“The Nutshell” by Ian McEwan

Every time my mom gets on an airplane she has with her two or three books. These are not electronic books on her ipad, laptop or kindle. These are heavy, hardback books that she carries in her Pierre Deux tote bag. She always has the book she is currently reading, and one or two spares in case she finishes the current selection. She has been an avid reader every since elementary school when she had scarlet fever and the school made her burn all of her books. Her attachment to hardback books goes deep. So, last week when we got on our plane to Chicago, she handed me one of her spare books: “Nutshell” by Ian McEwan. She said, “Here, read this.” I already had my own books, but I put it aside at the chance to read one of my mom’s. I started “Nutshell” on the tarmac at LAX and finished it when we touched down at O’Hare. I did look up once or twice for the snack cart, or to tackle the stewardess for another thimble-size glass of Chadonnay, but pretty much for the entire plane flight this book kept my attention, and that is impressive. This is the 17th novel from McEwan, a British novelist and screenwriter. He writes big books (think “Atonement”) and novellas (think “Chesil Beach.” Nutshell is one of his little books, but its plot packs a big punch when it tackles the story of Hamlet, told from an unborn fetus. Now let’s stop right here: I do not read books that are silly, zany or in the vein of fantasy or science fiction. I like real stories told by real people about real, concrete things. Give me a story set in an apartment in Brooklyn about a boy over a story set behind a fairy door about a woodland nymph, and I will take the Brooklyn boy every time. But “Nutshell” is not a fantasy or science fiction story. It is not zany. It is the real story about an unborn son who overhears his mother and her lover (his uncle) plotting to kill his father. McEwan said in an interview that the idea for this unusual narrator came to him when he was talking with his pregnant daughter-in-law. Then he immediately heard the first line of the book: “So here I am, upside down in a woman.” Plenty of authors have attempted to use the structure of Hamlet to frame their own stories. But I think “Nutshell” is one of the most creative books, unique and well-written books I have read in a long time. I gave my mom back “Nutshell,” and off she went with her Pierre Deux bag full of hardback books. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.