Rob W

I've read other novels by this writer so I'm familiar with the challenges of his style and his literary references. I found this book very satisfying on many levels. There is a set up where an academic scholar of the future (2130) is obsessed with the work of a poet of a century earlier. The novel sets about showing how he explores a time he never lived in but wishes he did, before his current world became severely changed by destructive forces in the late 21st century. What captured me is his exploration of the poet Blundy's time...he immerses himself as much as possible in a lost world. McEwan engages the reader by inserting a "novella" to end this novel and it is a doozy. Very rewarding. Answers many questions about the nature of love in its simplest form.