My Purple Scented Novel by Ian McEwan [Book Review]

My Purple Scented Novel by Ian McEwan is a short story about two friends in the writing and book publishing world, highlighting the extent one will go through to ensure their book is widely acclaimed. This ‘soft crime’ story oozes unique emotions and can actually go unnoticed to the reader because of how specific McEwan’s writing is.

I had never read one of his books before, so this was a whole new experience for me, but I loved the whole 30-minute audiobook. This warm, comforting crime story is easily one of the best crime stories I’ve ever experienced, as the premise is about two people who clearly love and have deep respect for each other. It’s subtle and warm feelings, ones you wouldn’t expect to find in a crime novel, is the central experience for the reader. Because of the love shared between he protagonists, it barely feels like a betrayal of friendship until you sit and ponder on it.

The central theme of the story, the quest for success, takes on a whole new meaning when it’s about friends who have the same passion as one another, especially when knowing that one person is far more talented that the other. The subtle rise in jealousy, often not expressed explicitly, is the driving force of the story,

This short story definitely seems like the best entry way in McEwan’s work and I’m extremely excited to read his other works to see what he is capable of in his books instead of short stories.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5