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Article: Ian McEwan's scathing realism elevates 'Amsterdam'
- Article from:
- Intelligencer Journal Lancaster, PA
- Article date:
- April 19, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2002 Intelligencer Journal Lancaster, PA. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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DETAILS "Amsterdam," by Ian McEwan, published by Jonathan Cape,
1998.
So the light on my answering machine is blinking, and it's an ex-
girlfriend telling me to drop whatever I'm reading ("The Feast of the
Goat," by Mario Vargas Llosa) and pick up a copy of "Amsterdam," Ian
McEwan's eighth novel.
It's not the first time Shannon, my ex, has left an urgent message
of this sort. Last time, she insisted on Michael Chabon's "The
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay." If you've read it, you can
understand why I trust her judgment.
So I bite.
"Biting" is perhaps the best word to describe McEwan's unforgiving
attack on the moral turpitude of intellectuals. In "Amsterdam,"
McEwan methodically ...