In Between the Sheets
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"His stories are so resonant and frightening because they are totally original. They are about the recognizable world of private fantasy and nightmare -- a world, despite our protestations to the contrary, we are all involved in." -- Paul Bailey, "Observer"
"McEwan proves himself to be an acute psychologist of the ordinary mind." -- "New York Times"
"His stories are so resonant and frightening because they are totally original. They are about the recognizable world of private fantasy and nightmare -- a world, despite our protestations to the contrary, we are all involved in." -- "The Times
"
"The style recalls some dangerous activity: skillful driving too fast round corners, say -- Form and content are so intricately linked you can't divide them. This is a writer whose plainest combination of words is, like the draughtsman's proverbial dot, unmistakably telling." -- "Financial Times
"
"His writing is exact, tender, funny, voluptuous, disturbing." -- "The Times
"McEwan proves himself to be an acute psychologist of the ordinary mind." -- "New York Times"
"His stories are so resonant and frightening because they are totally original. They are about the recognizable world of private fantasy and nightmare -- a world, despite our protestations to the contrary, we are all involved in." -- "The Times
"
"The style recalls some dangerous activity: skillful driving too fast round corners, say -- Form and content are so intricately linked you can't divide them. This is a writer whose plainest combination of words is, like the draughtsman's proverbial dot, unmistakably telling." -- "Financial Times
"
"His writing is exact, tender, funny, voluptuous, disturbing." -- "The Times
Financial Times
‘This is a writer whose plainest combination of words is, like the draughtsman’s proverbial dot, unmistakeably telling’
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"In Between The Sheets", was published in 1978 following two very highly prized and one award-winning book by Mr. McEwan. I have become a great admirer of his more recent work so; I had gone back to read some of his earliest published books including this collection of short stories. The book is physically small and brief at 153 pages, and what it contains even less of is substance.
Seven short stories are contained and only the last even begins to rise to the level of mildly interesting, but it too quickly dissolves in to a bit of trivia. When reading an early collection like this I often wonder if it was published to fill a demand for who was then a new hot sensation of a writer, and secondly would it ever see publication today? My guess is the first question would be answered as yes, and the second would be not a chance. Mr. McEwan has become a writer that has an international reputation as a very good author, it is deserved, and he has been honored repeatedly for his work. Nothing of the present author can be found in this book.
In the late 1970's or whenever these stories were read there were probably trendy bits of hip phrasing that would be used to describe and justify these stories. But as with most trends they lack substance and fade as quickly as they arrive. I suppose surreal could be applied to some of the tales, but others would have different ideas about bestiality as shared in the story, "Reflections of a Kept Ape". The story, "Pornography", has been played out so many times in real life that it fails to even mildly shock. "In Between The Sheets", the short story, is simply the nadir in a book of stories competing for descriptions of the most dysfunctional human behavior. I cannot say any more here as it would be unprintable no matter how it was phrased. But unlike some stories of its type is does not create any interest, and in that way is beautifully consistent with the balance of the collection.
I have spent as much time with Mr. McEwen's early works (3 books) that I will ever spend. I look forward to new work but backtracking to his earliest offerings has been unrewarding.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
You can pretty much guess what this collection centres on from its title `In Between The Sheets' but rather than just a collection of stories based around sex and sexuality McEwan uses these themes to build a set of stories which are much more than that. `Reflections of a Kept Ape' is both a nod towards Darwin's views on evolution and also in a way looks at the ideas behind the Oedipus complex whist setting gorilla's in a house in the present day as neighbours of humans. The title story `In Between the Sheets' uses a young girl's sexual awakening to highlight the marriage breakdown of her parents. `Two Fragments: March 199-` starts with a slightly sexual theme, which it returns to later on, but is actually in fact about a dystopian future which McEwan was predicting could happen in the 1990's, this collection being published in 1978 and was a vision of London that I found quite harrowing yet most readable and quite fascinating.
Naturally in any collection there are some books which you instantly warm to and others you don't, in fact I think a collection in which you love every single story is a rare thing. Both `To and Fro' and `Psychopolis' I didn't really get and I think would need a re-read but I think that's more an issue with me as a reader and my understanding and what I took from them rather than them not being such good tales.
I was bowled over by two particular tales in this collection, bar the two mentioned in the paragraph above they all worked from me just two stood out particularly. `Dead As They Come' is a brilliant and comically dark tale of a man's obsession with a woman, only as you read on you realise the woman is not what you would first assume (I can almost guarantee its not what your guessing either) and leads to a melodramatic climax which has me gripped and starting the tale all over again.
The opening story `Pornography' (which I would have placed as the last tale because of its impact) is the tale of womanising O'Byrne and how he gets his comeuppance. In fact it's a rather feminist tale which I would direct any reader to read if they think McEwan is a male testosterone driven writer, which he can be on occasion I admit. That particular story is one that had a rather wince inducing (if you are a man) twist in its tail that I really wasn't expecting.
In fact I think I would direct both people who already love McEwan and haven't read this collection along with people who think they don't like McEwan to `In Between The Sheets'. This was his fifth fiction outing and I do like the darkness in his earlier work, and have taken `The Cement Garden' off the shelves for a re-read, and this is brimming with it. It also shows glimmers of where he took his writing afterwards. A very interesting collection indeed.
Naturally in any collection there are some books which you instantly warm to and others you don't, in fact I think a collection in which you love every single story is a rare thing. Both `To and Fro' and `Psychopolis' I didn't really get and I think would need a re-read but I think that's more an issue with me as a reader and my understanding and what I took from them rather than them not being such good tales.
I was bowled over by two particular tales in this collection, bar the two mentioned in the paragraph above they all worked from me just two stood out particularly. `Dead As They Come' is a brilliant and comically dark tale of a man's obsession with a woman, only as you read on you realise the woman is not what you would first assume (I can almost guarantee its not what your guessing either) and leads to a melodramatic climax which has me gripped and starting the tale all over again.
The opening story `Pornography' (which I would have placed as the last tale because of its impact) is the tale of womanising O'Byrne and how he gets his comeuppance. In fact it's a rather feminist tale which I would direct any reader to read if they think McEwan is a male testosterone driven writer, which he can be on occasion I admit. That particular story is one that had a rather wince inducing (if you are a man) twist in its tail that I really wasn't expecting.
In fact I think I would direct both people who already love McEwan and haven't read this collection along with people who think they don't like McEwan to `In Between The Sheets'. This was his fifth fiction outing and I do like the darkness in his earlier work, and have taken `The Cement Garden' off the shelves for a re-read, and this is brimming with it. It also shows glimmers of where he took his writing afterwards. A very interesting collection indeed.
17 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The modern version of Dickens, Ian McEwan has once again demonstrated his complete mastery of English with this wonderful collection of short stories. Satirical and sometimes scary, this book is an enthralling read.
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