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Amazon.co.uk Review
Joe planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after six weeks in the States. The perfect day turns to nightmare, however, when they are involved in freak ballooning accident in which a boy is saved but a man is killed

In itself, the accident would change the couple and the survivors' lives, filling them with an uneasy combination of shame, happiness, and endless self-reproach. But fate has far more unpleasant things in store for Joe. Meeting the eye of fellow rescuer Jed Parry, for example, turns out to be a very bad move. For Jed is instantly obsessed, making the first of many calls to Joe and Clarissa's London flat that very night. Soon he's openly shadowing Joe and writing him endless letters. (One insane epistle begins, "I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable.") Worst of all, Jed's version of love comes to seem a distortion of Joe's feelings for Clarissa.

Apart from the incessant stalking, it is the conditionals--the contingencies--that most frustrate Joe, a scientific journalist. If only he and Clarissa had gone straight home from the airport... If only the wind hadn't picked up... If only he had saved Jed's 29 messages in a single day... Ian McEwan has long been a poet of the arbitrary nightmare, his characters ineluctably swept up in others' fantasies, skidding into deepening violence, and--worst of all--becoming strangers to those who love them. Even his prose itself is a masterful and methodical exercise in de-familiarisation. But Enduring Love and its underrated predecessor, Black Dogs, are also meditations on knowledge and perception as well as brilliant manipulations of our own expectations. By the novel's end, you will be surprisingly unafraid of hot-air balloons, but you won't be too keen on looking a stranger in the eye. --Alex Freeman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon.co.uk Review
Joe Rose has planned a postcard-perfect afternoon in the English countryside to celebrate his lover's return after six weeks in the States. To complete the picture, there's even a "helium balloon drifting dreamily across the wooded valley." But as Joe and Clarissa watch the balloon touch down, their idyll comes to an abrupt end. The pilot catches his leg in the anchor rope, while the only passenger, a boy, is too scared to jump down. As the wind whips into action, Joe and four other men rush to secure the basket. Mother Nature, however, isn't feeling very maternal. "A mighty fist socked the balloon in two rapid blows, one-two, the second more vicious than the first," and at once the rescuers are airborne. Joe manages to drop to the ground, as do most of his companions, but one man is lifted sky- high, only to fall to his death.

In itself, the accident would change the survivors' lives, filling them with an uneasy combination of shame, happiness and endless self-reproach. (In one of the novel's many ironies, the balloon eventually lands safely, the boy unscathed.) But fate has far more unpleasant things in store for Joe. Meeting the eye of fellow rescuer Jed Parry, for example, turns out to be a very bad move. For Jed is instantly obsessed, making the first of many calls to Joe and Clarissa's London flat that very night. Soon he's openly shadowing Joe and writing him endless letters. One insane epistle begins, "I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable." Worst of all, Jed's version of love comes to seem a distortion of Joe's feelings for Clarissa.

Apart from the incessant stalking, it is the conditionals--the contingencies--that most frustrate Joe, a scientific journalist. If only he and Clarissa had gone straight home from the airport... if only the wind hadn't picked up... if only he had saved Jed's 29 messages in a single day... Ian McEwan has long been a poet of the arbitrary nightmare, his characters ineluctably swept up in others' fantasies, skidding into deepening violence, and--worst of all--becoming strangers to those who love them. Even his prose itself is a masterful and methodical exercise in defamiliarization. But Enduring Love and its underrated predecessor, Black Dogs, are also meditations on knowledge and perception as well as brilliant manipulations of our own expectations. By the novel's end, you will be surprisingly unafraid of hot-air balloons, but you won't be too keen on looking a stranger in the eye.

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137 Reviews 5 star:  (33) 4 star:  (42) 3 star:  (28) 2 star:  (13) 1 star:  (21)           Average Customer Review (137 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   26 of 27 people found the following review helpful: Beautifully written and constructed, 1 Dec 2004 By  J. J. Lavin "Jon Lavin" - See all my reviews    This review is from: Enduring Love (Paperback) Enduring Love is one of Ian McEwan's finest works. It is also one of the most beautifully written and emotionally engaging books to have come out of Britain in the past decade. Fans of McEwan familiar with his superb wartime novel, Atonement, will enjoy Enduring Love very much. The novel focuses on love and obsession and the factors that drive us and how we perceive ourselves through the prism of our relationships in the modern world. The story also renders a nuanced expose of the stalking phenomenon and is constructed in such a way as to encourage the reader to ponder whether the central character Joe is imagining the stalking he seems to be undergoing. An informed and well written dissection of this modern phenomenon complete with the usual McEwan themes of love, loss and beautiful prose. I enjoyed this novel and found it an excellent companion piece to Atonement. I must admit I prefer McEwan in this form than to his enjoyable but farcical Booker-prize winning romp, Amsterdam. I would also encourage fans of the recent film starring Daniel Craig and Samantha Morton to read the novel as it differs in some regards from the film, which is also excellent, though the medium lacks the same narrative scope. Perhaps Britain's finest novelist today.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: Forced to endure 'Enduring Love', 9 Jan 2004 By  Mr. Morgan E. Jeffery "morganjeff" - See all my reviews    This really is a terrible novel. The occasional part is well-written, but the majority is a repetitive mess full of immensely irritating characters none of whom the reader feels any sympathy for. Each character is simply a cypher for Ian McEwan's views on religion and science, which he seems determined to drum into his readers, and this sort of shallow writing really is very annoying. Avoid at all costs.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: The finest modern novels, from the finest modern writer, 10 Aug 2002 By  david brown - See all my reviews This book was given to me by a friend who was attempting to sway me from a life of Stephen King,and has succeeded. McEwan is quite frankly a literary genius, the balloon scene at the beginning brought a mixture of childhood fantasy as well as deep contemplation. The narrative is fast flowing with descriptions that need no imagination as they are so vivid. The strong characters, adverse in personality, strenghten the Science Vs Religion discussions that frequently take place and call us all to question.All of this is constructed wonderfully within a story line of a mentally ill obsessive. The difficulties and strains on Clarissa and Joe's life are felt throughout with sympathy and pathos being extracted like a tooth, from the reader.The perfect couple reduced by a crazed man. The ending is quite a depressing one, refreshing that McEwan hasn't given us the tearjerker that the ladies love-thank God.If there is one criticism,and it is a struggle to find one, it is that religion has been portrayed mainly by an obsessive and ill patient and is not really, in my opinion, quite as fairly put across. But such is the story that it really doesn't matter, however devoutly religious you are. Many more McEwan novels will be read, at the very least browsed, by myself, a now hooked and de clarembert sufferer myself-nearly! This book will become a classic in years to come, believe me.  Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you?