The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan

I found about this novel (and The Cement Garden, which I already read) in a YouTube video about disturbing books. Go check Plagued by Visions "Most disturbing books Series" Playlist. This book is OK but I think the Cement Garden is better. Both are very well written with a nice compelling prose. But I prefer the subject matter and the overall story in the Cement Garden. 

The story follows a couple on holidays Mary and Colin. We don't know where but we follow them in their utterly boring holiday activities and conversations. That is until the couple meet Robert, a local. Robert starts an interesting conversation about his childhood. I thought OK now things are getting interesting. But then we go back to Mary and Colin dull selves. 🥱 However near the end things get more interesting again and *freaking disturbing* with Robert and his wife flipping around an otherwise meh story. I think this novel is worth reading just for its twisted, mad ending. And it is only 100 pages.

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

Beautiful prose, one that glues the reader to the book.🌟🌟🌟🌟 A kind of distorted coming of age story which follows a 15 year old boy. After they are orphaned, Jack, his sisters and younger brother decide to stay on their own, isolated from the world. The novel explores the protagonist’s feelings regarding his late parents, his relationship with his siblings and his sexual desires toward his older sister. There are some disturbing passages but I don’t think this is a horror story. It unveils the dark corners of a child’s mind who is trying to discover who he is amid the aftermath of the greatest loss in his life. Thought some of the actions by the kids may be seen as morally shocking I wonder how much of that shock is socially constructed (as opposed to innate). We, the readers, are bound by an intricate moral system which frames our assessment. Left to their own devices the kids are able to escape those boundaries and build their own, perhaps simpler, moral system....

Machines like me by Ian McEwan

A really enjoyable read. Reminded me of Galatea 2.2 but instead of an AI in a Computer here we get an AI in an Android called Adam. Like in Galatea we see more about the AI's human owner, Charlie, than we see of the AI. We meet Charlie's girlfriend who's got a dark secret. And how Charlie, his girlfriend and Adam form an unusual family, with Adam trying to learn how to be human. All this happens in an alternative 1980s Britain where Alan Turing is still alive and were mobile phones already exist.