Jan 3, 2010
Amsterdam | Amsterdam
At a glance:
- Author: Ian McEwan
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 1996
- Setting: London, Manchester, and the Lake District, England; Amsterdam, the
Netherlands
- Principal Characters: Clive Linley, Vernon Halliday, Molly Lane, George Lane, Julian Garmony, Rose Garmony
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Journalism or journalists, Friendship, England or English people, Death or dying, Politicians, London, Composers, 1990’s, Netherlands or Dutch people
- Locales: London, England, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Manchester, England
Ian McEwan’s usual bleak view of life in twentieth century Europe softened somewhat
with his previous novel, Enduring Love (1998), an examination of the redeeming power of
love. Amsterdam, a darkly comic reflection on the moral responsibilities of artists and the
media, almost returns McEwan to the somber concerns of his earlier fiction. Though praised in the
United Kingdom, Amsterdam is a slight, obvious work, considerably inferior to such
McEwan novels as The Cement Garden (1978), The Comfort of Strangers (1981),
and Black Dog (1992).
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