Solar by Ian McEwan is a surprisingly funny novel considering what happens in it. The book opens in 2000 with Michael Beard as he works on starting up a government run institute to research alternative energy sources. He was chosen purely because he won a Nobel Prize for physics a few decades prior but his best work is long behind him. As his marriage, yet again, starts crumbling he throws himself into his work, as much as he can. Things rapidly spiral downhill though when he discovers that his wife is sleeping with one of the post-doc researchers at the institute the same day said researcher dies in a freak accident at Beard’s house. Now he must work to protect himself even as he realizes the researcher might have handed him some ground-breaking research. As Beard works to pull the research together he must also work on pulling together his private life. The more things seem to come together for Beard the more they seem to try and come apart at the seams and he can only do so much as he struggles to save himself while also working to potentially save the world from environmental disaster.
The reason I said this was funny is that Beard’s perspective is really rather humorous though I will also say that this is primarily because Beard is essentially a disaster waiting to happen and seems to always make the wrong choices. It definitely puts his life on a bit of a roller coaster. Mind you, I also found myself feeling rather sorry for Beard as at least some of it is beyond his control but not enough to negate his role in it. The structure was also interesting as it is focused in three different time frames, 2000, 200, and 2009. I can’t say that this was entirely a unique structure but it was still interesting how it affected the story. We don’t see how things progress from one to the other and instead only get the opportunity to see how they have changed by comparing them. It creates some small holes in the timeline that we have to fill in through observation. At the same time it also allows for us to make a more direct connection between earlier events and the later consequences. There is one thing that I want to go over real quick though and that is Beard himself. The character is human and he has flaws but I will admit that his flaws do not necessarily make him a particularly likable person either. He struggles to make real connections with other people and he has very little tact when dealing with them. Perhaps the thing that will make most people not like him though is he is a womanizer who doesn’t see the problem with stringing along multiple women. This really adds some interesting layers to the story, especially considering it is from his perspective, but I know this will not sit right with some people. I still enjoyed reading it and am happy giving it four out of five stars.
I would consider this book to be contemporary fiction and one that is aimed primarily at adults. Keeping in mind some of the content I would agree that this book would hold the most appeal for adult readers but could potentially be read by readers as young as sixteen. If you think some of the content might bother you, be careful when considering reading this one. I still hope you will consider trying it out though and if you do consider sharing your thoughts in the comments.