A Debatable Comedy

As I had hoped, Ian McEwan's 1998 Man Booker Prize winner, "Amsterdam", was a very quick read, taking me less than six days.  I was actually looking forward to this one since it was described as a 'dark comedy'.  Well. Dark? Yes, very much so. Comedy? That's debatable. The style was certainly comical, at times, but I found it so dry and dark that it wasn't funny to me.  It was more horrific, if anything. I understand where the humour was meant to be coming from, and I think I have a very dark sense of humour, so it was disappointing to find it so unpleasant.

Now, just because I didn't find it enjoy the humour of the story doesn't mean I didn't like the story.  It's very well written, and I think if I had approached it thinking of it as a social horror story I may have even loved it.  It's very short, so I don't want to spoil the plot at all, but I will say that it includes some material that may need a 'trigger warning', and it is very dark, so it's definitely not for everyone.  But, if you're in the mood for something dark and a little disturbing, you may enjoy this one!

I haven't firmly decided what I'm going to read next, although I was thinking of going with another Man Booker title - it felt good to be back to the list! I think I may try Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss"...

Happy reading!