The Cement Garden
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Review
"Darkly impressive." -- "The Times"
"A superb achievement: his prose has instant, lucid beauty and his narrative voice has a perfect poise and certainty. His account of deprivation and survival is marvellously sure, and the imaginative alignment of his story is exactly right." -- Tom Paulin
"Marvellously creates the atmosphere of youngsters given that instant adulthood they all crave, where the ordinary takes on a mysterious glow and the extraordinary seems rather commonplace. It is difficult to fault the writing or the construction of this eerie fable." -- Sunday Times
"A shocking book, morbid, full of repellant imagery - and irresistibly readable...The effect achieved by McEwan's quiet, precise and sensuous touch is that of magic realism -- a transfiguration of the ordinary that has far stronger retinal and visceral impact than the flabby surrealism of so many experimental novels." -- "New York Review of Books
"
"His writing is exact, tender, funny, voluptu
"A superb achievement: his prose has instant, lucid beauty and his narrative voice has a perfect poise and certainty. His account of deprivation and survival is marvellously sure, and the imaginative alignment of his story is exactly right." -- Tom Paulin
"Marvellously creates the atmosphere of youngsters given that instant adulthood they all crave, where the ordinary takes on a mysterious glow and the extraordinary seems rather commonplace. It is difficult to fault the writing or the construction of this eerie fable." -- Sunday Times
"A shocking book, morbid, full of repellant imagery - and irresistibly readable...The effect achieved by McEwan's quiet, precise and sensuous touch is that of magic realism -- a transfiguration of the ordinary that has far stronger retinal and visceral impact than the flabby surrealism of so many experimental novels." -- "New York Review of Books
"
"His writing is exact, tender, funny, voluptu
Observer
‘An extremely assured, technically adept and compelling piece of work’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A perverse but enchanting book; beautifully written and perfectly constructed. This is a story about a family of children who find themselves orphaned while living in a house surrounded by a wasteland, an image that perfectly reflects the emptiness of their days. Finding themselves without adult guidance, it shows how they slide into sloth and then perversity. Being a writer of consumate skill and a gifted story-teller, McEwan describes this without purple prose but with a sharp eye on human nature. Despite the shocking nature of the story, it has a realistic feel to it - One feels that these events could happen given the circumstances. The characters are delinated so convincingly that the reader, despite the perverse nature of the protaganists actions, is drawn into their dark world and is made to see it from their point of view. A modern classic.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Cement Garden is McEwan at his best. Crueler than Enduring Love and Amsterdam, The Cement Garden tells the story of four children who fall apart gradually after the death of their mother. Their incestuous behaviour and malicious ways are a delight to read, and the narrator, Jack, is a brilliantly depicted character. Overall, I would highly recommend this. McEwan is truly the master of the chilling short novel, and The Cement Garden is executed with style and definite readibility. The end is too disturbing for words- an excellent read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the fourth book I have read by Ian McEwan and once again I had to close the book a few times to digest what I had just read. Although I found this story highly disturbing, I couldn't help but get caught up in McEwan's ebb and flow of writing. There wasn't a moment I wanted to put it down (and didn't need to as it is quite a short story of 127pages). I would recommend this to anyone that truly enjoys authors that write on the perverse and daring cuff of what society would deem as unacceptable. Read this.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Horrid
This is one of the (sadly) numerous modern novels that are hailed by critics as bold and powerful, when in saner times they would be disdained as sordid and revolting. Read more
Published 1 month ago by R. A. Williams
Our Mother's House, anyone?
The writing is good, but why has no one else pointed out that it's a blatant rip-off of Julian Gloag's Our Mother's House, written in 1963? Read more
Published 2 months ago by Billy
loved this book
This book, whilst quick to read, has stayed with me for months. The author's clarity in telling the story made it feel very real for me and the feelings of loss and sadness I felt... Read more
Published 4 months ago by jandap
The Cement Garden
An awful, awful story. Would not recommend to anyone. Focusing on a brother/sister incestual relationship, the book is written from the perspective of a teenage boy, who fantasises... Read more
Published 4 months ago by KateJ
The Cement Garden
I enjoyed reading this book. I bought it as I hear it was disturbing and I like that type of read. However, I did not think it was that disturbing. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Wolfmanstein
first rate nightmare
This book will hanunt you: it is horrible and utterly believable, every word dripping with the meaninglessness of life and depression and confusion. Read more
Published 11 months ago by rob crawford
" - and don't have any kids yourself"
Philip Larkin famously described the adverse affect parents can have on a child; but omitted to mention that siblings can be even worse. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Four Violets
Masterful
A bleak but compelling story of a family of children who, orphaned, decide not to tell the authorities of their loss but instead bury their dead mother in concrete. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
Creepy and unsettling...
The Cement Garden is a creepy and unsettling book. After their parents die four children unite to prevent the outside world from knowing their situation. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Wynne Kelly
Contemporary Classic
Great small novel about a family of children trying to survive alone, after their mother dies, in a hostile world which leads them to be drawn to each other in disturbing ways. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Bama70
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