The Child In Time

   
The Child In Time
by Ian McEwan
read: 2013
Guardian 1000 Novels

I became a father for the first time a little over a year ago. The Child In Time's protagonist sees his daughter abducted in the supermarket, and the novel deals with his struggles to cope with that tragedy. It was a tough read in a way that it wouldn't have been for me a couple years ago.

One of the themes in the book is the capriciousness of life and death. Aside from the kidnapped daughter, we see a traffic incident that narrowly avoids a fatality, a character commits suicide, and a baby is conceived. Life is fragile and death can arrive at any time. The titular "child in time" refers to a metaphysical encounter between the protagonist and his mother, where he appears to her as a small child while she is pregnant with him and contemplating an abortion. Without that miracle, would our hero have ever been born? McEwan sets up his incomprehensible loss in opposition to the improbability of existing in the first place.

Great book, well constructed, the prose is outstanding. As a dad though, it was painful at times.