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Title: A
Review: Building to a quietly shocking denouement in this short novel that packs more emotional punch in 127 pages than most fleshed out books, McEwan demonstrates in The Comfort of Strangers that he has mastered the craft of writing. Atmospheric and incredibly controlled and tense, the narration mirrors the heavy claustrophobia of a couple vacationing, a crowded feeling exacerbated by the passages describing the sun and the water. The psychological awareness utilized by the author is at its best - he deftly shows the inner workings of personal relationships while at the same time allowing foreshadowing and ominous imagery to simmer beneath the surface of the story. It is while waiting for this sense of unease to manifest itself that is most thrilling, and the numbness which one will feel at the conclusion echoes what the protagonists themselves feel as well.
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