when it comes to blood and guts, having taken a human anatomy class in high school and dissected a cat, and having very seriously considered physical therapy as a profession (which involves dissecting much more than a cat). It takes a lot to gross me out, but in a scene of The Innocent, McEwan made me nearly retch. I've always thought he would be an interesting man to have a conversation with, but after reading that scene I think I might be disturbed at how far his imagination can carry him. To counter that though, the scene is key to the book, I've just never read something so well written, intricately detailed and real that it turned my stomach. I admire his ability to write the scene, while at the same time feeling horrified. I haven't finished the book, but I would still definitely recommend reading it, I just thought I'd warn those of you with a weak stomach (especially Kris, who is likely the only one to take my reading recommendations, and who would need a warning to avoid retching at this scene).

As for my own writing, well I'll get to that later...

3 comments:

Kristen @ frostingandfroth.com said...

Ah, sick! Okay, I've been warned. If you almost lost your lunch, I'd likely lose my lunch and my breakfast and dinner, too, for that matter.

You have to read Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It's actually quite autobiographical - much of it mirrors Smith's own youth. The main character, Francie, is incredible. What a narrative voice! Anyway, I'm trying to decide what to read next. Ah, decisions, decisions... ;-)

~ Kris

P.S. High 70s in Lincoln today! WOO HOO!!!

Joseph R. Ruthruff said...

I remember in this one Tom Clancy book, a guy got shot in the gut. It seemed to me like that would be unpleasant.

Angie said...

Oi vey, Joseph!