Beard's

Reviewers are mystified and dismissive of McEwan harping so much on Beard's obsession with the event; some have gone so far as to suggest that it may be a reaction to the plagiarism charges McEwan had to face, in connection with his borrowing from someone else's book for certain descriptions in Atonement.

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

They're too focused on Beard's putatively loathsome character -- whether or not he develops according to their politically correct wishes, whether or not he gives global warming its due, whether or not we should hate him for his attitude toward women and children and the less educated -- and don't seem to understand that they have a different book on their hands than one ostensibly about the individual travails of Michael Beard.

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

With Solar, he seems to be moving beyond his previous obsession with sadomasochism (Beard's severed penis early on, during the Arctic exploration, signals McEwan's metafictional distance from the dominance of sexual perversity in his early books).

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

They're too focused on Beard's putatively loathsome character -- whether or not he develops according to their politically correct wishes, whether or not he gives global warming its due, whether or not we should hate him for his attitude toward women and children and the less educated -- and don't seem to understand that they have a different book on their hands than one ostensibly about the individual travails of Michael Beard.

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

As for the book's final scenes, in which all of Beard's earlier lies, betrayals and schemes come sliding down together in a gigantic avalanche, they feel oddly perfunctory and rushed: an unsatisfying ending to what is ultimately one of the immensely talented Mr. McEwan's decidedly lesser efforts.

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

As for the book's final scenes, in which all of Beard's earlier lies, betrayals and schemes come sliding down together in a gigantic avalanche, they feel oddly perfunctory and rushed: an unsatisfying ending to what is ultimately one of the immensely talented Mr. McEwan's decidedly lesser efforts.

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

The last two thirds of this novel, however, are oddly static, as Mr. McEwan repetitiously harps on Beard's gluttonous habits and growing waistline, his sexual promiscuity and his opportunistic efforts to cash in on global warming.

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

Yet some businesses that rely on tourists, such as Beard's, continue to struggle.

Tourism returning a year after the Gulf oil spill 2011

The last two thirds of this novel, however, are oddly static, as Mr. McEwan repetitiously harps on Beard's gluttonous habits and growing waistline, his sexual promiscuity and his opportunistic efforts to cash in on global warming.

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010

With Solar, he seems to be moving beyond his previous obsession with sadomasochism (Beard's severed penis early on, during the Arctic exploration, signals McEwan's metafictional distance from the dominance of sexual perversity in his early books).

Anis Shivani: Why American Reviewers Disliked Ian McEwan's "Solar": And What That Says About the Cultural Establishment Anis Shivani 2010