≡ PDF Gratis The Children Act Ian McEwan 9780224101998 Books

The Children Act Ian McEwan 9780224101998 Books

Download As PDF : The Children Act Ian McEwan 9780224101998 Books

The Children Act Ian McEwan 9780224101998 Books

By the time you read this, I will have packed up after a summer’s month on Cape Cod, where my wife and I hid away with boxes of books, our dogs, and walking shoes. What will I recall best about this break?
Ian McEwan’s,The Children Act.
This is a book you must read. I am not giving you any choice, especially if, like me, you are on the cusp of old age, and have dedicated decades to resolving other people’s problems in court.
We lawyers are tourists treading warily in the chaos our client’s bring us. We strive to counsel them on how best to protect interests put into jeopardy in the rule-bound forum of the courts. Does all this gladiatorial hew-haw come at a cost?
I’m betting it does. For the past few years, I’ve thought long and hard about Friedrich Nietzsche and wrestling with monsters: “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster,” Nietzsche said. “And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
What happens after years of too close association with the dark side? And I’ve wondered, do judges, too, feel the chill of the abyss – the sense that little is solid, that all vanishes amid the passions and chaos of people in crisis?
McEwan brings to life Fiona Maye, a 60-year-old British judge presiding in the family courts. She is married to a classics professor. They are childless and at the height of their careers, and powers. Evenings find Fiona sitting at home amid her papers, reading briefs on the issues she will decide, and drafts of opinions that will soon be published under her name.
She and her husband have drifted apart. Their marriage is in crisis. She finds refuge in the crippling uncertainties of the law. She’s a common law jurist, and the family that always stands by her with welcoming doors ajar are those judges who have come before her, creating the doctrines and dogma she draws upon to make impossibly difficult judgments.
One such case involves a boy in need of a blood transfusion. Just under the age of consent, he insists that he would rather die, serving Jehovah, than be treated. Fiona substitutes her judgment for his, and he lives. The young man’s reaction to her life-saving decision moves her in unexpected and troubling ways.
All this amid a crisis in her marriage that could well drive her into the very courts she presides over. She is wise in her assessment of litigants: they will spend all to vindicate principles that hardly matter. She considers her future in the dim light shed by the law. Better to avoid a push off the rocky ledge on which she stands. Inertia is a better guide, a safer shepherd.
Her husband, too, soon discovers no matter how exciting the storm, he’d rather list to port. The couple reconnects in small, unsuspecting, ways. Decades of marriage draw them together again. They realize that not all things need discussion, dissection, resolution.
I won’t give away the ending. Suffice it to say that in the end simple decency prevails. The book’s ending is beautiful, moving, and convincing. It gives hope to all who are married, who struggle, and who can find satisfaction in simple decency.
Fiona Maye lingered long at the edge of the abyss. A simple caress drew her back from the edge. That truth makes this book a necessity for those struggling against the dark tides of desperation.


Tags : The Children Act [Ian McEwan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Children Act,Ian McEwan,The Children Act,Nan A. Talese,0224101994

The Children Act Ian McEwan 9780224101998 Books Reviews

Ian McEwan delivers yet another resonant and profound meditation on adult relationships and the unintended consequences of the choices we make. Our protagonist Fiona is a British High Court judge, rendering daily decisions on the fate of families, children, parents, and spouses. Her apparently long-enduring and successful marriage is imperiled when her husband of decades defiantly announces that he's determined to have a fling with a woman 30 years his junior. Concurrent with this development is the case of a young Jehovah's Witness who, when faced with a treatable form of leukemia, chooses the certain death promised by the treatment that he refuses because it conflicts with his family's religious views. This is a challenging case of the highest moral order and one that requires all of Fiona's skills as both a judge and a human being.

This brief novel is fascinating not only for its deft handling of the complex relationship between Fiona and her husband as they negotiate the new boundaries of what their marriage is becoming but also for its approach to evaluating the pros and cons of individual rights, religious freedom, and the interests of the state. I won't give away what judgement Fiona renders, but let's just say that it has implications that she could not have foreseen no matter how much deliberation she might have expended on the issue.

Literate, adult, and complex with no simple answers, "The Children Act" is another fine addition to McEwan's growing body of work and one that I highly recommend.
Anyone who has been involved in social services or family law will appreciate this book. Readers will be able to find some way to relate to the characters in this book.

