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Solar

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Solar

By: Ian McEwan
Narrated by: Roger Allam
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About this listen

Features the author in converstation with his editor, Dan Franklin.

Michael Beard is a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming.

A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time it is different: she is having the affair, and he is still in love with her.

When Beard’s professional and personal worlds collide in a freak accident, an opportunity presents itself for him to extricate himself from his marital mess, reinvigorate his career, and save the world from environmental disaster.

Ranging from the Arctic Circle to the deserts of New Mexico, Solar is a serious and darkly satirical novel, showing human frailty struggling with the most pressing and complex problem of our time. A story of one man’s greed and self-deception, it is a profound and stylish new work from one of the world’s great writers.

©2010 Ian McEwan (P)2010 Random House Audiobooks Dark Humour Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Comedy Witty Feel-Good Funny Thought-Provoking Heartfelt

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Critic reviews

'[A] novel that promises comedy as well as crisis.' ( The Guardian)
"McEwan's pure, direct prose always lends itself well to audio... Roger Allam's studiously straight-faced reading sets the perfect tone for this subtle satire". ( The Times)
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Brilliant book perfectly narrated. This had me in stitches and I will listen to it again. The narrator got the characters down to a t. I loved it. McEwan at his best.

Brilliant book

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Like a coordinated air strike, Ian McEwan tries to reach many different targets in his new novel. As the interview with the writer included with the audio-book reveals, solar was going to be from the very beginning a novel about global warming. However although McEwan is a known proselytizer in this area, the characters in the novel are equivocal, until self interest and nothing more causes them to change sides. The central character of the book is a Nobel prize winning physicist who is trading on his former reputation both in the lecture room and in his personal life, and it is in the latter area in which he has problems as the book opens with his latest wife conducting her own extra marital experiments. The cleverly constructed story includes a great amount of accurate detail about contemporary physics as well as borrowing elements used in thrillers. The plot is an international as a James Bond novel, moving from suburban home county intrigues, a polar expedition, a South American experimental site and a North American trailer park. The more enjoyable sections would be the unintentional consequences of being caught short in sub zero temperatures, and a naive comment about gender predispositions leading to vilification in all sections of the press.

Roger Allam is a perfect choice for a reader of this novel. He portrays the worldly, self interested central character extremely well and his voice is well suited to McEwans slightly misanthropic and detached narrative.

Man made global warming

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an enjoyable read, but not quite as good as some of M Ewan's others, like Machines like Me

quite amusing with good story

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I read this book when it first came out but I thought I would enjoy it again. If anything I enjoyed it more the second time; brilliant narrator of a wonderfully funny book I highly recommend it.

Even better second time

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I've enjoyed all of the Ian McEwan books I have listened to and this is one of the best. He combines really clever writing with a liking for macabre plot twists and dark humour. There are some excellent set-pieces in the novel, my favourites being his descriptions of a nasty accident on a snow-mobile and of a stand-off over a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. The narrator did an excellent job. It is hard to find fault with this book if you are a fan.

Roald Dahl meets Martin Amis

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There are some great comic moments in this book but the story doesn’t really hang together. Beard is a caricature of a type that works well in comedy but I was left not that interested in what was happening to him.
The narration by Roger Allan was excellent.

Not my favourite McEwen

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An amusing black comedy, a parable of modern consumer society and an exposition of global warming. I was surprised to enjoy my time spent with such an unpleasant main protagonist but the irony and sarcasm are perfectly British and the plot twist around a third of the way through led the story down a compelling path. I started out with some tredipation that it was going to preach but although McEwan gets the point across he leaves the humour to do the work amidst some brilliant writing and excellent narration.

Black comedy

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I greatly enjoyed this cleverly constructed book that meshed scientific ideas with a pacy and humorous story. The central character, physics professor Michael Beard, is a memorable creation: a conceited misogynist who had one brilliant scientific insight early in his career but little since, yet he is strangely endearing as he stumbles through one disaster after another, bemoans his ever-increasing bulk and yet cannot resist junk food. There are several hilarious scenes but also salutary reminders of the dire-straights the world is in owing to global warming. The author has evidently done a great deal of research to make the scientific content authentic but deftly incorporates the facts into an engaging story full of twists of fate and the vicissitudes of human relationships.

It's a marvellous book made all the better by Roger Allam's performance.

Clever and entertaining

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I chose to listen because Roger Allam is the reader; he was perfect. Which leads me to wonder what would be made of Dr Beard without Allam’s skilful handling. Certainly intriguing but ultimately disappointing the story ran along predictable lines. Grateful for the inclusion of the author interview. It helped to understand the process.

Almost a Farce

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I am ashamed to say that I really enjoyed the main character, Michael Beard, captured with flair and depth by the narrator. This book ticked all the boxes for me - humour, science, womanising, supreme confidence, thoughtfulness and eventual comeuppance (regretfully). Buy it and enjoy - I will now read it for myself. The interview at the end with the magnificent Ian McEwan is an added bonus.

Quite excellent

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