The Child in Time

I see I'm not alone in loving Ian McEwan's books. I'm working my way through them all, but "The Child In Time" is one to stop and savor. As has been said by many others, McEwan's novels often revolve around protagonists who go through a trial or trauma not of their own making, and the ways in which they reach resolution or some sort of eventual peace. Many marriages do not survive the loss of a child, whatever the circumstances. And it does appear that Stephen and Julie will never reconcile once their small daughter, Kate, is abducted from a supermarket checkout line under her father's nose, in less time than it takes to say it. After the loss of Kate and a lengthy and fruitless search for her, the book becomes largely Stephen's story. As is often the case, each parent grieves differently, and their manners of grief cannot coexist. But even while Julie is absent, her presence remains strong. She is never far away from Stephen or the reader. To say more would not be fair to the first-time reader. But the ending seems appropriate and is very moving. I, for one, did not see it coming. It seems that few authors writing today are especially confident in their storytelling abilities and their readers' interest in or willingness to stay with them through complex, multi-layered narratives. McEwan isn't like that, and because he is so justifiably certain of his gifts, he spends leisurely, lengthy passages on characters and settings which don't -- at first blush -- seem to have any real function in the plot. But they always do, and finding out what these elements mean, and how they lead to the resolution of McEwan's novels, is part of what makes his writing so enjoyable. He doesn't labor over details, and yet I feel as though I know what his characters look and sound like, what their houses are like. I can feel the rain and smell the flowers in the gardens. McEwan's fascination with science almost always plays a part in his stories; Thelma, a secondary character in this novel, is a physicist, and I expect she sounds like a real one. (I don't know any.) It is always the role of McEwan's scientists to provide tangible, mathematical proof of the emotional stages his characters are going through. Time either renews or destroys, but it doesn't stand still. As long as this remains so, (and it is Thelma's job in "The Child in Time" to remind Stephen of this), Ian McEwan's subject matter will remain infinite.

This is the first of McEwan's mature novels, and easily one of his best. He goes well beyond the psycho-sexual darkness of his short stories and novellas into new philosophical territory. When it opens with the daughter of children's author Stephen Lewis being snatched from the local supermarket, you could be forgiven for thinking this novel is going to be about Stephen's obsessive, fruitless search for her and his inevitable psychological collapse. But Kate's disappearance is just the beginning. McEwan sidesteps the perils of family melodrama and rapidly escalates this into an intelligent and surprisingly moving novel about childhood, memory, growth, the horrors of conservative politics, and the joys of theoretical physics. McEwan's topic is time, and in addressing it from unexpected and seemingly disparate directions he demonstrates that a novel doesn't have to be an obvious, linear, plot-driven story. By the end, you realise you have in fact been told a wonderful story - one about Stephen's emotional adaptation - but that the novel is all the better because this has not been the explicit or only focus. In fact, all the pieces of this dazzlingly audacious philosophical puzzle slot perfectly into place in a final chapter which is as wonderfully unexpected as it is profoundly moving. McEwan's gift is for making the "big themes" real for us; for showing us how they're constantly moving, like continental plates, beneath the mundanity of our every day lives. He takes you places you don't expect to go. He assumes you're as intelligent as he is, and he gives you plenty to think about and plenty to do. When it works, as it does here, it's wonderful.

Ian McEwan never disappoints. I've read "Enduring Love" and "The Comfort of Strangers" and they're both excellent. In his 1987 Whitbread Prize winning novel "The Child In Time", McEwan tunnels deep into the subconscious to deliver an outstanding study of interiors that positively glows and radiates with poignance and compassion. There is the inevitable social commentary on power, hypocrisy and corruption but none of the anger and vitriolic you might expect. Using the subject of a child gone missing in a supermarket as its starting point, the novel snakes its way around with dramatic twists and turns nobody could have anticipated - a typically McEwan trait - that continually shatters the reader's evolving preconception of what the novel is all about. One moment you're astral travelling with Stephen as he struggles manfully with his private grief while sitting absentmindedly in parliamentary subcommittee meetings on children's education, the next you're in a nasty car accident and a stroll down memory lane that proves to be pivotal in drawing all the loose ends together. The confession Stephen's mother makes to him will strike you like a lightning rod. It comes full circle, suggesting the power of the subconscious in shaping the reality we perceive as fixed or unchanging when it hangs on a thread. McEwan's command of his craft is none more evident than in suddenly letting Stephen's almost indifferent friendship with Charles take centrestage in the last third of the novel, with devastating effect but for a purpose, not as a gimmick but because it's highly explanatory. Though McEwan suppresses his natural taste for the macabre in TCIT, there's still a liberal dose of the uncanny left in these pages to savour and enthrall us and give the novel the distinctive McEwan touch. This time though, he has in store for us an ending that's beautifully rounded, emotionally congruent, and morally uplifting. What more can a reader ask for ? TCIT is a wonderful novel, richly deserving of the critical accolades heaped on it. Go get a copy and read it. You won't be disappointed.

I read this book years ago for my literature list. After all these years I can still remember how emotionally involved I was with this book. A true page-turner for me. A book that I absolute must have.

Thank you, Alan.The one thing I'm grateful to my ex-boyfriend for is that he introduced me to Ian McEwan (via "Black Dogs" -- also highly recommended). "The Child in Time" is beautifully-written, gripping, heartbreaking, and incredibly human. This is one of the most emotionally-involving books I've read, casting a breathtaking light on the experience of experience.