Review of Solar by
Ian McEwan
3 Stars
The protagonist is Michael Beard, a Noble Laureate
physicist, who at 53 is coasting on his laurels. He hasn’t done any cutting-edge thinking
since his youthful breakthrough in quantum physics.
He is a serial philanderer so it is not surprising that his
fifth marriage is breaking up as the novel opens. Then he pilfers ideas from a young scientist
(also his wife’s lover who dies accidentally) and becomes a proponent of
technology which will tap solar energy through artificial photosynthesis.
Michael is a totally unlikeable character: he’s a slob, glutton, adulterer, alcoholic
egomaniac. He lacks any humility or
self-reproach. He’s an opportunist who
lives only for the present with little regard for consequences. In his consumption of food, women and drink,
he becomes a symbol of humans who are devouring the planet’s resources.
There are many comic episodes. The book even won the Bollinger Everyman
Wodehouse Prize, a British literary award for comic writing. For
example, Beard’s misadventures in the Arctic are very humourous, almost
slapstick.
The reader knows that events are inevitably sliding toward
disaster as all parts of Michael’s life converge. There is no doubt that Nemesis is
approaching. The problem is that the end
comes too suddenly.
No comments:
Post a Comment