Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for gifting me a digital ARC of Ian McEwan's ambitious new novel. All opinions expressed in this review are mh own - 3.5 stars rounded up!
2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found.
2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost. Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a crime that destroy his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.
This is one of those books that when I close it, I feel like I wasn't smart enough to completely appreciate it. It's beautifully written, creative, and intriguing. But not an easy read for me. The first half of the book took place in 2119, when the world is completely changed by climate change. Tom is obsessed with the lost corona (was it just me that every time I read corona, I thought of the virus?) and the dystopian feel of this half was stark and dark. The second half, taking place in 2014, was an easier read for me, and Vivien's story of her husband's Alzheimer's journey and its effects on her and her life felt completely real and personal. There aren't any likable characters here, but this book will definitely make you think.
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