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Bev's Best Selling Books and Authors |
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Ian McEwan's "Black Dogs (BD)", though quite different, is every bit as awesome as "Enduring Love" and "Atonement". In less than 150 pages, McEwan gives meaning to the concept of "evil", the indescribable and unutterable sense of horror we recognise but often cannot articulate. Here, June Tremain's shattering encounter with evil while taking a walk in the French countryside one day drives a permanent wedge between her and her newly wed husband Bernard and radically alters her world view of life. Quite inexplicably, she abandons her life's work with Bernard, renounces her membership of the British Communist Party, and withdraws into a life of solitude, quiet reflection and contemplative mysticism. Her betrayal of the cause on which they built their marriage baffles and embitters Bernard. He came close but because he never shared his wife's experience, he is left stranded across the philosophical divide. Was it chance or fate that chose June (and not Bernard) ? Perhaps it was June's more gentle nature that made her vulnerable. We may never know but their contrasting reaction to the butterfly that visited them at the railway station leaves a clue. It is left to Jeremy, the Tremains' son-in-law, to uncover the truth. The preface explains Jeremy's parent fixation and his undertaking to write June's memoirs. But Jeremy is also the perfect literary devise to peel away the layers that shroud the mystery and tell the story backwards. Again, McEwan shows why he is the reigning Master of the Sinister genre. I could feel the hairs at the back of my neck grow erect as the brooding menace intensified with each chapter. Every human encounter, whether with Jeremy and Bernard as they jostle with the crowds to watch the Wall come down in Berlin, or Jeremy alone with strangers in a countryside motel, is stalked by a latent violence just waiting to erupt. Jeremy's close shave with the king spider one night in an empty cottage hauntingly foreshadows the revelation of June's frightening encounter with the "black dogs", which McEwan adroitly leaves to the last while leaving the reader with a last gasp of horror when the truth behind the canine predators are revealed. In its depiction of evil,
"Black Dogs" recalls "The Comfort Of Strangers
(COS)" but it is a superior work in conception and
execution. It is a hidden gem and a McEwan classic that deserves
wider recognition and is destined for a long shelf life. Spread
the word around. Go read it !
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