The book offers insight into one man's progress through the stages of grief, as he mourns the loss of his only child, an eight-year old named Kate. As the protagonist, Stephen seeks to understand his loss, he turns towards science and philosophy to understand the very nature of time and

Despite this lapse is structural style, the novel is certainly technically adept and philosophically questioning, often enquiring into fundamental questions concerning the very nature of time within a very realistic framework. McEwan seamlessly switches from tense emotional drama to highly scientific, explorative language. This not only superbly demonstrates the writer's skill, but effectively contrasts the homeliness of family life against stark objectivity of time. Stephen's flashbacks of his lost child are expressed with such an unnervingly realistic edge, the reader cannot help but sympathize deeply with his plight. One particularly memorable stage of the novel involves Stephen desperately searching a local school where he believes the lost child will be fo

Some common words found in the essay are:
Charles Darke, Garden McEwan's, Ian McEwan, Mc Ewan's, , lost child, lost child found, child found,
Approximate Word count = 514
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)