Amsterdam
Molly Lane's funeral was attended by her husband George, and three of her previous lovers: Vernon, Clive, and Julian. The book is based on the unusual ways she affected their lives, before and after her death.
Clive and Vernon were close friends, even though they'd had separate affairs with Molly. Then after her sudden death, they agreed that if either of their lives became unbearable, the other would assist him with euthanasia. That agreement, however, didn't stop them from having continuous fights with each other, in which Molly was always indirectly involved.
Clive was a composer who was having problems in finishing a symphony scheduled for an upcoming concert to be held in Amsterdam. At the same time, Vernon as editor of the Judge, a London newspaper, was considering printing photographs of Julian, who was a politician with hopes of becoming Prime Minister. But the questionable photographs might ruin his political career. Clive, as well as the staff at the newspaper, warned Vernon not to print the photos, but he wouldn't listen.
The thing that intensifies this disagreement between the two friends was that Molly had been the photographer, and Clive was sure if she were alive, she wouldn't want such scandalous photos of Julian printed.
At the end of the novel, Clive and Vernon are back on speaking terms. But on the night of their arrival in Amsterdam, they each have similar dreams about Molly, and each of them imagines signing a document which allows her to have another affair.
McEwan brings the book to a close with a clever, yet humorous, climax which deals out retribution to two of the charac-ters and rewards for several others. But McEwan's elaborate plot, and his attempt to blend humor with disaster, weaken his character development.
Amsterdam, Ian McEwan's 8th novel, was published in 1999 and won the Booker Prize.