As they are both narrated in the first person, it’s difficult to differentiate between them and I sometimes had to check which chapter I was in. The chapters of Tangerine are narrated alternately by Lucy and Alice. While the central characters of Mangan’s novel are well-rounded, McEwan’s seemed more believable. Not only is McEwan’s writing style far more accomplished, the plotline is far more finessed and seems to run its course much more naturally. What I can say is that out of the two books about obsessive love and stalkers that I happen to have read recently (ignoring the alarming trend that suggests about me), Enduring Love is absolutely the better book. Having only seen the Matt Damon film (which I hear was a poor reflection of the book) I can’t really comment beyond the fact that the stories are similar and Lucy certainly bears a strong resemblance to The Talented Mr Damon. Impossible not to compare this book, as many others have, to Patricia Highsmith’s famous novel. Possibly, better friends than is good for them.Ī dreadful accident occurs which wrenches them apart, and they go their separate ways Lucy to New York and Alice with her new husband to Tangier.īut a year later, Lucy turns up uninvited on Alice’s doorstep, convinced there is unfinished business between them. Alice is an orphan and Lucy is an outcast, but after being thrown together by chance they become best friends. Tangerine is the story of Alice and Lucy, old college roommates.

It seems like any book blog I visit it’s there, up in the ‘currently reading’ sidebar with that gorgeous cover of a 1050s belle shielding her eyes and looking out over a black and white landscape. Is it me or is eeeeerybody reading Tangerine? When should you read ‘Tangerine’? On holiday in Morocco, having first found a particularly busy souk in which to abandon any female friends who accompanied you there.

Christine mangan