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Written on January 4, 2009 – 8:48 am | by Glass Pearl |

With my holidays nearly at an end, I moved on to Amsterdam, a novel by Ian McEwan and also a Booker Prize winner.

 

Usually I steer clear of novels that win prizes and then emblazen it across the cover.  Those kinds of book create much expectation and I give up half way, as they are normally too metaphoric for me.

 

This one however was short – 178 pages in soft cover, so I gave it a go.  I’m glad I did.

 

The story starts at the funeral of Molly Lane who died from some sort of dementia.  She went from being healthy to crazy in no time at all.

 

 A gathering is held at a crematorium, since her husband refuses to have a funeral or memorial service.  The gathering has assembled her former lovers, who also continued befriending her and each other over the years.

 

Two of the attendees consider themselves very good, if not best friends – one is a famous composer Clive Linley and the other Vernon Halliday, editor at a highbrow daily newspaper. 

 

Also in attendance is another former lover the rising politician, Julian Garmony, who might be the next Prime Minister of Britain. 

 

After the gathering Clive and Vernon form a pact to assist each other with suicide if either of them get to the point where they can no longer make decisions for themselves.

 

It is quite obvious that the best friends are so only because of their relationships with Molly, but not long after their pact, they each have to make a moral decision in their professions – which has a disasterous impact on their friendship.

 

The characters make their decisions and we the reader watch the deck of cards falling.

 

The story is brilliantly told – you feel like you’re watching a train-wreck about to happen and there’s nothing you can do about it.

 

Great book…great ending.