WINNER OF THE SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARDA talented and genuinely imaginative writer. Mr McEwans details often grow into strange, powerful images ... the ironies, throughout this impressive collection, are tellingly weightedJULIAN BARNESA brilliant performance ... Theres an assured and terribly macabre depravity about Ian McEwans short stories ...as if some of the characters from early Angus Wilson had been painted by Francis BaconANTHONY HWAITE, OBSERVER《最初的爱情，最后的仪式》是英国“国民作家”麦克尤恩的处女作兼成名作，荣获毛姆文学奖，“恐怖伊恩”的绰号由此而诞生。八个短篇分别经由青少年男性的视角出发，讲述了八段情节各异却又情绪共通的故事，或恐怖或暴烈，或残酷或变态，或荒唐或魔幻，同时却既温柔又感伤；就像每个人都会经历的疯魔而又伤感的青春期，是每个人都可以从中烛照出自我的“青春残酷物语”。