Enduring Love

For years I've been putting off reading Ian McEwan's book Enduring Love. Don't get me wrong: I love his books, but mention this one to someone who's read it and I'll bet you their reaction will be a grimace and a wince. Ah yes, that opening scene. The one with the hot air balloon. But I've always wanted to go in a hot air balloon, I'd say. You won't after you've read this, would come the ominous reply. Oh. Drifting around the skies in a hot air balloon is one of my lifelong ambitions, but then so was flying on concorde - scratch that - and going to Antarctica. Sadly I have a suspicion Antarctica will be a drop in the ocean by the time I get round to that. So deciding whether to take Enduring Love off my shelves comes down to a question of effort. It seems I'm fundamentally lazy. Or maybe just pragmatic. I've decided it's easier to read the book than to organise to go up in the hot air balloon. So now I've read that opening. Yes, that one with the hot air balloon. Oh, you'd like to do that? Trust me, you won't after you've read this.

Still on the same book. Still on the opening (the only part I've read so far). Has anyone else been struck between the similarity of the scene in the arrivals hall at Heathrow described by Ian McEwan and that which opens the film Love Actually? In Ian McEwan's words: 'If one ever wanted proof of Darwin's contention that the many expressions of emotion in humans are universal, genetically inscribed, then a few minutes by the arrivals gate of Heathrow's Terminal Four should suffice. I saw the same joy, the same uncontrollable smile, in the faces of a Nigerian earth mama, a thin-lipped Scottish granny and a pale, correct Japanese businessman as they wheeled their trolleys in. ... the variety was in private dramas ... but mostly it was smiles and hugs, and thirty-five minutes I experienced more than fifty theatrical happy endings.'

And in the words of scriptwriter Richard Curtis:

'Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspision love actually is all around.'

The language and style may differ, but the sentiment's identical. Intriguing.