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!
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