Each month we will be featuring a guest writer and this month's is Michael Sharp. Michael presents a indepth review of Ian McEwan's Enduring Love.

The "event" that changes everything is described as "a fall". The reference is reinforced in the last words of the first chapter - "falling man". Later, in Chapter 3, there is a reference to Milton's But these issues are not just for the religious. From the outset, the religious references are accompanied by the narrator's very scientific perspective. The rescue is viewed from the heavens but att Joe and Jed are exactly opposite each other as they run to the balloon. Their conflict epitomises the essential contrast in the novel * science and the rational versus religion and the irrational. Jo At the centre of the chaos is the balloon. Like us poor humans, it is subject to the capricious, random winds of fate. Later we discover that the inquiry into the accident finds that "the pilot had a The balloon is filled with helium, "that elemental gas forged from hydrogen in the nuclear furnace of the stars, first step along the way in the generation of multiplicity and variety of matter in th "I often think that when people talk of coincidences that they're almost bound to occur because we're like so many atoms in a turbulent system, or a gas under pressure. If you lead an averagely bu Science and religion see the pattern differently. Like Joe and Jed, they come from opposite sides of the field.

The rescue attempt presents a dilemma. If the rescuers all hang on, the balloon will come down safely. If any one lets go, then any person who hangs on could die. The dilemma cannot be avoided. Joe r In the interview on the net, McEwan says of this choice: "This is the basis of our morality."

The choice is between union and individualism. The theme of union is hinted at in the novel's title. In the opening chapter, Joe and Clarissa are united after a separation of six weeks. We also get a The second chapter introduces an ominous change: "Afterwards there is branching and subdivision." These words have both religious and scientific resonance. The main divisive force is Jed, whose actio The extended discussion of the dog jumping on his master's chair is an example of McEwan playing with the theme of how random behaviour can be misinterpreted as rational action. One of the oldest lit Images of divorce are introduced. Clarissa's brother Luke's marriage is falling apart due to infidelity. Union is destroyed by a third party. Joe finds he must endure Jed's love while struggling to e Which brings us to Jed and de Clerambault's syndrome. This epitomises how a random, powerful, irrational external force can split apart your ordered life while reason and logic offer no defence or pr Joe's experience shows that rational behaviour and hard evidence can be useless. This is partly because you can never be sure what is hard evidence. The restaurant scene shows that memory is far from Human communication is shown to be flawed. Joe and Clarissa don't understand each other's response to Jed. They see and interpret the same events and things differently. Joe is strictly rational, whi So we come to the final chapter. Two children are playing in a river , a universal symbol of the life force. Joe joins them and enjoys feeling the ooze between his toes, a reference to the beginning McEwan then goes out of his way to explain that water consists of three molecules, H2O. The final words of the novel take us to the river of life and its trillions of water molecules. I believe the In the end, Jed asks for forgiveness. Forgiveness for irrational actions that threatened to split Joe and Clarissa. The Professor of Logic (ha ha) asks Mrs Logan for forgiveness because his ratio It seems that whether you are an irreligious, coldly rational scientist, a religious fanatic or someone between these two extremes, forgiveness and acceptance of the world's random, destructive force.

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