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The Cement Garden (Vintage International)
 
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The Cement Garden (Vintage International) (Paperback)

by Ian McEwan (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Anchor Books (Jan 1994)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0679750185
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679750185
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,187,329 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #83 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > McEwan, Ian

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Product Description

The Times
'Darkly impressive' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Observer
‘An extremely assured, technically adept and compelling piece of work’ --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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The Cement Garden (Vintage International) 4.0 out of 5 stars (32)
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Customer Reviews

32 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A modern classic, 19 Jan 2002
By Penguin Egg (London, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Cement Garden (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.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Clever, sinister, brilliant..., 15 Nov 2004
This review is from: The Cement Garden (Vintage Blue) (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.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Deeply disturbing... dark fiction, 16 Feb 2007
By Heather "star_reader" (Leeds, Yorkshire) - See all my reviews
  
This review is from: The Cement Garden (Paperback)
Although The Cement Garden was McEwan's first novel, i have only just got around to reading it and was definitely not disappointed. I have found with some other writers, who i have come to 'late' that going back to their earlier work has been a bit of a let down and that later works, where their style has been more perfected have been much more enjoyable and successful. However, i would not say this is the case with McEwan as i found The Cement Garden to be just as successful as some of his later novels.

This novel very much represents McEwan's style and choice of subject matter which he has addressed throughout his writing. The Cement Garden follows the lives of four children after their father, and shortly after, their mother pass away, leaving the siblings to fend for themselves. As their lives begin to disintegrate and the children become further removed from society, their are passages reminiscent of 'Lord of the Flies' which are both shocking and saddening. I do not, however, wish to give the impression that this is a sentimental novel. McEwan writes, as he does in all his fiction, with ease and an unflinching eye when describing death and more disturbingly abnormal sexual relationships.

While The Cement Garden is a very dark novel, it is also a story about adolescence and the awkwarness of growing up especially in an unconventional household as this one. I found his descriptions of the interaction between the siblings to be both honest and raw but fundamentally troubling.

I found this novel extremely disturbing, but McEwan is such an intelligent and unique writer that he seems to create narratives which we are compelled to read. If you have enjoyed other McEwan novels then do not hesitate to try this one but if you are new to this writer then The Cement Garden gives you a real sense of what to expect from him.

This is definitely a novel that will get you thinking and talking whether you like it or not- a sure marker of great fiction. There are descriptions that will stay with you long after you finish reading.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark and addictive
As with all Mcewan titles there's a very dark side to the exploration of relationships in the cement garden. Read more
Published 25 days ago by J. Green

2.0 out of 5 stars Dark, depressing, pointless
Seriously dark and morbid, this novel seems to set out to shock but without finding a reason why. It describes four children left orphaned in the family home, and their descent... Read more
Published 3 months ago by John Holland

5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking
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. Read more
Published 4 months ago by G.G Walton

3.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant but Depressing
Ian McEwan is a wonderfully gifted writer and in this, his first novel, he displays his talent. He tells the story of a group of dysfuntional children surviving after the death of... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Paul Sloane

3.0 out of 5 stars Ewwww.... yucky. In a good way.
One thing you can rely on with Mr McEwan is that you get something different every time. It's hard to believe this book is by the same person who wrote A Child in Time, Black Dogs... Read more
Published 16 months ago by daisyrock

2.0 out of 5 stars Not that great
I bought this book following all the great reviews. As someone who runs a project looking after orphans, some who live alone, I thought it would be an interesting read. Read more
Published 17 months ago by A. Dean

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing but brilliant
I thought I was going to hate this - as a keen gardener and lover of wildlife, how could I empathise with a father who intended concreting his entire garden? Read more
Published 22 months ago by Suzie

5.0 out of 5 stars An even darker "Lord of the Flies"
This is a dark, disturbing but exhilarating book. It is kind of a turbo-charged Lord of the Flies, except it replaces the youthful adventures of that book with a disturbing twist... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2007 by Caterkiller

3.0 out of 5 stars Doubly apt title.
The death of the father and how the son feels for a certain responsibility of it is how the book begins. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2006 by Mark Dickens

5.0 out of 5 stars McEwen at his most shockingly haunting.
This was Ian McEwan's first novel, a brilliantly written and beguiling little fable on the tragic inability of individuals to escape from society's rules to create their own world... Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2006 by Bruno

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