Amsterdam

Sorry for my silence - it has been a crazy few months with work and moving house such that there just hasn't been much time to do anything else. However, in all of this, I did manage to read 'Amsterdam' by Ian McEwan. I was definitely intrigued by the title, living in NL, and was curious to see how Amsterdam would be incorporated into the story. Unfortunately, that seemed to be where the intrigue stopped.

I must be honest and say that I didn't get the story - did I miss something? From the first chapter, I did not feel any empathy towards the characters. They were not interesting, they were not people I think I would relate to, they certainly didn't make me want to find out what happened to them. And although I persisted, my feelings didn't change.

So when it came to the turn of events in Amsterdam, I was somewhat relieved. They were put out of their misery, and I felt relieved. And yet, I had a hard time believing that two 'friends' would go to such lengths? I can understand that the book was meant to be satirical, but a satire about what? Is this were I missed the point?

I would be very interested to know what others thought of the book, and perhaps to explain where I lost the plot (so to speak). Sadly, 'Amsterdam' has not intrigued me enough to want to read another McEwan novel.