The Child In Me, Ian McEwan

My Review-

Stephens Lewis is a successful writer leading the life of a householder with a three year old daughter Kate and wife, Julia. His life is simple yet joyous until one day Kate gets lost in a supermarket. What follows is the usual search for Kate. However with time the parents begin to realise that Kate is not coming back. Consequently the marriage begins to fall apart and the story begins to investigate the mind of the protagonist, Stephen Lewis and his relationships with his wife, his parents, his friend Drake and his friend’s wife. Soon after the relationship with his wife has begun to corrode, he embarks on frequent journeys to his past when he was a child.

The Child In Time lets loose a world where contrary to the common belief a man too is affected by the happenings around him. It reveals the sensitive facet of male species which quite often is ignored and considered non-existent. His guilt for being responsible for his daughter gets kidnapped and his loosening tie with his wife is quite evident. His memories of a childhood so serene float by and he realizes that he hasn’t lived it enough. His friend Drake on the other hand is living a story in his mind, the one of a carefree kid where he merrily spent his childhood without having a single thought about growing up and taking responsibilities, unlike the childhood he had.

The book emphasizes only on men and how things happening around them go on to affect their psyche. The book doesn’t belong to a particular genre. There is a lot of drama, a little bit of mystery and lots of sensitive thinking that goes into the writing. The language used is subtle and yet shakes you up vigorously from within. It reflects on a man as a whole, demarcating the changes in his life and his from one stage to another. As a kid, Stephens was a happy go lucky; when he grew up to be a man he made sure he was loving and tender towards the love of his life and as a father he wanted to be responsible and adorable; all of which he definitely was. But there was this one step that went wrong and his world turns topsy-turvy.

Over all a very good book in terms of concept, a simple one as a piece of literature and a highly sensitive one on humanitarian and sentimental grounds.