Amsterdam - a novel by Ian McEwan
"Amsterdam" is a novel by multi-award winning author Ian McEwan, first published in 1998.
The plot of "Amsterdam" follows two old friends, Clive, a composer and Vernon, a newspaper editor, who attend the funeral of a woman who had been a friend and a lover to both men in the past. Her death from a sudden debilitating disease has a profound effect upon them and they make a mutual pact, the outcome of which, neither could possibly anticipate...
"Amsterdam" won the Booker Prize in 1998
"Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan - Contents
Ian McEwan - Amsterdam (novel)
- Amsterdam Quotes
- Plot Summary & Review Of "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan
- Excerpt From "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan
- Amsterdam Quotes
- Reviews Of "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan
- Amsterdam Quotes
- Amsterdam Links
- Interview With Ian McEwan
- More About The Author Of "Amsterdam" - Ian McEwan
- Amsterdam Novel
- Amsterdam On Twitter
- "Amsterdam" - Feedback
Amsterdam Quotes
Ian McEwan's preface to Amsterdam;
"The friends who met here and embraced are gone, each to his own mistake" - W.H Auden
Plot Summary & Review Of "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan
Synopsis & book review of "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan...
Two friends and former lovers of glamorous, witty restaurant critic Molly Lane, meet at Molly's funeral. The two men, Clive Linley a distinguished composer, and Vernon Halliday a newspaper editor, have been friends for many years.Molly had many other lovers, including Julian Garmony, the Foreign Secretary, a political high flyer, widely tipped to be the next prime minister.
The sudden onset of Molly's illness and undignified manner of her death, upsets Clive and Vernon deeply. They particularly resent the fact that her incapacity robbed Molly of her independence and made her reliant upon and under the control of her stolid husband George, a situation Molly resented.
In the following days, Clive and Vernon begin to suffer from aches and pains they hadn't noticed previously and they become worried about their own mortality. Not wishing to end up in a similar situation to Molly, they make a mutual pact help one another commit suicide should similar fates befall them. Having done so, they both feel much better and get back on with their lives and careers with renewed spirits.
Clive has been commissioned to write a symphony for the forthcoming Millenium. He is close to finishing what he thinks will be the finest piece he has ever written and which he hopes will bring him the accolades he feels he richly deserves. He strives harder and harder for perfection, but the final spark of genius he needs keeps eluding him and he resents any intrusion from the outside world.
Vernon meanwhile, has been contacted by Molly's husband George, who, while sorting through her personal effects has discovered a set of photographs Molly had taken of her other lover, the M.P Julian Garmony. The photos are a journalist's dream, as they show Garmony dressed in woman's clothes, wearing make-up and clearly enjoying the experience...
Vernon wants to expose Garmony and publish the photographs in an effort to revive sales of his ailing newspaper. His staff disagree. He approaches Clive in the hope of finding moral support from his friend, but Clive is immersed in his music and not at all pleased at Vernon's insistent distractions and demands upon his valuable time. When he finally agrees to listen to Vernon, Clive also disagrees with his decision, not because of a wish to protect Julian Garmony, but because he feels that publishing photographs Molly took for private purposes would be betraying her. A big argument between the two men breaks out.
As Julian Garmony fights for his political life, the consequences of the sequence of events play out, culiminating in a quite unexpected outcome.
Most of the story takes place in London, so why is the title of the book "Amsterdam"? You'll have to read it and find out!...
Amsterdam is another solid, entertaining read from award winning author, Ian McEwan. He paints a revealing picture of the private lifestyles of his fictional rich and famous characters - a picture that one suspects is mirrored in the exploits of more than one real life "celebrity" figure! The story has a twist in the tale - one that I am pleased to say that I didn't see coming and which was as good as any of Roald Dahl's famous "Tales of the Unexpected"!
"Amsterdam" is definitely worth a read!
Excerpt From "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan
Extract from "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan
- Bold Type: Excerpt by Ian McEwan
- Excerpt from the first chapter of Amsterdam
Amsterdam Quotes
"It seemed to Vernon that he was infinitely diluted; he was simply the sum of the people who had listened to him, and when he was alone, he was nothing at all. When he reached, in solitude, for a thought, there was no one there to think it. His chair was empty; he was finely dissolved throughout the building..."