Fiona May is a high court judge in England who presides over family court cases. To say that her job is a challenge would be an understatement. The cases deal with not only messy divorces and spouses delinquent with child support, but with complicated medical judgments and religious considerations. Not only does Fiona have to come to terms with putting the law before emotions but she can't help but bring these heart breaking decisions home with her. She and her husband live in the same house but find their lives becoming more separate. He finds the relationship cooling and without any intimacy. She feels put upon and can't seem to find time to make things right between her husband Jack and herself.

Add to that her new case involves a young 17 year old boy named Adam. He has leukemia and badly needs the treatment that may give him a better life and hopefully a longer one. The problem He and his family are Jehovah Witnesses and the treatment involves blood products which the faith prohibits. Fiona wishes to meet the young man before making judgment and finds a very erudite, intelligent, and seemingly mature young man who is just months away from his eighteenth birthday when he could legally make his own decision. He makes his own case that he is ready to accept whatever the disease brings which will be an unpleasant, uncomfortable life fraught with probably brain damage and ultimately death. He tries to relay his objectives and moral attitudes. But Fiona is not convinced. And this is where the Children Act of 1989 comes into play. A judge may rule in the case of a minor when his health and welfare is at stake.

But Fiona's decision has it's consequences and they are ones that she could never have imagined. How does a judge separate herself from her judgment? How does she separate herself from this young man who she has come to care about? Especially when Adam has developed a certain admiration for her. Memories abound and in Fiona's life Adam has temporarily filled a void. But she has a duty to her profession and in the end she has to make decisions that are painful.

The author does a credible job in character development in this story. Fiona is a woman of accomplishment---she's not only a very competent judge and has worked long to attain her position, but she's also a talented musician and puts a lot of heart and soul into her piano abilities. But her personal life is empty. Her husband, Jack who is content as a professor doesn't have the same burdens that Fiona carries in her job. At one time they were a loving couple before they went their separate ways in their careers. Can they find a way back?
By the time you read this, I will have packed up after a summer’s month on Cape Cod, where my wife and I hid away with boxes of books, our dogs, and walking shoes. What will I recall best about this break?
Ian McEwan’s,The Children Act.
This is a book you must read. I am not giving you any choice, especially if, like me, you are on the cusp of old age, and have dedicated decades to resolving other people’s problems in court.
We lawyers are tourists treading warily in the chaos our client’s bring us. We strive to counsel them on how best to protect interests put into jeopardy in the rule-bound forum of the courts. Does all this gladiatorial hew-haw come at a cost?
I’m betting it does. For the past few years, I’ve thought long and hard about Friedrich Nietzsche and wrestling with monsters “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster,” Nietzsche said. “And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
What happens after years of too close association with the dark side? And I’ve wondered, do judges, too, feel the chill of the abyss – the sense that little is solid, that all vanishes amid the passions and chaos of people in crisis?
McEwan brings to life Fiona Maye, a 60-year-old British judge presiding in the family courts. She is married to a classics professor. They are childless and at the height of their careers, and powers. Evenings find Fiona sitting at home amid her papers, reading briefs on the issues she will decide, and drafts of opinions that will soon be published under her name.
She and her husband have drifted apart. Their marriage is in crisis. She finds refuge in the crippling uncertainties of the law. She’s a common law jurist, and the family that always stands by her with welcoming doors ajar are those judges who have come before her, creating the doctrines and dogma she draws upon to make impossibly difficult judgments.
One such case involves a boy in need of a blood transfusion. Just under the age of consent, he insists that he would rather die, serving Jehovah, than be treated. Fiona substitutes her judgment for his, and he lives. The young man’s reaction to her life-saving decision moves her in unexpected and troubling ways.
All this amid a crisis in her marriage that could well drive her into the very courts she presides over. She is wise in her assessment of litigants they will spend all to vindicate principles that hardly matter. She considers her future in the dim light shed by the law. Better to avoid a push off the rocky ledge on which she stands. Inertia is a better guide, a safer shepherd.
Her husband, too, soon discovers no matter how exciting the storm, he’d rather list to port. The couple reconnects in small, unsuspecting, ways. Decades of marriage draw them together again. They realize that not all things need discussion, dissection, resolution.
I won’t give away the ending. Suffice it to say that in the end simple decency prevails. The book’s ending is beautiful, moving, and convincing. It gives hope to all who are married, who struggle, and who can find satisfaction in simple decency.
Fiona Maye lingered long at the edge of the abyss. A simple caress drew her back from the edge. That truth makes this book a necessity for those struggling against the dark tides of desperation.