The Innocent

The Innocent

1990 • 245 pages

Ratings7

Average rating3.7

15

The setting is Berlin. Into this divided city, wrenched between East and West, between past and present; comes twenty-five-year-old Leonard Marnham, assigned to a British-American surveillance team. Though only a pawn in an international plot that is never fully revealed to him, Leonard uses his secret work to escape the bonds of his ordinary life -- and to lose his unwanted innocence. The promise of his new life begins to be fulfilled as Leonard becomes a crucial part of the surveillance team, while simultaneously being initiated into a new world of love and sex by Maria, a beautiful young German woman. It is a promise that turns to horror in the course of one terrible evening -- a night when Leonard Marnham learns just how much of his innocence he's willing to shed.

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Popular Reviews

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I enjoyed the plot twists and the characters in this book. It got me totally hooked. I like McEwan's narration style that is not always chronological. The book could've done with less disgusting details in my opinion.

February 9, 2019

Satisfying.

February 4, 2020

I really enjoyed it, very descriptive and original.

December 15, 2010