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Solar (2010)

by Ian McEwan(Favorite Author)

3.2 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0385533411 (ISBN13: 9780385533416)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Random House

review 1: I'm breaking my rule to only review books I enjoyed enough to give five stars with this book. On paper this is a brilliant set up. A brilliant buffoon is in a position to save the world from global warming, a guy who questions not whether climate change is happening but whether fixing the problem is worth addressing because he has so little faith in humanity, matching his degree of self-worth. It opened with, I thought, a clever bit where Michael Beard's wife, longtime victim of being cheated on, cheats back, and so Beard invents a current lover for himself, a plan which backfires when she then decides to cheat openly. Then Beard leaves for the Arctic. Fine so far. But he hops off a snowmobile to take a leak at minus twenty degrees, pours a drink over his penis when it get... mores stuck to the zipper to loosen it, and then thinks it fell off on the rest of the drive over to his destination. I get that he was set up to be that guy who might do that, but it didn't have McEwan's characteristic touch. This had such an over the top quality throughout that it became clear it was done intentionally, so I get it. I just didn't feel like it worked that well. I kept feeling like I was being told a joke and then when I didn't laugh I was told it was a joke. Which left me in the awkward position of having to admit I didn't find it that funny. I'm glad I read it, and I'm glad McEwan wrote it. Could be some blunt satire is needed on the subject of climate change.
review 2: This was my book to read while in London - but, unfortunately, except for a great scene occurring in the London Underground, there is not a particularly "London" feel to the book, and some of the most enjoyable sequences come near the end and are set in the US. Aside from these bright spots, the novel overall felt soft and flat. Some of the elements brought to mind Amis' "London Fields", but without the sharpness and excrutiation. less

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