Solar... by Ian McEwan

This is absolutely the most difficult book to finish to date. It took me so long. It's satire-like and it has no ending. It's a book about doing vague and gray things and getting away with it.... I actually wanted to put the book down at many points but because I had started on it, I finished it; but I did read through some segments without actually registering.

This is a novel about a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, Prof Michael Beard past his glory days, gives the impression of a man lazy to think out of the box any more (don't we all as we grow older), a womanizer with countless marriages behind him, a man who couldn't seem to stop chasing skirts despite the failed marriages, and one whose life seems to be only for himself. There is also the issue of moral ambiguity; it mines its way into our minds the subtlety of one being able to get away with a crime, in the case of this novel - for framing another person for murder.

Science is laid down in a way that doesn't make it difficult for the layman to understand; with its underlining theme of climate change and the lobby of the fossil fuel industries. The idea of artificial photosynthesis is kinda interesting. There are some interesting sections, one being the main character relieving himself out in the cold biting temperatures of the Artic. Imagine what unzipping would do to one's genital in such bitingly cold weather! LOL! McEwan's description of the incident was downright hillarious!

But there seems to be an underlying theme that beneath the fame of Michael Beard lies the hubris of a man with with sexual weakness, irresponsible streak, plagiarist who took the work of his dead subordinate, a man greedy for accolades derived from work not done by him.... And he still succeeded to a great extent though at the end of the novel, when his whole world seems to be crashing onto him, it is implied that he may have been released from 'further punishments' as the writer gives the impression that he may be suffering from a heart attack. Justice served??? I don't know. But I didn't quite like the ending.

I'm glad I finished this book cos there were many moments when I thought it might not have been possible. I'm done with Book 24.... and the countdown for World Cup 2010 in South Africa begins too..... LOL!