Book Review: Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Time for another book review, I am certainly getting through these books nowadays, and Nutshell by Ian McEwan is about 200 pages long so it’s easy to crack with one good sitting, reclined on the sofa and reading lamp on, this is exactly what I did at the weekend.

Nutshell is told from the perspective of an unborn boy. This young tot spends his time listening. He listens to conversations going on around him and he listens to podcast lectures, self-improving audio books and the BBC World Service. This is why he has an impressive word range that would put most grown-ups to shame. “When I hear ‘blue’, which I’ve never seen, I imagine some kind of mental event that’s fairly close to ‘green’—which I’ve never seen. . . I am, or I was, despite what the geneticists are no saying, a blank slate. But a slippery, porous slate no schoolroom or cottage roof could find use for, a slate that writes upon itself as it grows by the day and becomes less blank.” The idea of the fetus who learns to think, philosophize and even scheme by listening in to his mother's radio, I found extremely funny, even though entirely unbelievable. I had to keep looking up obscure words (looking them up on my Iphone sitting by my side), which was amusing as well, coming from a pre-nate... There is a gripping story line and some interesting characterization going on in the 'real world', and some powerful thoughts about the absolute vulnerability of the unborn baby to the behavior of the adults in its life, including the effects of drink and sex, and the relative importance of mothers and fathers. I think it's a great book if you can take it as largely a joke making some serious points. It is basically Shakespeare’s Hamlet retold from the womb and really well done in my view. I would recommend this book if you fancy something light to pass a rainy night in as I did one weekend evening in Falkirk in the company of a bottle of wine…..really enjoyable.