Amsterdam is a swirling, disorientating swell of intrigue and betrayal. In less than 200 pages, McEwan spins a yarn which is slightly bewildering in its creative and emotional scope, whilst also maintaining an impressive degree of narrative control.
Despite having died of a mysterious disease, Molly, a talented middle-aged writer, lies at the crux of the plot – the choices the male characters make largely revolve around her. The novel begins with Molly’s funeral in London, where her male acquaintance is introduced as a kind of monstrous ménagerie, dismissed by the jealous Clive Linley as undesirable and unworthy of her interest.
Yet Clive is not so dissimilar to Molly’s other lovers as he might think. Indeed, Clive and Vernon Halliday are paralleled in their response to Molly’s death. Clive is at war with himself throughout much of the book, an alcoholic artist mourning the loss of his beloved Molly, who weaves her way into his every thought: ‘Hard Knott, Ill Bell, Cold Pike, Poor Crag, Poor Molly…’ Clive’s impending deadline to finish his Millennium Symphony hangs over the novel, yet however frenetically he works, his efforts are frustrated and ultimately dismissed as an unoriginal ‘dud’. Vernon displays symptoms of dissociation, a sense of ‘non-existence’ and alienation from himself, as if he has died along with Molly. Similarly to Clive, his work flounders throughout the novel and he is eventually sacked from his position as editor of The Judge.
Both Clive and Vernon also allow their work to overtake moral concerns, producing a complicated ethical web. When inspiration strikes while he is hiking in the Lake District, Clive ignores the cries of a nearby woman, prioritising his composition. The woman is later raped and murdered by the notorious criminal whom Clive takes for her husband in his eagerness to complete his piece. Towards the end of the novel, Clive discovers that the rapist is in fact a police officer, but takes no action to denounce him. Meanwhile, prompted by Molly’s husband George Lane, Vernon publicises photos Molly privately took of Garmony in women’s clothing, leading to his own dismissal and the stunting of Garmony’s political career.
Ironically, both Clive and Vernon fail to accept the questionable nature of their actions, while simultaneously drawing attention to the other’s moral flaws. Disgusted at Clive’s inaction, Vernon states: ‘There are certain things more important than symphonies. They’re called people.’ Clive retorts, ‘And are these people as important as circulation figures, Vernon?’ The conversation then descends into a swearing contest. Molly saw past her lovers’ flaws and admired their humanity, yet they are unable to extend the same mercy towards one another.
This intolerance is ultimately the death of them. The final twenty pages of the novel take place in Amsterdam, where the action comes to a head. After the première of Clive’s symphony, he and Vernon are drugged, poisoned and die. In their intoxicated states, both men experience the doctor and nurse performing the euthanasia as Molly and a male companion; they sign their medical consent under the assumption of providing an autograph and financial support for Molly’s lovers.
However, each man has in fact plotted the other’s death. Although this remains ambiguous at the close of the novel and George Lane has in many ways orchestrated the breakdown of their friendship, they both remain responsible. Vernon goes to Amsterdam with the intention of ‘pretend[ing] to make peace’ and having Clive euthanised, and they both hand drugged drinks to each other at Clive’s concert. The doctor and nurse who later perform Vernon’s euthanasia meet ‘Clive’s gaze and nod’ before following Vernon up the stairs. Initially conceived as a death pact between them should they lose their minds, euthanasia thus becomes a weapon of mutual destruction.
The novel finally comes full circle, with Lane planning a memorial service for Molly on his own terms, having divided and conquered his competitors: ‘He alone would make the speech, and no one else. No former lovers exchanging glances. He smiled […] his mind was already settling luxuriously on the fascinating matter of the guest list.’ Just as he controlled Molly during her terminal illness, so he now controls her legacy.
The epigraph of the novel is taken from the opening lines of ‘The Crossroads’ by Auden: ‘The friends who met here and embraced are gone, / Each to his own mistake.’ Undone by their loss of Molly and wrapped up in themselves, Clive, Vernon and Garmony turn on each other, allowing Molly’s captor to ruin them. Self-absorption is the downfall of these characters—a great irony given the broad-mindedness of the woman whom they all loved.
In another sense, the novel has circled back to its start; Molly lay dead at the opening and Clive and Vernon’s coffins are carted back to London at the close. Molly’s men are, tragically, unable to peacefully coexist without her.