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The Children Act

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The Children Act

By: Ian McEwan
Narrated by: Lindsay Duncan
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Summary

Fiona Maye is a leading High Court judge, presiding over cases in the family court. She is renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude and sensitivity. But her professional success belies private sorrow and domestic strife. There is the lingering regret of her childlessness, and now, her marriage of thirty years is in crisis.

At the same time, she is called on to try an urgent case: for religious reasons, a beautiful seventeen-year-old boy, Adam, is refusing the medical treatment that could save his life, and his devout parents share his wishes. Time is running out. Should the secular court overrule sincerely held faith? In the course of reaching a decision Fiona visits Adam in hospital – an encounter which stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. Her judgment has momentous consequences for them both.

 Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

Compulsively readable... McEwan’s prose keeps its cutting edge and his books are the ones the reading public still crave… A masterly balance between research and imagination… One feels an immediate pleasure in returning to prose of uncommon clarity, unshowiness and control
Classic McEwan… It’s a pleasure from start to finish, one not to be interrupted
A powerful, humane novel
One of the finest writers alive
McEwan writes as beautifully and elegantly as ever, his prose quintessentially English in its restraint, one meticulously chosen word hinting at depths of emotion
A finely written, engaging read… Poignant, challenging and lyrical
A class act by one of our finest novelists. (Viv Groskop)
A compelling moral dilemma [with] a moving and heartfelt denouement.
Shows McEwan as a master of fiction. (Olivia Cole)
It is one most extraordinary, powerful, moving reading experiences of my life. It is an utterly remarkable novel, delicately balanced, perfectly crafted, beautifully written. (Alberto Manguel)
All stars
Most relevant
I feel Ian McEwan is to novels what Woody Allen is to films. You know you will get a worthwhile experience, not a dull moment, good writing, good research, no insult your intelligence. The heroine, Fiona May, is a 59 year old high court judge in the family court. McEwan oscillates a narrative between her work cases and a marriage problem in her private life, with the two slowly coming together in the last scenes. The cases she has to judge involve children, and this ironically emphasises the childlessness that one suspects is at the root of the problem in the marriage. Like many highly successful women (Angela Merkel, Condoleezza Rice, Barbara Castle, Nicola Sturgeon...) May had put off children, and just basically missed the opportunity. Her husband now fancies sleeping with a girl the age of the 'missing' daughter, maybe grasping, unconsciously at one last chance, or attempting to find a substitute. Anyway, the point is that McEwan raises interesting issues around the career/life choices facing brilliant women in our society.

Weaknesses. I found the ending a bit weak, and McEwan rather laboured May's coldness - so damn lacking in rhythm she couldn't play jazz (despite being a talented piano player). I felt often that McEwan could have given more - particularly by developing Mr May - he is just a cardboard cutout. It felt like McEwan was delivering a 200 page novella for £7.99, and didn't want to develop this into a more serious, weighty novel though he has enough material for subplots and extra characters.

Narration. 6 stars. Lindsay Duncan is a genius. I will explain: Duncan creates voice portraits rather than the lazy caricatures we are used to. Most narrators make me squirm when they have to represent poor, uneducated characters, but Duncan has the genius to create fine and civilised voices for all characters. The West Indian nurse has a truly Caribbean lilt, but she is also dignified and wise. Nigel - Fiona May's court clark - is similarly distinctive, courteous and discrete. And Fiona herself, not posh and haughty (so easy to do) but educated, thoughtful and refined. I would like Lindsay to narrate every single novel I ever read from now on.

McEwan earns his crust

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Ian McEwan at his best; stylish, sensitive and very sharp. The cool -not cold - analytical public voice of the protagonist, a respected circuit judge, who as a woman with a successful career has understandably mixed feelings about her childless state gives way to a more intense and troubled private voice. Her husband's announcement of his intention to commit adultery with his naturally much younger research assistant gives rise to such anger in her that her being is changed; so changed that it effects every aspect of her life and judgement.

The Children Act touches on , as usual in his writing, many different ideas and an almost profligate number of plot possibilities, all of which lend an air of excitement to the experience of listening.

,Though it is a short novel he manages to differentiate his characters and to delineate his landscapes with the lightest of touches; the dichotomy of the dryness and gossip of the world of the legal professions are caught wonderfully well. All of which nothing to the series of moral and intellectual dilemmas and failures in which his esteemed judge finds herself mired. A wonderful book, a must read.

Well no, not necessarily a read, because listening to Lindsay Duncan's delivery of the voices of Fiona as she travels through the stages of a not entirely understood journey is superb. The ironies of how children act are greatly enhanced!

Should eighteen be the age of consent?

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This book should have been longer! Leaving it so short - I understand it was a short story published in the New Yorker but stretched a bit more by Ian to make it a 'novel' - did it an injustice.

I felt so sorry for Adam

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Would you be willing to try another book from Ian McEwan? Why or why not?

Yes, I really enjoy his writing style.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I found the narrator easy to listen to, there was nothing to dislike!

Any additional comments?

I recommend reading this book.

Thought provoking book!

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I enjoy Thus authors book and have read the majority. Up until now Atonement was my favourite book. Not now as this is a masterpiece I could not stop listening too. Great story and excellent narration by Lindsey Duncan.

Please can we have a happy ending?

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