An interesting exercise in creative writing, Black Dogs ‘mashes up’ the concept of a constructed autobiography.

The story revolves around a frightening event which changed the whole life of the narrator's mother-in-law, and ripples throughout a family (continuing through to the extended family). Compounding the effect, the experience was not shared by her husband. Thus set in transit is a conflict of one partner’s pragmatic, scientific and materialistic beliefs set against another’s faith-based, spiritual journey. So, in spite of an enduring love and attachment, the couple part and pursue their own lives, shuffling children between the two worlds.

Constructed in flashbacks (and flash-forward’s, and assumed reconstructed events by the narrator), the human interest is never overwhelmed by subtexts that include exploration of class, gender, political and social change, power and evil. Exquisite story-telling ensures that both the reader and the narrator are glued to events until the revelation of event at the centre of the piece.

Like much of McEwan’s work, Black Dogs is an odd and at times unpleasant read. Like all good fiction though, it inevitably propel you to can look deeper and contemplate the ideas long after you’ve finished the book. Highly recommended.

B.O.R.I.N.G.

I have read several of McEwan’s books and enjoyed them very much. That’s likely why this was such a disappointment; I don’t think I’d have pushed through if I wasn’t hopeful it would improve. It’s set at the fall of the Berlin wall, in Europe and is the story of a man writing his mother’s memoirs. It should have been my kind of book, but I found it dull and meandering.

The dissection of a relationship as the two principles veer in diametrically opposed value systems is heart wrenching and lovely.

I really liked Ian McEwan's Atonement, love the way he writes, but Black Dogs disappointed me. It's a good premise and his writing style keeps you intrigued. I was waiting to finally learn about the black dogs, they are mentioned here and there throughout the book.Towards the end when you realize their significance...it was just very anti-climatic. The story is centered around Jeremy's fascination with his in-laws Bernard and June and what happened between them, but I wish McEwan elaborated more on Jeremy's relationship with his niece Sally. McEwan deserted the story in the introduction (Jeremy's childhood-which I found more interesting, and also explains the reason why he is obsessed with his in-laws), the novel just didn't tie up well in the end for me.

Meh. I only finished reading it to find out what had happened with the black dogs. I slogged through 3/4 of the book to find out, and, although it was interesting, it wasn't as earth-shattering as the build up. The characters were flat and boring. The use of untranslated French sprinkled through the book was pretentious. This book was a waste of time.

I was kind of in a slump with fiction, not fully able to identify with any characters or place myself in their minds, and this book broke me out of it. Thank you, Bernard...

I gave up with this. I found the main character's waffling, and the overall style of narrative, convoluted and pretentious. Nothing grabbed me about this, despite the foundations of the story being interesting. For lack of anything better to say, this might have been an enjoyable read if it was written completely differently.