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The Child in Time
  
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The Child in Time (Paperback)

by Ian McEwan (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon.com

The Child in Time opens with a harrowing event. Stephen Lewis, a successful author of children's books, takes his 3-year-old daughter on a routine Saturday morning trip to the supermarket. While waiting in line, his attention is distracted and his daughter is kidnapped. Just like that. From there, Lewis spirals into bereavement that has effects on his relationship with his wife, his psyche and time itself: "It was a wonder there could be so much movement, so much purpose, all the time. He himself had none." This beautifully haunting book won a 1987 Whitbread Prize. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A sense of loss pervades this fine, provocative new novel by the author of The Comfort of Strangers. The protagonist, Stephen Lewis, a successful author of children's books, is introduced to us in a scene more frightening than any from a horror novel: while he is shopping with Kate, his three-year-old daughter, the child is kidnapped. Stephen's mounting terror as he combs the store for Katetrying in vain to recall the face of the dark-clad stranger he glimpsed behind themis palpable. As the story moves forward, it focuses not only on Stephen's search for his daughter, but also on his attempts to come to terms with his loss and the likely collapse of his marriage to Julie, a musician. Woven through the narrative is a subplot that deals with childhood and loss of a different sort. It is the innocence of youth that Stephen's friend and former editor, Charles Darke, longs for and ultimately recaptures at a terrible price. This is a beautifully rendered, very disturbing novel. First serial to Esquire.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, Moving, Mar 13 2002
By Richard Cunningham (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
"The Child in Time" is my first Ian McEwan work, although I was aware that he studied at Malcolm Bradbury's creative writing program at the University of East Anglia, as did Kazuo Ishiguro, of "The Remains of the Day" fame.

McEwan is a subtly brilliant writer with amazing psychological understanding and insight. With equal ease, he navigates the political landscapes of family; personal life; commercial London, and Thatcher's 1980's Whitehall.

The tribulations of his friend, publisher Charles Darke in the treehouse in rural Suffolk is altogether telling and allegorical in itself. The stark tragedy of losing his child Kate, brings the neccesary focus needed to capture the reader's attention for the duration of the novel.

Heartfelt, and very well worth the read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Child in Time, Aug 22 2001
By A Customer
Ian Mc Ewan's 'Child in Time' is a chilling future fantasy set in London. It's really not that hard to imagine a future in which our governments decide to legalise begging rather than pay social welfare; easy to imagine, but scary. In spite of the bleak social future portrayed in this novel, and the central tragedy of the book - the loss of a child, there is a core of optimism running throughtout that not only kept me reading to the end, but has made me want to reread it several times since.
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5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding study of interiors - one of McEwan's best, Mar 16 2001
By A Customer
Ian McEwan never disappoints. I've read "Enduring Love" and "The Comfort of Strangers" and they're both excellent. In his 1987 Whitbread Prize winning novel "The Child In Time", McEwan tunnels deep into the subconscious to deliver an outstanding study of interiors that positively glows and radiates with poignance and compassion. There is the inevitable social commentary on power, hypocrisy and corruption but none of the anger and vitriolic you might expect. Using the subject of a child gone missing in a supermarket as its starting point, the novel snakes its way around with dramatic twists and turns nobody could have anticipated - a typically McEwan trait - that continually shatters the reader's evolving preconception of what the novel is all about. One moment you're astral travelling with Stephen as he struggles manfully with his private grief while sitting absentmindedly in parliamentary subcommittee meetings on children's education, the next you're in a nasty car accident and a stroll down memory lane that proves to be pivotal in drawing all the loose ends together. The confession Stephen's mother makes to him will strike you like a lightning rod. It comes full circle, suggesting the power of the subconscious in shaping the reality we perceive as fixed or unchanging when it hangs on a thread. McEwan's command of his craft is none more evident than in suddenly letting Stephen's almost indifferent friendship with Charles take centrestage in the last third of the novel, with devastating effect but for a purpose, not as a gimmick but because it's highly explanatory. Though McEwan suppresses his natural taste for the macabre in TCIT, there's still a liberal dose of the uncanny left in these pages to savour and enthrall us and give the novel the distinctive McEwan touch. This time though, he has in store for us an ending that's beautifully rounded, emotionally congruent, and morally uplifting. What more can a reader ask for ? TCIT is a wonderful novel, richly deserving of the critical accolades heaped on it. Go get a copy and read it. You won't be disappointed.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars unforgettable
I read this book years ago for my literature list. After all these years I can still remember how emotionally involved I was with this book. A true page-turner for me. Read more
Published on Mar 7 2001

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Having read and enjoyed nearly all of McEwan's work, I was very disappointed with The Child In Time, a novel which felt formulistic and paint-by-the-numbers. Read more
Published on Nov 29 2000 by Christopher A. Smith

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not up to the level of McEwan's masterwork
Ian McEwan, THE CHILD IN TIME (Penguin, 1987)

Something happened to a number of bang-up in-for-the-kill horror writers in the early to mid eighties. Read more

Published on July 4 2000 by Robert P. Beveridge

4.0 out of 5 stars This Book will be lasting and significant
To be alive is all, is reason enough to be. And that is reason enough for a young man of no accomplishments to write his autobiography, if he can write as beautifully as McEwan
Published on May 22 2000 by drzzzzzzzzzzzz

5.0 out of 5 stars Never thought I'd say this but...
Thank you, Alan.

The one thing I'm grateful to my ex-boyfriend for is that he introduced me to Ian McEwan (via "Black Dogs" -- also highly recommended). Read more

Published on May 11 2000

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