Jméno Ian McEwan jsem již párkrát zaslechl, ale protože dávám přednost irským autorům před těmi ostrovními, nechával jsem jej bez povšimnutí. Až náhoda způsobila, že chtěv si pořídit nějaké mapy, zakoupil jsem i čerstvě vydaný překlad románu Nevinný (The Innocent, orig. 1989).Asi nejvíc mě na knize lákal popis poválečného Berlína ještě před postavením proslavené zdi. To ostatní, tedy vyhloubení tunelu do sovětské okupační zóny kvůli odposlouchávání telefonních hovorů a šifrovaných zpráv, tomu dávalo špionážní nádech. Hlavní postavy románu jsem pak bral pouze jako vypravěče příběhu na pozadí. Ale nakonec to bylo celé jinak.Hlavní linie vyprávění je založená na mladém Leonardu, který jakožto britský technik přijíždí pomáhat s odposlechy. V Berlíně se seznámí s půvabnou Marií, do které se zamiluje. Ta jeho city opětuje a tak nebrání nic tomu, aby spolu žili šťastně až do smrti. Ne, kecám. Nejde o žádnou červenou knihovnu. Jejich vztah dostává pár trhlin, které se zkraje zacelí (i když…). Tedy až na tu poslední, která se jejich pak jejich životy vleče bez možnosti vrátit se zpět.Upozornění: následující dva odstavce sice nevyzrazuje rozuzlení knihy, ale obecně poodkrývají události, které se stanou. Můžete tedy být na ně připraveni a při čtení čekat, kdy se stanou a co jsou vlastně zač. Mohlo by vám to ale zkazit pocity ze čtení.Mariina zpověď, kterou Leonardovi po letech nabízí, ukazuje, jak moc oba ztratili. Hlavně Leonard, který byl jejich vztahem značně zmítán. Místy se zdá, že Marie byla vypočítavá mrcha/blbá kráva (nehodící se škrtněte). Ale není to tak černobílé. V každém případě je v jejích slovech něco, co mi zabraňuje jí věřit. A je to něco, co prohlubuje depresi z promarněných životů, které mohly (ale nemusely) být prožity úplně jinak.Název románu má v češtině tu výhodu, že odpovídá hned třem významům. Leonard je panic (Innocent). Je to také životem nezkušený, naivní mladík (a vlastně to, jak to nakonec skončí, je především vinou jeho nevyzrálosti). V závěru knihy si pak sám Leonard pohrává s významem nevinný ve smyslu "not guilty".Pokud se vrátím k hlavnímu důvodu, proč jsem knihu začal číst, tak vězte, že se o životě v Berlíně padesátých let minulého století dozvíte mnoho drobných střípků. Čekal bych sice více, ale i to, co autor nabízí, napomáhá udělat si vlastní obrázek. Co se tajné operace týče, beru ji jen jako pomocný prvek, který určoval důvod pobytu Leonarda v Berlíně. Nečekejte, že byste se dozvěděli něco ze zákulisí CIA nebo SIS (MI6). Už třeba popis, jak Leonard získává prověrky na vyšší stupeň bezpečnosti, je směšný.S hodnocením mám problém. Kniha v první půlce byla místy až zbytečně rozvláčná, ale to, co Ian McEwan provedl na konci, to na mě silně zapůsobilo. Po dočtení jsem si říkal, že je to skvělá kniha, ale asi se k ní již nebudu chtít vrátit. Teď už vím, budu.
