Book Review: "Enduring Love"

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Larry Bowlden reviews...

Like McEwan, himself, the lead character in Enduring Love Joe Rose, wants to write about the death of anecdote and narrative in science. Joe is a research scientist who has turned to journalism to describe for general readers what is happening in science. But he is nostalgic for the hard discipline required in research, and wonders whether what he is doing is of any value at all. Furthermore, after a tragic accident involving a number of men who try in vain to prevent the tragedy, Joe becomes the object of an obsessive, blinding love from Parry, another of he would-be rescuers. As the complex story unfolds, Rose discovers that the other man is exhibiting all the signs of a condition named Clerambault’s Syndrome, and he also discovers that a large percentage of those who have the pathology eventually turn violent when their offered love is rejected. More interesting than the story itself are the many questions McEwan raises about perception and memory, and his analysis of the tension between rationality and emotion, and between genuine love and obsession.

More fine book reviews by Larry can be found here.

 

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