Read this short passage and then consider the ways McEwan presents this “strange adventure” (the relationship of Jed and Joe) in the novel.

The first 200 words of this essay...

"Dear Joe, I feel happiness running through me like an electrical current. I close my eyes and see you as you were last night in the rain, across the road from me, with the unspoken love between us as strong as steel cable. I close my eyes and thank God out loud for letting you exist, for letting me exist in the same time and place as you, and for letting this strange adventure between us begin."

Read this short passage and then consider the ways McEwan presents this "strange adventure" (the relationship of Jed and Joe) in the novel.

Ian McEwan uses many ways to present the unusual idea of the relationship between Jed and Joe to the reader. The extract raises many issues; love and religion important; how is this "strange adventure" perceived by the different characters of the novel? McEwan employs narrative technique, structure and careful manipulation of the reader to offer the strange relationship to the reader.

Unusually, we hear the story from Joe's point of view. Throughout the novel the reader has become attached to Joe, relating to his realistic and human instincts, his feelings of awkwardness and hope, and his faith and