Ian McEwan’s new book Nutshell is inspired by Hamlet and told from the perspective of a foetus witnessing a murder from inside his mother’s womb. It has been described by the Guardian as “virtuoso entertainment” by a practiced storyteller. McEwan told an audience at the book’s launch last week, organised by the Guardian, that his in-utero narrator is a “left-of-centre” foetus who celebrates a diverse range of gender identities. Six Guardian members who attended the launch, from school teacher to craft beer entrepreneur, said the renowned author and his book kept them fascinated and entertained.
Darell Philip is a teaching assistant at an east London primary school
I recently read Atonement and The Children Act and really enjoyed them, and I thought the premise of Ian McEwan’s new novella Nutshell looked strangely interesting. I got the book on the night of the event, started reading it straight away and then continued on the train home.
I thought it was fascinating to have the narrator in the womb as the detective. I was also intrigued by the science of the idea, how the baby is trying to pick up signals and make sense of the world around him. McEwan said he had been reading a lot of Shakespeare and that the novel was based partly on Hamlet, with the baby questioning himself about the world around him in a similar way to the play’s protagonist. The murder is based on Macbeth. It’s a fitting tribute considering 2016 is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
McEwan seems to be political, and many of his views appear to be reflected in the baby - he listens to the BBC World Service, and there were references to Palestine and Istanbul. Someone asked how the baby would feel about Brexit: very disappointed, McEwan said, as he was pro-Europe and wanted the world to be united. The baby is trying to make sense of the world and judges the negative things that take place. He wants the world to be more harmonious.
I love reading and writing, and one thing I took away with me was that McEwen recommended keeping a journal to generate ideas. I work with children and they often find it difficult to come up with ideas so this is something I will definitely use.
Francine Kruyt lives in the Netherlands and is a doctor
I’ve been an admirer of McEwan’s novels for many years. He struck me as a man with a typical sense of English humour, full of understatement. He gave us a good tip: “Lock the door of your study and read your text aloud.”
When he started reading Nutshell to us I became very enthusiastic. The intonation and accents he put into the text made it very special and lifted the evening.
The outlook of the world from the uterus is an amazing point of view, and sometimes a little shocking – an embryo that has thoughts and feelings and also explicit preferences for wines!
McEwan is often called the master of suspense. With one word he can give a clue to the storyline of the book. The sentences themselves are built and structured very well. I think you could compare him to an architect: the concrete and bricks he uses to design and build his novels are sentences and words, all very precisely and carefully chosen.
Jenny Bardwell is a freelance radio producer, teacher and writer from Sutton
I went to the event as a devotee of Ian McEwan’s novels, which turn up every couple of years just as summer is ending. I sat next to an amusing American author from Stanford University, but stupidly didn’t ask his name.
I liked it when a woman asked if he ever had any self-doubt. He visibly winced, I imagine at the memory of sitting alone for decades trying to invent plausible yet gripping worlds. Then someone asked for advice on writing dialogue and he said you have to act it out - but it’s quite hard to imagine him doing something as uncool as putting on funny voices.
I have only just started to read Nutshell. I usually have a little weep at the close of his novels that engage both head and heart so vigorously, but Nutshell sounds wacky.
Lynn Parkin lives in Brighton where she teaches English to adults
I first read In Between the Sheets 32 years ago, and now as part of a book group I have read several more Ian McEwan stories and intend to read Black Dogs next. My favourite McEwen novels are Saturday and Atonement, which I thought had a brilliant sex scene in a library.
Nutshell promises to be quite a humorous book, with many of McEwan’s trademark references to the cultural aspects of life. His concerns about a narcissistic trend among some elements of youth were striking, as I hadn’t previously connected it with apathy towards global issues such as climate change and world poverty.McEwen also made a memorable point about people’s intolerance of opposing opinions at universities and on social media. He suggested that people are becoming incapable of disagreeing without resorting to threats of violence, which is a reversal of civilised values.
Sharing a room with a writer enables you to feel much more connected to their work, and shows that it is a job for them - the words don’t just flow like magic.
Mic Dover is a freelance writer and craft beer entrepreneur based in Nelson, New Zealand. He is on holiday in London
I’m in my 60s and have been reading McEwan since his early novels, such as The Cement Garden [published in 1978]. The premise of Nutshell sounds good - it’s a novella, so only around 200 pages long, and he said you could read it in about four hours.
He was as sharp, witty and erudite as you’d expect. I’m normally a bit iffy about listening to authors talking about their books as they can be quite boring, but he was really interesting. I’m pleased that he made comments about the political landscape as he did in The Ploughman’s Lunch.
Peter Wilson lives in London, has worked in the third sector and also writes stories
It’s interesting when you’ve read a number of books by a particular author to hear them speak in their own words. I’ve read a fair few of McEwan’s books - probably about half of them over the years.
The foetus as the narrator is a good idea. It’s a unique point of view and a classic example of requiring a suspension of disbelief. Once you do, it makes perfect sense that the foetus learns about the world by listening to Radio 4.
He said he doesn’t believe in writer’s block, he simply regards it as hesitation. As a writer I think he’s more perspiration than inspiration. He’s like a method actor for writers.
McEwan handled himself well and I like the fact he’s considered in his replies - it suits his method of writing. He said he was happy to talk in paragraphs. I could have listened to him for a lot longer – and it felt like he could have spoken for much longer too.
To buy tickets for other Guardian Live events with authors including Jonathan Safron Foer, Eimear McBride and Amos Oz visit theguardian.com/guardianlive
