He can certainly be a bit of a pageful. I was impressed by Saturday, not so much taken with his other work.

His novels feel so painting-by-numbers to me. V formulaic.

Lessons was beautiful, but I think that’s got something to do with the fact that it’s him mining his own biography.

Oh goodness thank heavens. Someone whose opinion I rate goes on about him but I’ve enjoyed none of his novels and persisted. Thought it was me.

I met him once at an opening at MOMA in Oxford. He was wandering round saying, “I’m Ian McEwan”

Yes, I think that's right. Which explains why they're so bloodless and detached.

That's a very good way to describe them. There's also something rather smug about them I think.

I agree & I think it's his very thorough cataloguing of characters' thoughts, like people can be fully understood & explained (He's so condescending about the honeymoon food in On Chesil beach as well)

McEwan is certainly a very confident author - which I suppose is fair enough given how many successful books he's written. But yes, there's something quite lofty about his books.

I thought Black Dogs was really good, but even that feels very consciously structured - the seams/scaffolding show. I have often wondered whether this is an effect of being ‘taught’ creative writing.

There's possibly also an "I am deliberately writing an A-level set text" thing going on.

A touch of damning with faint praise?

"His most entertaining in years" reminds me of Tim Harford and More or Less. Beware the comparative, because what are you comparing it against?

Yes, exactly