Hi - hope there's more of us out here that loved Enduring Love?

 gleaming | Feb 27 2008, 21:05 pm

HI, Ok, I will be first this month! I found this a very difficult book to read as (many years ago) I was stalked by someone. Even now I find the whole subject quite upsetting and only the thought that, if you are in the book club you should read the book and take part, made me finish it quite frankly. However, saying that, in answer to one of the questions posed - no, I do not think Joe was complicit in Jed's behaviour. These people just pick you and whatever you do they twist it to make sense.

 Humz | Feb 27 2008, 21:07 pm

Hi Gleaming - yep. I loved it too. I haven't read Ian McEwan before (must be one of the few who hasn't) and I was struck by his ability to describe characters - especially from inside their heads.

 burntsugar | Feb 27 2008, 21:07 pm

God - this book must have been really hard for you, Humz. I'm impressed you finished it. Jed's character was very believable in a way

 burntsugar | Feb 27 2008, 21:08 pm

Hello everyone! i enjoyed the book, but I'm afraid that I can't say I loved it....

 juliab | Feb 27 2008, 21:09 pm

that's really tough, this was well outside of my experince...how did you feel, humz, with Joe's scientific approach...finding a kind of solace in identifying the syndrome?

 gleaming | Feb 27 2008, 21:10 pm

Well, I won't blow it out of proportion here - it happened a long time ago. The only way it ended was for me to leave the job I was in and disappear though! Thank goodness the person never knew where I lived like poor Joe! I did think it was odd that he never got more sympathy at home though. That didn't really ring true to me, that his wife(?) was not more concerned.

 Humz | Feb 27 2008, 21:10 pm

I'd agree there Humz - she did seem very distant, and uninterested... maybe that was playing against Jeb's obsession.... Nonetheless, it seemed a little odd that in this sort of situation she'd switch off and assume that he was the problem

 juliab | Feb 27 2008, 21:12 pm

I did think Clarissa became sceptical very quickly...but once we were into that mode of 'being', the decline felt wholly real and inevitable

 gleaming | Feb 27 2008, 21:12 pm

I think Joe used what he had to make sense of the situation. The whole link between his inability to be a scientist, his inability to control his life and his relationship was quite good. It was interesting that the author used a man stalking a man. It took away the usual threats of, say, rape and replaced them with something different. Joe was concerned he would be beaten up, but the idea of a man being under threat and how he reacted was interesting.

 Humz | Feb 27 2008, 21:13 pm