What we can know by Ian McEwan

The structure reminded me a bit of What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt: It took me a second to get into because the first part is insightful but dense and academic, before switching gears in the second part. Where Hustvedt went into psychological thriller mode, disorienting and uncanny, McEwan regals us with.. deliciously pulpy historical (for his protagonist) / contemporary (for the reader) gossip.