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The Cement Garden
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
21 posts | 59 read | 44 to read
Ian McEwan is known to skirt the edge with his writing; the fringes of society, to test the limits of what we can handle perhaps in our worlds as we bring his writing home with us and allow a whole new being to enter. So it is with The Cement Garden, the story of dying family who live in a dying part of the city. The father of four children decides, in an effort to make his garden easier to control, to pave it over. In the process, he has a heart attack and dies, leaving the cement garden unfinished and the children to the care of their mother. Soon after, the mother too dies and the children, fearful of being separated by social services, decide to cover up their parents' deaths: they bury their mother in the cement garden. ll of the children are free thinking independent-minded teenagers. The story is told from the point of view of Jack, one of the sons, the narrator who is entering adolescence with all of its curiosity and appetites that he must contend with (along with the sure confusion of what the children have done). Julie, the eldest, is almost a grown woman. Sue is rather bookish and observes all that goes on around her. And Tom is the youngest and the baby of the lot. The children seem to manage in this perverse setting rather well until Julie brings home a boyfriend who threatens their secret by asking too many questions (like what is buried beneath the cement pile, etc), surely threatening the status quo (however morbid) that the children have come to accept as "normal" and as "home". We understand through McEwan that home is not to be defined by anyone else but it is, instead, what you know and have known that makes you feel safe, even if it is rather dangerous and macabre.
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review
anniebannanie
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
Pickpick

Definitely an interesting one…..

review
Flitter
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
Pickpick

So this is a very uncomfortable read - a short book, and a brief encounter with the period following the deaths of the parents of four siblings. It reads like an extended metaphor or a fable - it‘s disturbing at face value. I did enjoy it but McEwan‘s writing is consistently readable and engaging, and I suspect if he wrote recipes I‘d follow them.

review
BookwormM
Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Mehso-so

One thing you can say for McEwan is his books are never the same sadly this one didn‘t work for me.

I can see why it was added to the 1001 book list but like a lot of the books on the list it won‘t appeal to everyone.

While some of the siblings reactions are logical in a warped kind of way some are just plain weird.

Narrator is a hormonal teenage boy so we spend a lot of time seeing him take himself in hand (literally) not 4 me.

#reading1001

BookwormM @ShyBookOwl this is my book holder Ollie his feet hold the pages 4y
Daisey This is pretty much how I felt about this book as well. 4y
ShyBookOwl @BookwormM that is amazing! Too cute. Where did you find it? 4y
Sleepswithbooks Your book holder 🥰🥰 4y
BookwormM @ShyBookOwl I got mine from Amazon I love him 4y
45 likes1 stack add5 comments
review
CafeMom
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. McEwan's writing is so fantastic that he can turn a dysfunctional family into a pager turner of a story. I thought this a complex story given it is only a 150 pages. I will be reading more of McEwan.

“We hardly spoke at all to each other about Mother. She was everyone's secret.”
#1001books

Ladygodiva7 I agree! 4y
AshleyHoss820 That is a perfect description of McEwan! 4y
11 likes2 comments
review
Daisey
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Mehso-so

This was an incredibly disturbing reading experience about four siblings dealing with the deaths of their parents. Not a lot really happens, and what does is twisted, but the writing made me want to keep reading and see where it went.

Also, although thankfully not audio, a third in a row of books from the 1001 list with uncomfortable sexual scenes.

#1001books #Reading1001 #AuthorAMonth

Daisey I haven‘t been trying to keep up with #AuthorAMonth, but I did happen to fit this one in from my TBR this month. @Soubhiville 4y
HeatherBookNerd Yep. SUPER disturbing. I have read almost all of McEwan‘s books and his early works lean too twisted for me. 4y
56 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Ladygodiva7
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Ebook from the Internet Archives: The Cement Garden https://archive.org/ #Reading1001 #1001Books

review
erzascarletbookgasm
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Pickpick

Just a few pages in, it had me gasping in shock! Deeply disconcerting, twisted, it tells how 4 siblings came to terms with their parents‘ deaths. Intense family dynamics. The writing is calm, aloof, & kept me engrossed till the very end..all the while I felt it‘s going to peak into something doomed at any time. This story of family secrets, innocence lost, is a darkly brilliant #debutnovel .

#ReadWithMrBook
#AuthorAMonth

Cuilin I read this too. Deeply disturbing. But a good read. 4y
TrishB Great review Jessie 👍🏻 4y
batsy Yes! This book is one of the darkest I've read. So good, so disturbing. 4y
See All 7 Comments
Kalalalatja Great review! #Stacked 4y
LeahBergen I keep meaning to pick up a copy of this. Great review! 4y
Daisey I really want to make time to read this one this month! 4y
67 likes6 stack adds7 comments
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Eggs
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Mehso-so

Well written but disturbing.

