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Nutshell

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Nutshell

By: Ian McEwan
Narrated by: Rory Kinnear
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About this listen

Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home – a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse – but not with John. Instead, she's with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy's womb.

Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world’s master storytellers.

 Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Fiction Witty Funny

Critic Reviews

An astonishing act of literary ventriloquism unlike any in recent literature. A bravura performance, it is the finest recent work from a true master… Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a shocking tale of murder and treachery from one of the world’s master storytellers.
A creative gamble that pays off brilliantly…Witty and gently tragic, this short, bewitching novel is an ode to humanity’s beauty, selfishness and inextinguishable longing. (Hephzibah Anderson)
Ian McEwan’s embryonic spin on Hamlet is a virtuoso feat of wordplay … Virtuoso entertainment. (Tim Adams)
While the literary device of an unborn baby narrating a novel from the womb is hardly original… Ian McEwan employs it with aplomb... Here everything is tightly controlled and the tension ratchets up as our all-knowing unborn watches helplessly from his watery sack while the dastardly plan progresses through a series of nail-biting moments… The ending is beautifully contrived… The book is elegantly written with plenty of pungent, topical observations upon the world. (John Harding)
At once playful and deadly serious, delightful and frustrating it is one of McEwan’s hardest to categorise works, and all the more interesting for it. (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst)
Nutshell is an orb, a Venetian glass paperweight, of a book; a place where, be warned , it puts you in the quoting mood…it is a consciously late, deliberately elegiac , masterpiece, a calling together of everything McEwan has learned and knows about his art. (Kate Clanchy)
A very alternative Hamlet… the tension ratchets up as our all-knowing unborn watches helplessly from his watery sack while the dastardly plan progresses through a series of nail-biting moments… The book is elegantly written with plenty of pungent, topical observations upon the world its narrator will soon be emerging into. (Daily Mail)
One of the most hilariously unlikely narrators in contemporary fiction. (Claire Lowdon)
A fast, arch beach read… A psychological thriller with a bad marriage and murder at its centre… McEwan has thrown in Gone Girl intrigue with The Girl on the Train suspense and given us his take on how toxic a marriage can get when spliced with a Shakespearean cast. Who knew McEwan could mix high and low literary genres to create such a bizarrely readable mash-up? (Arifa Akbar)
The book’s finest exploration is of poetry. The author offers up everything he knows about its intensity, and why he loves it so. It is clear Mr McEwan has had enormous fun writing Nutshell; now it is the reader’s turn to be entertained too. Dark as it is, this novel is a thing of joy.
All stars
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Nothing like what I was expecting but a real delight. Masterly written and read. Highly recommended.

Thoroughly enjoyable

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Thoroughly enjoyed following this story as it unraveled, from an entirely different perspective - fantastic

Great perspective

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A master author at work , such eloquence and wit. Unique perspective on the effects of alcohol on the unborn

Totally enthralling and witty

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Really enjoyed the writer - fantastically eloquently and densely put prose about many aspects of life with a light storyline and a twist to boot. Philosophical snippets as a story. Very enjoyable.

Ian mcewan is a revelation

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I resisted this title for ages, not initially attracted by the prospect of foetus as narrator -- but what a masterpiece it is!

Cleverly constructed and beautifully written -- all the more enjoyable for being read by Rory Kinnear.

Brilliant!

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This book was very cleverly written and wonderfully read with nuanced dry Brit humour throughout. Recommended.

Witty from the womb

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The story's narrator is an unborn baby... I initially wondered how this would work - but it's engaging and generally excellent. There are brilliant flashes of humour, even though it's against a backdrop of a quietly unfolding thriller. Ian McEwen is at his finest.

Excellent story from an unusual perspective!

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Ian McEwan back at his very best. Couldn't put it down. Very quirky and no idea which way it was going to go. Also got the ending right which hasn't always been the case. Also enjoyed the performance all round. Have already recommended this book, even though just finished.

Very enjoyable Ian McEwan

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. The narrator was the only reason I 'read' the whole book. A cast of unlikeable and un-relatable characters. The fetus has the persona of a pretentious middle-aged professor who's intellect is unbelievable considering the likelihood of fetal alcohol syndrome. As a midwife I couldn't help but squirm at the birth scene (a caul cannot be shrugged off) - women's first labours generally take hours not minutes. Interesting concept though... I guess.

What does Rory Kinnear bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Rory is a fantastic narrator and saved the story

Could you see Nutshell being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

I hope not

In a nutshell...

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If I could give this book 6/5 stars, I would. One of the best books I've ever read (or rather, heard). I have had to stop myself from going back for a 4th listen. One of those books you grieve for when it's finished. There is so much in it--every sentence is so elegant, rich, beautifully crafted and full of meaning. And the narrator (Rory Kinnear) is marvellous.

A masterpiece -- brilliant, witty, profound and moving.

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