In their ethopoeias of the ideal lover, de la Torre, Ribera, and Luduefia emphasize, as we have seen, eloquence, good physical proportions, youth, elegance, discretion and honesty.

McEwan certainly has a flair for unusual points of view. Adam, like the baby-in-waiting who narrates Nutshell, is an extraordinarily smart, well-informed, and unorthodox character who catches his supposed caretakers off-guard with his perspicacity.

In some cases, of course, customers are owners, too. Examples include the members of associations, cooperatives, and credit unions as well as the shareholders of companies that are deliberately setting out to create investomers.

Mr. [George] Eliot's descriptions of scenery are perfect: … and so are his descriptions of children. … We forbear (though with regret) the introduction to our readers of Totty's bald doll, ignominously ‘topsy turvied’ by her insulting brother.