Ian McEwan The Comfort of Strangers Review

Overall Rating

I confess that I ended up scimming most of The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan as I found the characters so banal at the beginning-their main attribute seemed to be forgetting the blasted map-but I kept on reading just to see if anything more interesting turned up. I just didn't get the atmosphere of Venice that other reviewers feel catapulted them into all that love-making. And then the really implausible climax with that creepy couple. I know I've lived a sheltered life but does anyone really believe people like that are around? I have enjoyed other McEwan novels, even the one about the stalking religious fanatic(Enduring Love?) so I was really surprised that this one left me so cold. Good point was it was short but it was implausible and had a nasty theme.