Reviews Of "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan
- Salon Books |Amsterdam
- Craig Seligman reviews 'Amsterdam' by Ian McEwan
- Fickle Friendship in Ian McEwan's Amsterdam
- A review of Ian McEwan's 1998 Booker prize-winning novel Amsterdam.
- Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
- A review and a link to other reviews of Amsterdam by Ian McEwan.
Rethinking Spatiality: The Degraded Body in Ian McEwan's "Amsterdam"
by Dana Chetrinescu
- Ian McEwan Website: Dana Chetrinescu's Essay on Amsterdam
- Essay by Dana Chetrinescu
Amsterdam Quotes
" Put most crudely, what did he, Clive, really derive from this friendship? He had given, but what had he ever received? What bound them? They had Molly in common. There were accumulated years and the habits of friendship, but there was really nothing at its centre..."
Amsterdam Links
Websites and articles about Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
- Feedmysearch needs your opinion, help and advice
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Interview With Ian McEwan
Interview with Ian McEwan following his Booker Prize win for Amsterdam
- Bold Type: Interview with Ian McEwan
- BoldType website interview with Ian McEwan following his Booker Prize win for Amsterdam
More About The Author Of "Amsterdam" - Ian McEwan
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Ian McEwan - British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, And Screenwriter
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Ian McEwan has been writing fiction since the 1970's and has written many bestsellers and received numerous literary awards and glowing critical acclaim. It is difficult to sum up Ian McEwan's writing...a few words and phrases spring to mind...
Amsterdam Novel
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan on Amazon USA
Amsterdam: A Novel
Amazon reader review;
"This is a wonderful satire on culture, art, pretense and manners.
McEwan is a good writer with a great eye for connecting things, using the segue without the reader being aware of any artificial change of person, time and place. Through his characterization, he is able to show the self-centeredness and outright ridiculousness of what we hold collectively meaningful.
I recommend this book for a good read and and some thoughtful laughs."
Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 12/18/2009) 
Used Price: $0.01
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Amsterdam On Wikipedia
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan on Wikipedia
Amsterdam is a 1998 novel by British writer Ian McEwan.
It is a morality tale revolving around a newspaper editor and a composer.
McEwan was awarded the Booker Prize for the novel.
Plot summary of Amsterdam
The book begins with the funeral of Molly Lane. Guests at the funeral include: Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary; Vernon Halliday, a newspaper editor; and eminent composer Clive Linley. These three share certain attributes; each has a very high opinion of himself, each was at some time Molly's lover, and each regards the dead woman's husband George, with a mixture of amusement and contempt. Clive and Vernon muse upon Molly's death. It seems she had some kind of rapid-onset brain disease (not specified) that left her helpless and mad. Neither man can understand her attraction to Julian Garmony, the right-wing Foreign Secretary who is about to challenge the Leadership.
Clive returns home to continue work on his symphony. He has been commissioned to write a piece for the forthcoming Millennium and much of the work is complete, all save the crucial signature melody. He resolves to go walking in the Lake District, as this tends to inspire him. Vernon is the editor of a newspaper whose readership is falling. He is trying to change the content of the paper to be more sensationalist. George, Molly's husband, gives him a golden opportunity, but he and Clive argue furiously about the moral responsibility of the act.
However, in the Lake District, Clive faces a difficult moral decision himself. He chooses to walk away from a potentially dangerous situation he could have helped with, because his elusive melody, the crucial notes, have arisen and he has to get them down. Instead of helping, he crouches unseen besides a rock and writes his music. This has repercussions that will change his life.
During the course of the book Clive and Vernon become mortal enemies bent on exacting revenge. The consequences of their decisions, and a pact made between them, lead them both to Amsterdam where the novel's dénouement plays out.
Read this article on Wikipedia at Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Amsterdam On Twitter
Tweets about Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
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- IndieAme
- Hmm, what to do this evening: read Ian McEwan's 'Amsterdam' or do homework\coursework?
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- marisvingerhoed
- 'Amsterdam' uit van Ian McEwan. Verrassend einde. Hij kan prachtig schrijven. Ben nu een boek van Haasse ah doorploegen.
