The Comfort of Strangers

Book Description

Critics

• Playing with terror

  Ian McEwan’s tale is as economical as a shudder. It never itself shudders, which is one reason why it makes you do so. By staying cool in the face of the murderous madness which it contemplates, it precipitates an icy sweat. What it does even with eq ... (read full critics)

  lrb published on Sun, 5 Sep 2010

4 Reviews

• 1 person find this helpful

  

  This is a thriller about a couple on holiday in an Italian city. It started off quite well and I was hooked to the book. It's a short, fast-paced page-turner. The exotic setting and the dream-like experience of two strangers in a foreign place are quite fascinating.

  However, when I finished ... (continue)

  This is a thriller about a couple on holiday in an Italian city. It started off quite well and I was hooked to the book. It's a short, fast-paced page-turner. The exotic setting and the dream-like experience of two strangers in a foreign place are quite fascinating.

  However, when I finished the book, I was not satisfied. It's because I can't make sense of why things turned out that way. Simply put, I don't get it.

  You will understand what I mean after you have read it.

  I still have a few of Ian McEwan's books unread (I intend to read all his works) and I hope his other books will not leave me in a stage of loss and frustration again.

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  Tracy W said on Oct 14, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  SPIDERWEB

  A creepy and disturbing tale, surgically rendered by a master writer.
  As mesmerizing as watching an insect step further into a spiderweb, the predator advancing to complete the insect's demise. What is most upsetting is the unwillingness of the two protagonists to flee the trap, predictable and fair ... (continue)

  A creepy and disturbing tale, surgically rendered by a master writer.
  As mesmerizing as watching an insect step further into a spiderweb, the predator advancing to complete the insect's demise. What is most upsetting is the unwillingness of the two protagonists to flee the trap, predictable and fairly visibly set up by the tone of the book. Not a pleasant read but an unforgettable one. The big question in the end is : are all victims accomplices of the crimes they are subjected to? The mood of this novella will lay under your skin for a long time

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  Ignominia said on Jul 4, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  The comfort of strangers

  May 15: This is a story about an unmarried couple that goes somewhere for vacation. All the environment feels like they love each other, but something wrong is happening.
  June 8: Now the story is turning a little bit more interesting, but also a little bit more nasty. All those descriptions about a ... (continue)

  May 15: This is a story about an unmarried couple that goes somewhere for vacation. All the environment feels like they love each other, but something wrong is happening.
  June 8: Now the story is turning a little bit more interesting, but also a little bit more nasty. All those descriptions about a little boy suffering from his mean sisters, and the tortures he must face.. It'll be difficult to forget.
  June 26. I don't know why, but this book remembered me another one I read, written by Paul Bowles. The translation of that book's title is something like "hot land". I've never liked stories about people traveling to some exotic places, and having terrible adventures that lead them to death. This novel is exactly like that. I was terribly bored in the beginning, and upset in the end. This is a very famous writer, and maybe people would like his writing, but I don't. Also, I want to remark that the person who I admired the most in a very far past, was the one who loved Paul Bowles' writing the most. So, I'm not sayin that their writings are bad, but I'm saying that I don't like them. Is that such a crime?

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  ariadna73 said on May 10, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Too morbid for my tastes. The atmosphere is dense, oppressive, unpleasant. Probably the author's aim - in order to convey the wet heat of the city Mary and Colin are holidaying (are trapped) in; yet, not beneficial to the book, which consequently is hard to read, slow, dense.
  The character of R ... (continue)

  Too morbid for my tastes. The atmosphere is dense, oppressive, unpleasant. Probably the author's aim - in order to convey the wet heat of the city Mary and Colin are holidaying (are trapped) in; yet, not beneficial to the book, which consequently is hard to read, slow, dense.
  The character of Robert - so utterly unpleasant, a slimy secretive bossy little man - and the unexplainable fascination Mary and Colin feel for him, the extent to which they let him rule their lives - it all contributed to my increasing dislike for this book, and the relief I felt when I turned the last page.

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  Ficie said on Jun 30, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (51)
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• English Books
• Audio CD
• Edition: Unabridged
• ISBN-10: 0754054713
• ISBN-13: 9780754054719
• Publisher: Chivers Press
• Pub date: Feb 01, 2002
• Dimensions: 1226 mm x 1226 mm x 258 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages Libri Italiani, Slovenske knjige

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