false 815309 32 Such is Ian McEwan's genius that, despite rambling nature walks and the naming of birds, his subject matter remains hermetically sealed in the hearts of two people.<p> It is 1962 when Edward and Florence, 23 and 22 respectively, marry and repair to a hotel on the Dorset coast for their honeymoon. They are both virgins, both apprehensive about what's next and in Florence's case, utterly and blindly terrified and repelled by the little she knows. Through a tense dinner in their room, because Florence has decided that the weather is not fine enough to dine on the terrace, they are attended by two local boys acting as waiters. The cameo appearances of the boys and Edward and Florence's parents and siblings serve only to underline the emotional isolation of the two principals. Florence says of herself: "...she lacked some simple mental trick that everyone else had, a mechanism so ordinary that no one ever mentioned it, an immediate sensual connection to people and events, and to her own needs and desires...."<p> They are on the cusp of a rather ordinary marital undertaking in differing states of readiness, willingness and ardor. McEwan says: "Where he merely suffered conventional first-night nerves, she experienced a visceral dread, a helpless disgust as palpable as seasickness." Edward, having denied himself even the release of self-pleasuring for a week, in order to be tip-top for Florence, is mentally pawing the ground. His sensitivity keeps him from being obvious, but he is getting anxious. Florence, on the other hand, knows that she is not capable of the kind of arousal that will make any of this easy. She has held Edward off for a year, and now the reckoning is upon her.<p> McEwan is the master of the defining moment, that place and time when, once it has taken place, nothing will ever be the same after it. It does not go well and Florence flees the room. "As she understood it, there were no words to name what had happened, there existed no shared language in which two sane adults could describe such events to each other." Edward eventually follows her and they have a poignant and painful conversation where accusations are made, ugly things are said and roads are taken from which, in the case of these two, the way back cannot be found. Late in Edward's life he realizes: "Love and patience--if only he had them both at once--would surely have seen them both through." This beautifully told sad story could have been conceived and written only by Ian McEwan. <I>--Valerie Ryan</I> 1698999 5 4 2007 On Chesil Beach total:8928|5:1369|4:3144|3:2845|2:1100|1:470| 8928 30626 11688 2110 4 37 false false Tue Sep 09 11:56:55 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 12:22:01 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 25 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 16 15:10:17 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 10:43:41 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 23 false true Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 27 11:25:40 -0700 2007 Mon Mar 24 14:51:26 -0700 2008
Regular readers know that this month CCLaP is taking an extended look at the nominees for the 2007 Booker Prize; and regular readers also know that so far I've been mostly di...more...]]> 5 12 false false Thu Sep 13 07:37:39 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 13 14:47:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 7 false false Thu Jun 28 13:59:36 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 30 12:21:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 9 false false Mon Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 15:18:20 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 01 16:07:43 -0700 2008 here

Seriously. Go read that one. Don’t continue down this page.

My review is brought to you by the makers of Cialis®

You don’t want this to happen to you.

I loved this book. I did. ...more...]]> 2 7 false false Tue Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 12:21:51 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 22:49:01 -0800 2008 I found the whole story unrealistic and artificial and some of the writing lazy .
we are asked to believe that 2 people so in love and apparently still...more...]]> 4 8 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 10:33:09 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 10:33:09 -0800 2007
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I am really glad I didn't read this book when I was a kid. If it had existed then and I'd come across it, between On Chesil Beac...more...]]> 2 6 false false Sat Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 14:18:18 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 15:42:44 -0700 2009 1
People are assholes.

You know... I just...
Ugh...!!!!!]]> 1 3 false true Wed Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 21:10:24 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 02 23:47:33 -0700 2008
On Chesil Beach was highly praised by critics-- as, indeed, nearly all of Ian McEwan's books are. And I fear that it has gone to his head. Chesil fairly drips with self-satisfaction; it seems to be saying that novels about se...more...]]> 4 4 false true Thu May 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 09 19:18:38 -0700 2008 Sat May 10 02:56:32 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 3 false false Mon May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 16:21:02 -0700 2008 Wed May 14 12:11:08 -0700 2008

This is the story of a couple on their wedding night. This tale basically illustrates what brings ...more...]]> 3 3 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 03 15:48:06 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 19 17:40:10 -0700 2007 On Chesil Beach, my introduction to Ian McEwan, is beautifully written; the imaginative, florid prose s...more...]]> 3 3 false false Wed Sep 26 10:12:25 -0700 2007 Tue Dec 18 06:27:44 -0800 2007 Don't know if any other pop mu...more...]]> 1 3 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Apr 30 18:19:23 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 18:19:33 -0700 2008
To get at the heart of its absurdity, I'd have to do a line-reading, breaking it down word by word. But on a general note, McEwan explores the intricacies of a honeymoon night gone awry because he wants us to see meaning in *every* sm...more...]]> 4 2 false false Thu Oct 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 07 21:48:56 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 09 20:13:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 4 false false Tue Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 05 16:25:39 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 09:12:27 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 17 19:58:09 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 17 19:58:31 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 3 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Aug 29 11:32:08 -0700 2007 Fri Dec 28 04:52:02 -0800 2007 Saturday. Saturday! You wrote f*ing Saturday! With its introspection and good and evil and everyday life and drama and mundane-ness and life and death and brain surgery and racquetball all wrapped up together in one ponderous experience of a book.

So,...more...]]> 1 2 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 29 09:57:56 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 29 10:17:17 -0700 2007
To be fair, I might have read it too quickly. But I saw no reason to stretch it out, except that I had sniffling kitten mouth-breathing on my lap while I read it.

The book is pretty much about a couple in a...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=9953