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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780385494335
ISBN number: 0385494335
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: December 29, 1998
Publishing house: Anchor
Release Date: December 29, 1998
Sale Popularity Level: 85238
Studio: Anchor
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Product Description:
Leonard Marnham is assigned to a British-American surveillance team in Cold War Berlin. His intelligence work—tunneling under a Russian communications center to tap the phone lines to Moscow—offers him a welcome opportunity to begin shedding his own unwanted innocence, even if he is only a bit player in a grim international comedy of errors. Leonard's relationship with Maria Eckdorf, an enigmatic and beautiful West Berliner, likewise promises to loosen the bonds of his ordinary life. But the promise turns to horror in the course of one terrible evening—a night when Leonard Marnham learns just how much of his innocence he's willing to shed.
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Rated by buyers 
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I consider McEwan the finest living author and "Atonement" one of my most favorite novels. "Saturday," "Amsterdam" and "Enduring Love" are great, too. I add "The Innocent" to that list. The only fault was the grisly, endless disposal of Otto. It detracted from an otherwise fine novel.
Rated by buyers 
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As in other McEwan novels, something horrible happens to ordinary people one day and they realize that they are not as good as they think they are and that they have bad in them. This novel follows the same line but the writing does not match his other books.
Boy meets girl in the liberated city after the war. He wants to liberate her. But can she/the city really leave her tainted past behind? In trying to free her, he becomes an accomplice.
I didn't like the ending. I am not happy how everything is neatly tied up with a letter sent after 30 years.
There is a movie version The Innocent of this book, where, funny enough, Campbell Scott, an American, plays an Englishman, and Anthony Hopkins, a British, plays an American. Isabella Rosselini, an Italian, plays the German girl Maria. And, I strongly suspect that the dog may actually be a cat.
Rated by buyers -
This book was sitting on my bookshelf for 2 years...sorry I didn't read it before. Difficult to put down once I picked up.
Rated by buyers -
I have heard much about Ian McEwan, of course, but I had never gotten around to reading one of his novels until now. I suspect this is not his best work as it is similar in style to many other authors, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable.
This book is structured as a thriller and, as others have mentioned, you won't see it's major plot twist coming (although it takes a bit too long to come in my opinion). The writing is smooth and involving and the characters are drawn in depth. My only complaint is that the main character, an awkward British spy, is a bit too dumb I think.
Still, this was a great read and I can tell that this author has much to offer. I am off to add Atonement to my wish list.
Rated by buyers -
I'll agree with everyone else in that for the very first 3/4 of the book, I had no idea where I was headed. And then 'it' happened and the last 1/4 redeemed the entire story.
Although the very first 3/4 is a bit lacking in action, it contains images of war-torn Europe and wonderful characterizations of the people who lived among the ruins that I will never forget.
Begin it, stick with it, and enjoy it.
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