#authoramonth
@Soubhiville

Cuilin He‘s certainly not afraid of dark themes or making his readers uncomfortable. Great writer though. Have you read On Chesil Beach yet? 4y
Eggs No I haven‘t @Cuilin 4y
71 likes2 comments
blurb
AJackets
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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I love Ian McEwan and was surprised to find a book of his I had not read on a list of the top 10 most disturbing books. Starting now! #booklove #novella #currentlyreading #IanMcEwan

2 likes1 stack add
blurb
KarenUK
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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#7days7covers #CoverCrush #Day6 💕

I tag @ValerieAndBooks if you‘d like to play along? Just post 1 cover you love, each day for 7 days, no explanation needed and use the hashtags 😊💕

Cinfhen Makes me want to read the blurb!!! 5y
KarenUK I love these McEwan covers by Vintage.... they are all kind of intriguing... @cinfhen 5y
ValerieAndBooks Very striking cover! Ok this should be fun to do 😊 5y
See All 6 Comments
BarbaraBB A much better cover than mine for this book - although I am not sure what‘s the connection to the story?! 5y
KarenUK @BarbaraBB I think it pictures one of the dresses the eldest sister wears.....🤷‍♀️ 5y
BarbaraBB Probably indeed. It looks more adult though than I imagine her. It‘a subjective, I know! 5y
63 likes6 comments
review
KarenUK
Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Pickpick

This book is SO dark and twisted! It‘s a car-crash, in that it‘s horrifying and unsettling yet I couldn‘t stop reading!
Narrated uncomfortably by Jack, a callow teen loner, he and his 3 siblings hide the death of their mum to avoid going into care. The eldest, Julie is so manipulative, and she leads the unsupervised clan further into disturbing dysfunction.
TW for incest and simple F‘d-up-ness! But wow am I always captivated by McEwan‘s writing!

MrsMalaprop Have had this on my #tbr shelf for years. Need to get to it when I‘m in the mood for a twisted read 😆. 5y
LeahBergen Well, now. I better read this! 😆 5y
KarenUK @LeahBergen You have been warned! 😂 5y
LeahBergen 😆😆 Have you read his The Comfort of Strangers? That is SUCH a weird one, too. 5y
erzascarletbookgasm Will get this further up the pile now 😁 5y
51 likes3 stack adds5 comments
blurb
KarenUK
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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#nextup this one... I usually ❤️McEwan and I‘ve heard this is possibly his best novel... Excited! 🤞
Started our day with a couples massage, a float around the lazy river... now chilling in a beautiful shady oasis.... I could get a bit too used to this! 💕

youneverarrived Sounds idyllic 💚 5y
batsy I thought this was very good... But so very hard (subject-wise) to read 💔 5y
Daisey Sounds like a lovely day! Also, this book is in my Kindle list, so good to hear it's considered one of McEwan's best. 5y
See All 11 Comments
Kalalalatja Sounds perfect! 5y
LeahBergen Enjoy your day! 5y
BarbaraBB I am looking forward to your thoughts. It wasn‘t my favorite McEwan! 5y
TheLudicReader I liked this one, but Atonement is my fave. 5y
KarenUK Thanks all! It‘s been such a treat to be away! 😎💕 @youneverarrived @LeahBergen @Daisey @Kalalalatja 5y
KarenUK @BarbaraBB @batsy @Daisey @TheLudicReader Just finished it! Wow was it uncomfortable and disturbing... 😳...but McEwan gets me every time with his writing.... 5y
TheLudicReader I remember seeing this movie a long, long time ago. I think McEwan could write anything. 5y
BarbaraBB Glad you liked it! 5y
53 likes4 stack adds11 comments
blurb
KarenUK
Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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#tenonmytbr
Saw this hashtag on instagram so I thought I‘d use it for my possible #junetbr
Currently reading Orlando by Virginia Woolf, The Things she‘s Seen, and also a reread of Lauren Groff‘s Florida for a bookclub....

review
LittleWonder
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Mehso-so

So. Um. Yeeaaaaah. That's my review. I had a love hate relationship with this short read. THE most disturbing book in a long while. If that was the intention by the author, then it completely worked. *Trigger warning for sensitive readers!*

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LittleWonder
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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When you read and suddenly the words turn into lyrics in your head - specifically a Madonna song. 😳🎼🎤The book was made into a film 🎬and the dialogue was used for the song. Now I have to see the film.

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Ubookquitous
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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#gardentitle #aprilbookshowers I threw in The Constant Gardener because someone has to tend all these gardens

@RealLifeReading

RealLifeReading 😂😂😂 7y
36 likes1 comment
blurb
diovival
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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batsy This book is so good but also one of the hardest books I've ever has to read, in terms of its subject. 7y
8leagueboot I'm never emotionally ready for Ian McEwan. 7y
diovival @8leagueboot This is the only McEwan book I own and I haven't read any others. It's been sitting on the shelf for a long while. On a scale of 1 to 10, how wrecked will I be if I read this? 7y
See All 6 Comments
diovival @batsy Is reading this gonna feel like I've been punched in the gut? 7y
batsy @diovival To be quite honest, yes. It's very good, but bleak. 7y
8leagueboot @diovival I haven't read it, so I'm not sure how you will fare! His book Sunday hurt my soul, though, in all the good ways. 7y
29 likes2 stack adds6 comments
review
Tamra
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
Mehso-so

I'm not sure what was redeeming about this story. I thought the cement story line was intriguing & promising, but was derailed. Good thing it was short and inexpensive as a used buy.

blurb
KrisConstantReader
The Cement Garden | Ian McEwan
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Ebook deal. I almost bought this one recently at full price, so glad I waited 😁

ReadingOver50 These past months 3 books I bought at full price have shown up on daily deals. It makes me not want to buy new books anymore and just wait for a sale ☹️️ 7y
Catchmeintheairica What site do you purchase on ? 7y
KrisConstantReader @Catchmeintheairica iBooks but this dear was for both iBooks and kindle. 7y
KrisConstantReader @ReadingOver50 I hate when that happens. And it happens to me a lot as well. 7y
50 likes5 stack adds4 comments