This.. was just a really disgusting book, on so many levels. There's a lot to be said (and very little of it good) for a novel in which every character is genuinely dis likable. Leonard is self-obsessed and pathetically ignorant as opposed to innocent. McEwan tries to make the point that he transforms throughout the book but he really doesn't. He is the same selfish and irresponsible little man thrown amidst matters that are much bigger than him, yet he handles them with regards only to his own immediate wants and needs. His love for Maria revolves around how good it feels to receive attention from a beautiful girl for the first time rather than actually being in love with another human being - Maria is an object and a tool for him, an object which he readily abuses and then, like a whipped dog, whimpers and whines when he is reprimanded for trying to tear up his toy. Maria herself is a very superficial woman, heartless in her ability to fall in and out of love extraordinarily quickly. When she describes how much she loves Leonard, it is wholly unfitting to her character otherwise. The tunnel and its eventual destruction showed us Americans that might as well have been good-natured, overgrown toddlers (though, being an American who has lived in Berlin, this isn't exactly inaccurate). The British are comically self-serving and incompetent. The operation itself was convoluted because the presentation was too technical and cumbersome.AND THEN McEwan just throws in there a murder and the repugnant hacking apart of a human corpse, complete with what I imagine to be very realistic descriptions of the horrific details. I know McEwan himself says he regrets writing that scene and, honestly, I'm going to have to agree with him on that one. It was unnecessary and everything that happened afterwards was lost on me. I was distressed on behalf of the two suitcases that Leonard could not manage to get rid of and the disintegrating relationship (if you can even call it that) between Leonard and Maria but, primarily, I was still preoccupied with how the slimy gray brain matter had spilled from the corpse's head onto Leonard's shoes I mean COME ON. Unfitting for a novel that promised us something else up until that point.The postscript may have been meant as a redeeming note but it only revealed that, after all of that and all the years that went unwritten, Leonard is still immature and unthinkably selfish. Maria's love is easy come, easy go. And Glass, poor Bob Glass, will always be the easily fooled American.On a very personal note, what was enjoyable about this read was the evolving description of the great city of Berlin. Heartbreaking (or healing, perhaps?) to see the transformation of the actual street I lived on, which is where Maria is to have lived. Berlin, you may be poor but you are sexy (always).
What do You think about The Innocent (2015)?
Ian McEwan + thriller + Cold War Berlin? Sign me up!Atonement is easily in my top fave books of all time. This departure for Ian intrigued me, a look into Cold War shenanigans in mid-1950's Berlin.We follow the story of British pup Leonard, a clumsy and inexperienced civil servant who is seduced by Maria, a spirited, slightly older German gal. Despite the secrecy of Leonard's work with digging up a tunnel under the Soviet sector and all, everything happens rather boy-meet-girl fashion: devirginization, insecurities, holding hands, etc.And just as Ian habitually paints life, this passionate love story takes a dreadful turn and suddenly the reader is swept up into a frenzy. You find yourself rooting for the lovebirds to pull through, but the circumstances become appalling, obliterating innocence and hope so it seems like they never existed.I won't give anything away here. Hey, it's a thriller!What I will say is that this is a very unique story, one that will tie your heart into knots. Ian's a master at this.This book is not for the faint of heart. There is an entire chunk of this book which will make you squirm undoubtedly. But, stick with it (even if you have to scan past some of the impeccable descriptions, which are just plain grody). Take this psychological journey with Ian. It's magnificent.Britt Skrabanekhttp://brittskrabanek.com
—Britt Skrabanek
Leonard Marnham, a young British electronics technician, is sent to Berlin in the mid-fifties to work on an elaborate Soviet spy operation. A virgin, he meets a German lover, Maria; their affair leads to a gruesome and graphically described murder. There is a coda set in 1987 Berlin where the horrors of the past are laid to rest. The atmosphere of post-war Berlin is described perfectly. The atmosphere of impending doom throughout the novel is palpable. Although Leonard starts out innocent and ends up guilty, the innocent of the title is, in a sense, the American occupiers of West Germany. The Americans have swagger and rock n' roll, but the Soviets are too much for them, and the Europeans have a corrupting influence. Maria, the experienced European, has her innocence restored through her contacts with Americans. See Henry James.
—Beverly
While not up to the same level of intensity or despair as Atonement, The Innocent conveys many of the same feelings. Coming of age, intense passion and love turned into intense loathing and disgust. Both books are in a way coming of age novels shrouded in the context of global warfare--Atonement has the main plot pivot occur during the war, The Innocent has it occur during the aftermath of war. I felt that this book was lighter and simplier than Atonement until suddently it wasn't. The book quickly turns from a book about an innocent romance into something boarderline a horror, psychological thriller and the change is abrupt, swift and stunning. I liked how there was very little after the climax, how the summary and cleanup of events was quickly taken care of. I would recommend this book to anyone with a strong stomach and a love for historical fiction with twists.
—Jed L
