Ian McEwan's First Love, Last Rites is a book of eight wonderful and terrifying short stories. Most or all set in London, they explore rites of passage, maternal instincts, vulnerability, revenge and the extreme realities of the human condition. Many of the characters that feature in McEwan's stories are simultaneously comic and compulsively macabre. Each of the tales are strangely tragic and alive, making this book a powerful and imaginative read.

people who enjoy realistic fiction, especially horror. This book is not saturated with ill fate, but reveals that everyone is vulnerable. Quite a few of the stories are written in the first person, so you often read the fascinating mind of a character playing an active role.

Conversation with a Cupboard Man, written in the first person, is a bit like a monologue. The character is a young man who has been isolated from the norms of society by his mother from childhood, resulting in a fatal dependency and lack of social skills. In the story he is talking to a social worker, recalling his life up to now and rationalising why he is in this position. The reader follows his journey: the attempts to be independent, revenge on his employer, stealing, prison and his haven in the cupboard.
         I particularly liked this story because the character was so frank. The reader feels sympathy for him because he is still childlike - he doesn't even feel sorry for himself.

the fact that they were short stories. I wanted to know what happened to the characters afterwards: they are great stories because of the emotional depth.

read more fiction by Ian McEwan. I already have read some extracts at a book club and his style is great at accommodating incredible imagination.

Ian McEwan is English and has written two collections of short stories and seven novels. In addition, he's also worked on several film scripts, including The Imitation Game, The Ploughman's Lunch, Sour Sweet, The Good Son and The Innocent.

It contains short stories that are handy to read if you don't have enough time to engross yourself in a thick novel. Plus it is great fiction, exploring different styles of writing.

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Created Jan 02, 2004 at 4:46pm • Submit your own review...