In 1998, Ian McEwan won the Booker Prize with Amsterdam. The book tells the story of four men linked by the same woman, Molly Lane, whose funeral opens the novel. They are: her widower, George Lane, a rich Press Baron; Clive Linley, a famous composer; Vernon Halliday, editor of The Judge, a newspaper; and Julian Garmony, current Foreign Secretary. The story takes place in Great Britain and is set in the last years of the Twentieth Century.
The plot is quite simple: these four men, who had been in love with Molly sometime in the past, secretly hate each other and her funeral joins them. The main part is focused on Clive and Vernon and some photos taken by Molly, in which Garmony appears in female clothes during a sexual game he used to play with her. George Lane gives Vernon these pictures and he wants to publish them in order to ruin Garmony’s ambition to be Prime Minister. Clive tries to convince Vernon not to do it and they fall out. The day before their publication, Garmony faces the facts publicly and resigns from the Cabinet. At the end, George Lane is shown as the winner: he takes revenge against the men with whom Molly had cheated him.
Please, don’t bother with this mediocre novel, unless you want to waste your time on a rather confusing and badly-written book. Molly, who seems to be the key at the beginning, is irrelevant in the development of the story, which is quite dull too. McEwan makes Clive and Vernon become enemies in a completely silly and absolutely unjustified way. The ending is embarrasing and ridiculous. McEwan is a well-known author, so be sure he must have written better books.
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