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First Love, Last Rites

Stories (Vintage International)

By Ian McEwan

(42)

| Paperback | 9780679750192

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Book Description

Ian McEwan's Somerset Maugham Award-winning collection First Love, Last Rites brought him instant recognition as one of the most influential voices writing in England today. Taut, brooding, and densely atmospheric, these stories show us the ways in which murder can arise out of boredom, perveContinue

1 Review

2 people find this helpful

This is the first collection of Ian McEwan's short stories and was first released in 1975. Apparently, McEwan had shocked the literary world with this extraordinary debut.
This collection of eight short stories has a common theme: losing one's mind/ on the verge of losing one's mind. All th ... (continue)

This is the first collection of Ian McEwan's short stories and was first released in 1975. Apparently, McEwan had shocked the literary world with this extraordinary debut.
This collection of eight short stories has a common theme: losing one's mind/ on the verge of losing one's mind. All the main characters in these stories were at various levels of mental illness. I think McEwan was trying to probe into these sick minds to see how far mankind can go in putting one's darkest thoughts into action. In these stories, murder could arise out of sheer boredom; incest could result from adolescent curiosity; and unbearable loneliness could lead to a total control freak.
The stories are all sexually charged, very depressing and in some cases, hard to stomach. The only redemption of the book is McEwan's impeccable writing and flair for storytelling, which makes the unspeakable subject matter somehow palatable.
Not enjoyable but not to be missed.

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Tracy W said on Jun 9, 2008 | 1 feedback