Some readers feel that the most compelling aspect of "Enduring Love" is Jed and Joe's relationship. What do you think of this view?

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"Some readers feel that the relationship between Joe and Jed is the most compelling aspect of the novel. What do you think of this view?"

Although the histrionic, and complicated relationship shared between Joe and Jed is extremely compelling throughout 'Enduring Love', I find that there are other qualities in the novel that are of greater inducement. McEwan introduces many baleful subjects such as trauma, death, obsession, guilt, mental illness and the line between reality and fantasy, and pushes his characters to experiment with each one in a particularly menacing way to explore the dark entities behind the celebrated idea of love. It is with these ideas that McEwan manages to embellish the foundations required in order to produce a good love story. Readers of 'Enduring Love' may enjoy the darker, more sinister side of the novel, particularly as it delves into a - for the majority - unrelatable world of guns, gangsters and gluttony.  

In chapter one, we are greeted with the main incident that causes the on-going conflict for the rest of the novel; McEwan does this in order to achieve a chronological narration, and engage the reader through its drama almost immediately. The ballooning accident is depicted in an electrifying and sudden manner. Short sentences prove effective throughout the chapter, "The beginning is simple to mark." and "I got there before them." as they increase the pace of the narrative, and continue to contribute to the thriller genre of the chapter. However, through the excitement, McEwan manipulates the concept of time and shifts to numerous scenes before arriving to the final conclusion of the chapter; John Logan falling to his death, "I've never seen such a terrible thing as that falling man." By creating these shifts in time between collecting Clarissa at the airport, tranquillity on the field, and the race towards the falling balloon, McEwan continues to engage the reader in the story line, and maintain a harsh suspense.

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Although the actual event of the balloon accident is only one chapter, the aftermath of the episode - mainly John Logan's demise - is seen to haunt the remaining characters throughout the novel, and act as a catalyst for the main story plot line: "Worst of all, the memory of the balloon accident is back with her..." The cat and mouse chase between Joe and Jed, and investigations that are to follow dominates all areas of the plot, and subsequently Joe and Clarissa's relationship, absorbing the reader in its intricacies and driving the reader to investigate the possible eventualities, and ...

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