Amsterdam (novel)

Amsterdam

First edition cover
Author	Ian McEwan
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Publication date	1 December 1998
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
ISBN	0-385-49424-6
OCLC	42992366
Preceded by	Enduring Love
Followed by	Atonement

Amsterdam is a 1998 novel by British writer Ian McEwan, for which he was awarded the 1998 Booker Prize.^[1]

Summary

Amsterdam is the story of a euthanasia pact between two friends, a composer and a newspaper editor, whose relationship spins into disaster.

Plot

The book begins with the funeral of artist Molly Lane. Guests at the funeral include British Foreign Secretary Julian Garmony, newspaper editor Vernon Halliday, and composer Clive Linley. The three share certain attributes: each has a very high opinion of himself, each was at some time Molly's lover, and each regards the dead woman's husband, George, with a mixture of amusement and contempt.

Clive and Vernon muse upon Molly's death. It seems she had some kind of rapid-onset brain disease (not specified) that left her helpless and mad. Neither man can understand her attraction to Julian Garmony, the right-wing Foreign Secretary who is about to challenge his party's leadership.

Clive returns home to continue work on a symphony he has been commissioned to write for the forthcoming millennium. Much of the work is complete, save the crucial signature melody. He resolves to go walking in the Lake District, as this tends to inspire him.

Vernon is the editor of a newspaper whose readership is diminishing. He is trying to change the content of the paper to be more sensationalist. George, Molly's husband, gives him a golden opportunity, but he and Clive argue furiously about the moral responsibility of the act.

In the Lake District, Clive faces a difficult moral decision himself. He chooses to walk away from a potentially dangerous situation he could have helped with, because his elusive melody, the crucial notes, have arisen and he has to get them down. Instead of helping, he crouches unseen besides a rock and writes his music.

During the course of the book Clive and Vernon become mortal enemies bent on exacting revenge. The consequences of their decisions, and a pact made between them, lead them both to Amsterdam where the novel's dénouement plays out.

Reception

The novel was well-received by critics. In The New York Times, critic Michiko Kakutani called Amsterdam "a dark tour de force, a morality fable, disguised as a psychological thriller."^[2] In The Guardian, Nicholas Lezard wrote, "Slice him where you like, Ian McEwan is a damned good writer" and discussed "the compulsive nature of McEwan's prose: you just don't want to stop reading it."^[3] In The New York Times Book Review, critic William H. Pritchard called the book a "well-oiled machine, and McEwan's pleasure in time-shifting, presenting events out of their temporal order (flashing back in Clive's mind, say, to a conversation he had the day before) is everywhere evident. Vladimir Nabokov, asked whether sometimes his characters didn't break free of his control, replied that they were galley slaves, kept severely under his thumb at all times. McEwan follows this prescription in spades."^[4]

Awards

Amsterdam received the 1998 Booker Prize. Announcing the award, Douglas Hurd, the former British Foreign Secretary who served as the chairman of the five-judge panel, called McEwan's novel "a sardonic and wise examination of the morals and culture of our time."^[5]

References

External links

• New York Times on Booker Prize
• The New York Times Review on Amsterdam
• The Guardian on Amsterdam
• Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times on Amsterdam

Resources

• McEwan, Ian. Amsterdam. New York: Anchor Books, 1999. (ISBN 978-0-385-49424-3).
• Roy, Pinaki. "Rereading Ian McEwan's Amsterdam". The Atlantic Literary Review Quarterly13(3), July–September 2012: 27–38. (ISSN 0972-3269; ISBN 978-81-269-1788-4).