How effective is the beginning of Enduring love?.
Ian McEwan is very aware that in the modern age and society we live in today, you must capture your reader straight from the outset of a novel. Let it be fiction or a biography, you must have an opening scene or chapter that catapults you into the action. Therefore the first few lines of a new novel must be gripping and basically a good read. It must be instant and have the desired effect almost immediately to get the reader hooked.
Enduring Love has a superb opening chapter that takes all sorts of twists and turns. It has the effect that McEwan wants it to -It's gripping".
He starts by taking you into the world of Joe Rose a science writer. He is a well-rounded sort of chap, who likes to get to the bottom of things. Joe and his girlfriend Clarissa are having a lunch under a tree in a peaceful meadow. Needless to say from there it only get worse. It can be slightly misleading and a little confusing at the start as McEwan flits from one scene to the next before settling down to the real tragedy of the book, a balloon accident.
A young boys screams trigger a chain of events in which we find Joe is unable to stop or put an end too. The way the ballooning tragedy unfolds leaves you screaming at the pages because you know exactly what is coming up next for Joe but he has no clue. Although in saying that your mouth will gasp at the introduction of the other main character Jed Parry with what he has to say comes out of the blue. Another clever twist one of many the book has in store for you.
McEwan is very adapt in the way he teasers the reader into thinking one thing then going the other. Consequently there are so many emotions the beginning of the book goes through. In the early chapters the action is slowed right down and McEwan savors the implications of the individuals "Pulling together and falling apart".
When the balloon accident happens, Joe just acts on instinct and runs in the direction of the boy's screams hoping to be the hero of the day without thinking of the danger and leaving Clarissa sat there still under the tree.
