In this short story collection, McEwan explores human relationships, the grotesque and the sensual lurking in the corners of our minds. Each of the stories engage the reader with a simple yet arresting prose that forces the reader to grapple with often unpleasant ideas and themes. Each of the "freaks and monsters" that populate McEwan's England have a unsettling story to tell. "Two Fragments" is perhaps one of the strongest ones in this collection, following a father struggling to take care of his daughter in a post-apocalyptic London; much is left unexplained which allows McEwan's characters to take centre stage and enable the reader to fully immerse themselves in their desperate struggles to survive. "In Between the Sheets" - the title story - sees a divorced father overcome with suspicion about his daughter's relationship with a friend; "Dead as They Come" follows a wealthy businessman's torrid love affair with a shop mannequin. These two are further character studies and both stand out because of their subject matter, but also because McEwan places the reader inside the narrators' minds - their feelings, thoughts, insecurities, and passions are acutely and uncomfortably laid bare for the reader. In the remaining story that I enjoyed most, "Psychopolis" - a tale of ennui as a traveller from the UK experiences L.A. - "a city without a centre, without citizens, a city that existed only in the mind" - McEwan captures the moods and feelings of his characters well.The remaining stories are challenging and uncomfortable but in a way that rewards the reader with a deeper understanding of McEwan's writing and the characters themselves. "Confessions of a Kept Ape" is particularly odd - an exploration of the pressures of writing and a bizarre portrayal of a relationship supposedly based on bestiality.These stories do make for depressed reader but their realism and at the same time their dreamlike quality stand out. The collection of stories here transform the ordinary into the fantastical and grotesque but at the same time are careful treatments of marginalised characters. They provide a detailed image of McEwan as one of the best writers in modern Britain.
Dating from 1978, this is amongst Mr. McEwan’s earliest works. It is a collection of short stories, each of them peppered with themes that will return again and again in his later novels – sex, fetishism, human relationships between adults, and adults and children, and human nature in all its wonderful, bizarre and appalling forms. In a short review as this, it would be invidious to relate any of the plots of the short stories, but the one that stuck most in my mind is the description in “Two Fragments: Saturday and Sunday, March 199-”. This was a nightmarish vision of what late 20th Century life would be like in a post-civilised, post-industrial London, where the only form of transport is by foot, and humans had resorted to the most basic form of existence, albeit in the surroundings of a great metropolis. It is possible that, in 1978 when this was written, Mr. McEwan had in the back of his mind that wonderful 1970s television series, “Survivors”, which catalogued the descent of civilisation in such a post-apocalyptic world, and it is always tantalising to view past generations’ predictions of what their future might hold. I can only hope that, if the worst comes to the worst, that society does not take the particular turns that led to a future then predicted with chilling vivacity by Mr. McEwan. If I had to pick a favourite story, it would have to be “Dead as they come”, for its depiction of a lovingly (in)human relationship, and the wonderful use of language to describe it. Mr. McEwan’s masterly use of the English language is never better than here. Two of the stories were totally incomprehensible to me, but this does not detract from the enjoyment derived from the book overall, and fans of McEwan will need no encouragement. To those new to his genre, then this is as good a place as any by which to be introduced to the particular dark themes so often features in his works.
What do You think about In Between The Sheets (1994)?
I guess I have a very different view from most people here. I enjoyed this book because I felt that it was very well crafted. As absurd as the premises of the stories were, McEwan manages to make them "believable" and yet intriguing through his description. Also, even though it is highly sensual, the stories and scenes were very well written. Such that it is tasteful and artistic, rather than how most romantic novels are "trashy" with those scenes. Case in point: fifty shades of grey; it's like pure poison to the brain.
—Faith
Here again if am writing this review, is because one of the seven short stories it is composed of, is just one I happen to love. "More dead, Impossible" if this is its English title may well be one of the best I ever read. It is a weird love story speaking about where common man (or not so common, for sure) alienation can lead to. Could one find a perfect lover, or what is more, buy her? -the other stories does perhaps not reach this one's level, but still one of McEwan's favourite matters to deal with: dark sides of human mind putting the accent in what is subtlety said or even just suggested. He already proved to be an interesting writer between those of his generation and so, there will always remain for me at least, more books about him to be read. A brilliant mind with a wide register in his themes, does not often speak about common or nonsense matters, so, has to heard. McEwan has to be read.
—Axel Ainglish
Having decided to read the early writings of McEwan, I should say I am a bit disappointed by this collection. His first book First Love Last Rites was much stronger than this one, his second published book. Some, like the Pornography, In Between the Sheets and Psychopolis deserve praise, while the others mark a poor level. Incest and other perverted sexual motives could well be off putting for many readers. In any case, reading this collection is helpful to better understand the inner world of one of the greatest writers of our time.
—Hakan
