Enduring Love

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Ian McEwan has earned international acclaim for his writing and is considered one of England's best contemporary novelists. In Enduring Love, he sets a tale of obsession and desperation spinning amidst one man's comfortable British world.

On a sunny afternoon, the middle-aged writer Joe Rose and his wife look up from their picnic in the countryside to see an elderly man desperately trying to anchor his giant helium balloon. Running to help, Joe is joined by other bystanders. But from that fateful day, one of them, Jed Parry, will begin to stalk Joe. Driven by religious zeal and misdirected love, the strange young man will slowly unravel each strand of Joe's life.

Perfectly capturing the moments when a familiar world begins to shift out of balance, this first-person narrative traces Joe's growing unease and frustration. As Joe watches his marriage, his profession, and his character dissolve, Enduring Love fills with psychological tension and emotional suspense.

©1998 Ian McEwan (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC

Interesting exploration of love and pathology

I'm not sure what I expected from this novel. I went in having only ever read a few McEwan short stories. So I guess my assumptions were that this would be a novel full of lush descriptions, evocative and beautiful, deep characters with surprising traits and personalities. What I hadn't expected was to read a psychological thriller involving a menacing stalker, an endangered relationship, and a surprising ending. I liked this story, quite a lot. It's got me hooked. I'll definitely add more of McEwan's work to my listening library.

Really good

Interesting subject matter told in a good story. A hint of the mystery. Never a dull moment. I really like his style. The reader was very convincing.

Psychological Thriller

The title of this book makes it sound like a romance. But don’t be fooled. There is no romance in here, and precious little love.

Instead, it’s kind of a psychological thriller revolving around the obsession of one man for another.

The two guys, Joe Rose and Jed Parry meet through a ballooning accident. They are out in the country for their own very different reasons, and this hot air balloon suddenly appears in serious trouble. Both of them, and several other people rush in to help, but they are unable to stabilize the balloon before it is blown away again, and one of the other men trying to help is blown away with it and subsequently falls to his death.

Afterward, Jed inexplicably assumes Joe is in love with him and begins stalking him. Joe is understandably freaked and tries to discourage the attention, reports Jed to the police, etc., all with little success.

Joe’s wife points out to him several times, including very decisively at the end of the book, that he has become just as obsessed, and I have to agree with her. Joe is a freelance science writer, and he analyzes everything nearly to death. Apparently, this is his defining characteristic. He feels compelled to research until he finds a psychological syndrome that corresponds to Jed’s particular type of obsession but does not seem to want to admit to his own.

The book is tightly crafted and well-written, with a somewhat surprising ending; I was sure someone would wind up dead as a result of all this. But I don’t think I would have added this one to my list if I had realized at the time what it was about.

in with a bang, out with a whimper

Enduring Love is a nicely crafted story with rich characters and beautiful passages. The narration by Steven Crossley is superb. Unfortunately, the story really doesn't deliver the goods in the end. There is suspense throughout and the tantalizing expectation of a surprise twist or two. But... the story simply fizzles out. No revelations, no ah hah! moment, nothing to remotely satisfy those raised expectations. I was very disappointed in what is supposed to be one of McEwan's best works. A friend of mine in the British literary business finds him quite overrated as a novelist, and now I understand why.

Haunting, engaging, disturbing

A contented marriage intersects with a bizarre ballooning accident and suddenly everything in this man's life is different - even him. It's beautifully written, exploring the subtle changes that happen when obsession - yours or someone else's - enters a life. The reading is masterful - the voices and characterizations are brilliant.

Thriller of the minds and relationships

I found this novel to be original and engrossing. It's about a writer makes a chance acquaintance with another man, who is psychologically disturbed. They both have witnessed a tragic balooning acident. The disturbed man falls in love with the writer after this briefest of encounters and stalks him persistently, creating tension in the writer's marriage. The author describes the writer's research into the man's clinical disturbance and makes this almost unbelievable plot seem plausible. This book has suspense, as well as an interesting cast of characters. A good read!

issues with the performance

the reader was very good except for the female and feminine characters. They were all uniformly grating and whiny making it an aggravating listen

Thriller of the minds and relationships

I found this novel to be original and engrossing. It's about a writer makes a chance acquaintance with another man, who is psychologically disturbed. They both have witnessed a tragic balooning acident. The disturbed man falls in love with the writer after this briefest of encounters and stalks him persistently, creating tension in the writer's marriage. The author describes the writer's research into the man's clinical disturbance and makes this almost unbelievable plot seem plausible. This book has suspense, as well as an interesting cast of characters. A good read!

it felt like two books at times

Enduring Love was published in 1197 and made into a movie in 2004. But to be honest I knew nothing of it. It is a book about De Clerambault’s syndrome (now known as erotomania); a young woman is convinced that a man of higher social standing is in love with her when in fact she is a stranger to him. She believes that he sends her personal messages and signs of his love. She believes that only she can interpret the signs. And all of this keeps her love alive. It is an odd and unique condition that made the book equally odd and unique. It also captured my attention right away.

Our main character is a journalist. He is a married man who writes articles about science for magazines. The story begins when there is a tragic accident when a hot air balloon is escaping its moorings with a child aboard and a man who is trying to save the boy is left clinging to the rope as it quickly ascends. He dies from the inevitable fall. Several other men who tried to help are left to deal with the emotional aftermath. And part of the aftermath involves the woman who becomes a stalker of the journalist.

He shares his fears with his wife, which leads to a very clear and harsh impact on his marriage. He is far too emotional and his quickly changing moods affect his wife and his marriage. He is quite clearly dealing with PTSD, and is struggling to know how to talk about the events on the day of the accident. Unfortunately he doesn't even know if there is anyone in his life with whom he could talk. Our journalist is reliving the accident, feeling guilt about it, being stalked, and seeing his marriage change.

My biggest complaint is that at times the two storylines felt a bit too separate and distinct as though they could have been two separate books. Overall, however, I enjoyed the book.

This is NOT a love story

And yet it is.... I was palpably disturbed by this book. Ending was a little flat, but the romance was detailed and horrible and very well written.