Stupid characters make me mad.

I don't know what to think about Ian McEwan. I loved, loved, loved his novel Atonement. So of course, I wanted to read his other novels. Chesil Beach: not so much. Saturday: I didn't even get through the first chapter. I just finished The Comfort of Strangers, and I was left feeling like it was a good concept, but really could have been better.

Mary and Colin are on holiday in a foreign city. The vacation seems to be a fairly uneventful one: eating, napping, sightseeing. One evening, they leave their hotel later than usual for dinner. Unable to find a restaurant that is still open, they begin wandering the streets. A man, Robert, approaches them and offers to take them somewhere. Now, I am very apprehensive about strangers, and tend to avoid them even to the point of being rude. But I know that not everyone is as neurotic as me, so I can see how it's possible that Mary and Colin agreed to go with Robert. Robert takes them to a bar, where they stay until the early morning, drinking wine, and hearing about Robert's messed up childhood. The next day, Mary and Colin are sitting in a cafe, nursing hangovers, and who should they see? Robert, of course. What a coincidence. He insists that they come to his home for a rest and stay for dinner, and although they are slightly apprehensive, Colin and Mary accept. Ok, red flags would have been flying if it were me. No way would I have gone to his house. Never go to the second location. Duh. But Colin and Mary accompany this complete stranger to his home, where they nap for several hours, and then have dinner with Robert and his wife, Caroline. Oh yea, and Caroline is totally weird. She admits that she watched them while they were sleeping. Even if I were stupid enough to have gone to this guy's house, I would have run out of there at that point. Not Colin and Mary. The dinner is somewhat awkward and uncomfortable and Colin and Mary eventually go back to their hotel and spend the next few days relaxing. Meanwhile, something about Robert is nagging at the back of Mary's mind, and when she finally puts her finger on it, she realizes that she saw a picture of Colin (taken from a distance) in Robert and Caroline's apartment. Do Colin and Mary call the police? Leave town? Nope. They do what everyone does when they realize they are being stalked: go back to Robert's house. Needless to say, things don't end well. The story had this ominous, foreboding feeling throughout, which I really liked. And I liked the general plot, the idea of both Robert and Caroline being totally nuts and luring this couple into their lives. But I was so stuck on how stupid Colin and Mary were for not recognizing that this couple was crazy, I couldn't stand them. That could have been done better. It also needed more exploration of the crazy, less dwelling on Colin and Mary's vacation sex.

I hope that Atonement isn't his crowning achievement and I am able to find something else I enjoy as much. Solar comes out in March, so maybe.