Amsterdam

By Ian McEwan

Winner of the 1998 Booker Prize.

This story comes off as a kind of morality play. Like a movie from the 1940s, all the "bad" people end up badly. First, there is Molly, the slut. She sleeps around, even though she is married, gets a nasty disease that turns her brain to mush, and she is dead at the start of the novel. Then there are Clive, a composer who was one of Molly's lovers and Vernon, an editor and another of Molly's lovers. And there is Garmony, a self-righteous politico, who was also one of Molly's men and who liked cross-dressing. These three former lovers of Molly all end up badly and some end up very badly. Molly's husband George watches Molly's men crash and burn and smiles.

I can't say I really liked this story. True, a couple times it made me laugh. But the two main characters are both creeps and pretty much got what they deserved. I am not fond of novels about creeps.

Review from The Guardian   https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/06/booker-club-amsterdam-ian-mcewan.