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The Cement Garden

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The Cement Garden

By: Ian McEwan
Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
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About this listen

 In the relentless summer heat, four abruptly orphaned children retreat into a shadowy, isolated world, and find their own strange and unsettling ways of fending for themselves... Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction

Critic reviews

A macabre but unforgettable tale (John Boyne)
Darkly impressive
Marvellously creates the atmosphere of youngsters given that instant adulthood they all crave, where the ordinary takes on a mysterious glow and the extraordinary seems rather commonplace. It is difficult to fault the writing or the construction of this eerie fable
An extremely assured, technically adept and compelling piece of work
A shocking book, morbid, full of repellant imagery - and irresistibly readable...The effect achieved by McEwan's quiet, precise and sensuous touch is that of magic realism - a transfiguration of the ordinary that has far stronger retinal and visceral impact than the flabby surrealism of so many experimental novels
It is difficult to fault the writing or the construction of this eerie fable
All stars
Most relevant
disturbing but I felt there was more to be said about the brother-sister relationship and how they got to that point

disturbing but I felt there was more to be said

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Loved it, the characters of the children were each unique, raw, endearing and also at times horrible. But they loved each other and were totally loyal to the end.

Great if far fetched but McEwen is a great writer

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wonderfully dark and twisted tale, beautifully written and performed. leaves an uncanny taste in your mouth.

dark, twisted, brilliant

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This is an unflinching brave book which is well written and worth a listen but it’s a very grim subject matter. It kept reminding me of the film Naked by Mike Leigh. How long can we stay in this character’s head? Mercifully the novel is short.

Unflinching but grim

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I'm no prude but this wasn't my cup of tea. a story of 4 strange unlikable children who are orphaned and decide to fend for themselves. Not particularly interesting but very cringey. Refund please!

Weird and disturbing incest story.

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