Nutshell by Ian McEwan Book Review

This book takes you on a wild ride. Like a fly on the wall, our main character, a foetus who is weeks from birth, becomes the primary witness in the plot to murder his father. The culprits, his mother, whom he lives within, and his uncle, his father’s brother, and his mother’s lover. From within his mother, our main character hears every word of the nefarious plot that is concocted, without being able to stop any of it from happening. 

This is a very creative take on Hamlet, told in utero, by Hamlet as a foetus on the brink of birth as mother and uncle plot the murder of his father. McEwans writing style is chaotic and expressive, taking the reader through a bevy of emotions that our Hamlet foetus is experiencing.  

I say this book is chaotic because our main character is often lost in adult themed thought tangents that are unexpected, and would be completely out of place if this wasn't a work of fiction. 

With biting humour and eccentricity, this book is a quick read that will certainly get you thinking. 

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Reviewed by Jennifer (eCommerce Manager)