Amsterdam

by Ian McEwan

Molly, the wife of a publisher, sinks swiftly and unexpectedly into madness and death. Two of her ex-lovers meet at her funeral. One is a famous composer working on his chef d'oeuvre, the other is an editor who has just realized he'll do anything to increase circulation at his newspaper. The two of them, horrified by what has happened, swear that they will help each other die if such a fate ever befalls them. Then each is faced with a moral crisis--a situation that involves yet another of Molly's old flames. In the course of the plot, their true natures are revealed, and the dénouement, set in Amsterdam, is both farcical and fitting. McEwan's seventh novel was the winner of the Booker Prize in 1998.

Editions of Amsterdam

ISBN 9780385494236	Binding/Format Hardcover	Publisher Bantam Dell Pub Group	Date 1999	Price $2.00	Used: Very Good
ISBN 9780786217960	Binding/Format Hardcover	Publisher Thorndike Pr	Date 1999	Price $1.00	Good
ISBN 9780676972177	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Random House of Canada Ltd	Date 1999	Price $1.00	Used, Very Good
ISBN 9781575110608	Binding/Format Audio Cassette	Publisher Pgw	Date 1999	Price $10.50	Very Good
ISBN 9783257232844	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Diogenes Verlage	Date 2002	Price €8.90
ISBN 9780385494243	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Anchor Books	Date 1999	Price $1.00	Very Good

Publisher Notes

On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throng outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's lovers in the days before they reached their current eminence. Clive is Britain's most successful modern composer; Vernon is editor of the quality broadsheet The Judge. Gorgeous, feisty Molly had other lovers too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notorious right-winger tipped to be the next prime minister. In the days that follow Molly's funeral, Clive and Vernon will make a pact that will have consequences that neither has foreseen. Each will make a disastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to its limits, and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life. A wickedly sharp contemporary morality fable, cleverly disguised as a comic novel, "Amsterdam' is "as sheerly enjoyable a book as one is likely to pick up this year" (The Washington Post Book World).

Media Reviews

"[A] dark tour de force, a morality fable, disguised as a psychological thriller. A chilling little horror story, easily read in one enjoyable gulp....Though there's a faint satiric edge to McEwan's portraits, he uses his psychological insight, as he's done so often before, to create sympathy for some decidedly unsavory people. Indeed, we find ourselves rooting for Clive and Vernon, even as it becomes clear that both of them...are conniving opportunists, willing to use virtually any means necessary to achieve their ends."

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