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Black Dogs

A Novel

By Ian McEwan

(71)

| Paperback | 9780385494328

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Book Description

Set in late 1980s Europe at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Black Dogs is the intimate story of the crumbling of a marriage, as witnessed by an outsider. Jeremy is the son-in-law of Bernard and June Tremaine, whose union and estrangement began almost simultaneously. Seeking to compreContinue

Critics

Evils and Novels

As Penguin rescues the novels of Angus Wilson from out-of-print obscurity, here is an excuse to recall the argument of his most important work of literary criticism, the essay ‘Evil in the English Novel’. ‘For some time,’ he wrote in the Listener bac ... (read full critics)

lrb published on Mon, 6 Sep 2010

4 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

A menacing atmosphere permeates this book. I was pleasantly surprised by the descriptions of several historical events in Europe of the last century, as well as the author's musings on the continent's ultimate fate. The finale, however, let me down a bit. It wasn't as shocking as I had expected it t ... (continue)

A menacing atmosphere permeates this book. I was pleasantly surprised by the descriptions of several historical events in Europe of the last century, as well as the author's musings on the continent's ultimate fate. The finale, however, let me down a bit. It wasn't as shocking as I had expected it to be. A good book, but not as good as the other McEwan I read; Saturdays.

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Kaeru said on Apr 17, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

this one I've loved! again mcewan goes back and forth in space and time, but the links work and the story absorbs.
a fascinating journey in the human mind, through 3 (maybe 4) characters, their story and how these changed their way of thinking.

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maCmq said on Jan 18, 2012 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

3,5. Le verità di due persone che hanno preso strade diverse e che raccontano gli stessi avvenimenti in modo da farli sembrare diversi. Sempre. Una coppia innamorata, delusa e insofferente, con vite come binari separati, che cerca scuse per litigare anche da lontano. Sullo sfondo, guerra e dopoguerr ... (continue)

3,5. Le verità di due persone che hanno preso strade diverse e che raccontano gli stessi avvenimenti in modo da farli sembrare diversi. Sempre. Una coppia innamorata, delusa e insofferente, con vite come binari separati, che cerca scuse per litigare anche da lontano. Sullo sfondo, guerra e dopoguerra, fino alla caduta del muro. A volte la narrazione diventa una scusa per raccontare l'Europa.

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RobbieB said on Feb 3, 2011 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

The reason why I don't like this book is because the story itself, a past encounter of the narrator's mother in-law with two black dogs, takes up around 10 pages of the book, and it appears near the end of the book. The rest is descriptions and recollections of the narrator that gradually build up ... (continue)

The reason why I don't like this book is because the story itself, a past encounter of the narrator's mother in-law with two black dogs, takes up around 10 pages of the book, and it appears near the end of the book. The rest is descriptions and recollections of the narrator that gradually build up to the "climax" - the revelation of what happened.
If the incident were more terrifying or exciting, it might be worth the trouble of reading all the unnecessary details. But it is not.
The result of this style of writing is nothing but disappointing.

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Tracy W said on Nov 3, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback