Book Review: NUTSHELL by Ian McEwan

Nutshell by Ian McEwan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"My mother wished my father dead. Now I live inside a story and fret about its outcome."

It was an absolute coincidence that this reader -- fresh from a three-day webinar on Shakespeare (with speakers from Shakespeare gods both British and Filipino) -- picked up this contemporary spin on Hamlet immediately after! What an absolute surprise, and a delight!

An Ian McEwan novel is an automatic purchase for me, and this (my 8th McEwan) reminded me why he is one of those "buy-on-sight-of-cover-no-need-to-look-at-the-blurb-at-the-back" authors. Of those novels I've read, I remember detesting only one, and loving all the others (hey, no author's perfect!). This one belongs to the latter, lovely category.

"Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space -- were it not that I have bad dreams." McEwan put that Hamlet quote before the first page began.

I was immediately sucked in: a baby overhears his mom (Trudy) plotting with his uncle (Claude) how to kill his father! It was impossible to miss the modern-day equivalents of Gertrude and Claudius!

And McEwan proceeds from there. Hence "to be or not to be" has an altogether new meaning, coming from the mouth of an unborn babe! It was just so imaginative, and witty, and (I think) proof of McEwan's genius, how he would make the baby spout Shakespearean verse (but in prose form!) whenever his reckless mother would drink some wine!

"I'll bind her with this slimy rope,
press-gang her on my birthday with one groggy, newborn stare,
One lonesome seagull wail to harpoon her heart.
Then, indentured by strong-armed love to become my constant nurse,
her freedom but a retreating homeland shore, Trudy will be mind, not Claude's."

That wasn't Shakespeare, but it sure sounded like him! And there were so many other examples of Ian McEwan borrowing from the Bard! Here's another one:

"Grant me all the human agency the human frame can bear,
retrieve my young panther-self of sculpted muscle and long cold stare,
direct him to the most extreme measure --
Killing his uncle to save his father."

I am no scholar, but a mere book lover. And so I will leave the more pedantic analyses to folks with degrees in scansion. All I know is, this book was stressfully joyful to read! Despite all the intellectual counterpoint going on, McEwan never let go of the narrative thread. I was hooked from start to finish! Will the evil plot succeed? WHAT HAPPENS NEXT??!!!??

You THINK you know Hamlet, but then books like these come along, and you have a new appreciation and desire to re-read the high school text your English teacher forced everyone to digest. Thank you, Ian McEwan!

Like all great works of literature, there are so many issues and layers to this book. Above all, it is about the curse/gift of consciousness. Along the way, McEwan raises all the other problems society faces in 2016: migration, religion, the entitlement of the very young, the disparity of wealth amongst countries, etc. It makes one think: What kind of world are we leaving to the next generation? One could even make a stretch and involve this book in the reproductive health debate!

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys fabulous writing as well as great storytelling, which don't often go together, but in McEwan's case, this is his signature! And I guarantee that, even if you think you know the story will end (because there's no other way... right?), McEwan excels in pulling the rug from under the reader, leaving you gasping and toasting his plotting.

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