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- dokushochu
- 【読了】Ian McEwan『Amsterdam』。再読。やっと読めました。密度の高い文章。以前は英語の難しさとその内容からどうも面白いと思えなかったが、今回は理解力がちょっと増して面白く読めました。
Other Novels By Ian McEwan
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The Child In Time By Ian McEwan
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"The Child In Time" is Ian McEwan's third novel, first published in 1987. The Child In Time deals with the tragic theme of child abduction. Stephen Lewis, a children's book author, takes his 3-year-old daughter Kate on a routine Saturday morning sh...
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Black Dogs By Ian McEwan
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"Black Dogs" is a novel by multi-award winning British author Ian McEwan, first published in 1992. In 1946, a young couple, Bernard and June, set off on their honeymoon. Fired by their ideals and passion for one another, they plan an idyllic holiday...
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The Comfort Of Strangers By Ian McEwan
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The Comfort Of Strangers is Ian McEwan's second novel, first published in 1981. A bored couple journey to an un-named city in search of excitement. There they meet an enigmatic stranger who entangles them in a web from which there may be no escape.....
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The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
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The Cement Garden" is the first novel written by award-winning British author, Ian McEwan. It was originally published in 1978. The Cement Garden is a beautifully woven, but very dark tale of childhood and lost innocence... The plot of The Ce...
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The Innocent By Ian McEwan
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"The Innocent" is Ian McEwan's fourth novel, first published in 1989. "The Innocent" is centered around Leonard Markham, a young, idealistic English electronics engineer sent to Germany during the Cold War to work on an Anglo-American intelligence p...
Other Novels By Ian McEwan
Other books by Ian McEwan...
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Enduring Love By Ian McEwan
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"Enduring Love" is a novel by award winning writer Ian McEwan, first published in 1997 On an ordinary spring day, while he is enjoying a picnic with his girlfriend, Clarissa, the calm, organised, ordinary life of science writer Joe Rose is turned up...
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Saturday By Ian McEwan
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"Saturday" is a novel by multi-award winning author, Ian McEwan, first published in 2005. "Saturday" is the story of a day in the life of a 48 year old London neurosurgeon, Henry Perowne. The novel is set on Saturday, 15th February 2003. Henry wake...
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On Chesil Beach By Ian McEwan
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"On Chesil Beach" is a novel by multi-award winning author, Ian McEwan first published in 2007 On a summer evening in 1962, two newlyweds sit down to dinner in the honeymoon suite of a Dorset hotel. Edward and Florence are both aged 22, both virgins...
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Atonement By Ian McEwan
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"Atonement" is a novel by award winning writer, Ian McEwan, first published in 2001. The plot of "Atonement" follows the life of Briony Tallis, from naive teenager to elderly woman. In 1935, Briony 13 years old, an aspiring writer and the youngest...
Short Stories By Ian McEwan
Other books by Ian McEwan...
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First Love, Last Rites By Ian McEwan
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First Love, Last Rites is Ian McEwan's first collection of short stories and was originally published in 1975. This collection was Ian McEwan's first published work and comprises a collection of eight short stories, all of which are summarised indiv...
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In Between The Sheets By Ian McEwan
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"In Between The Sheets" is a collection of short stories by award-winning author Ian McEwan, first published in 1978 Like McEwan's earlier short story collection, "First Love, Last Rites", the individual stories in "In...
"Amsterdam" - Feedback
Have you read "Amsterdam" By Ian McEwan? Would you like to? Share your thoughts!
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Reply
- CDT CDT Aug 6, 2009 @ 8:36 am
- @RinchenChodron
I wouldn't call the book depressing - it's a bit of a morality tale really.
McEwan explores the innate pettiness and shallow nature of the two main characters which contrasts with their exceedingly high opinions of themselves.
Vernon and Clive think they're great - but underneath their success and their money and their public images lurk two immature, selfish and egocentric men who are their own worst enemies as the conclusion of the book reveals...
I think Amsterdam is one of McEwan's best novels :)
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Reply
- RinchenChodron RinchenChodron Aug 6, 2009 @ 7:34 am
- I hate to say it but it sounds like a depressing book!!! But you did create a nice lens and I'm sure some people will run out and buy the book.
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Reply
- Treasures-By-Brenda Treasures-By-Brenda Apr 9, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
- Well done lens on this book; sounds interesting! Your lens has been blessed by an Angel today.
Brenda
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