On Chesil Beach: A Novel

published	2007 by Nan A. Talese
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0385522401 (isbn13: 9780385522403)
pages	176
literary awards	2007 Booker Prize Nominee
description	A novel of remarkable depth and poignancy from one of the most acclaimed writers of our time. It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who ...more [close] A novel of remarkable depth and poignancy from one of the most acclaimed writers of our time. It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their worries about the wedding night to come. Edward, eager for rapture, frets over Florence's response to his advances and nurses a private fear of failure, while Florence's anxieties run deeper: she is overcome by sheer disgust at the idea of physical contact, but dreads disappointing her husband when they finally lie down together in the honeymoon suite. Ian McEwan has caught with understanding and compassion the innocence of Edward and Florence at a time when marriage was presumed to be the outward sign of maturity and independence. On Chesil Beach is another masterwork from McEwan — a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.
date added	12-14-06 edit book

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Camille rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

05/10/08

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Camille by: Jordan Anderson

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

What an amazing conversational piece. What is the biggest mistake made in young <and old> relationships? Lack of Communication. The fear of trying to make someone understand what you yourself do not even understand. It is a language that has yet to be invented. Even when you try to explain with premium reason and conviction, your best efforts can be so easily misunderstood. Emotions become taciturn. It's hard to be blunt and to expect another to feel unscathed by the slightest blade...more What an amazing conversational piece. What is the biggest mistake made in young <and old> relationships? Lack of Communication. The fear of trying to make someone understand what you yourself do not even understand. It is a language that has yet to be invented. Even when you try to explain with premium reason and conviction, your best efforts can be so easily misunderstood. Emotions become taciturn. It's hard to be blunt and to expect another to feel unscathed by the slightest blade that sliced a bit deeper than your usual, touch. Both men and women have a sensitive nature. Different, but equally as sensitive.
While I am definitely not a frigid wife, I do consider myself as being "guarded". I will do anything to make my husband happy and I love having sex with him, but there are still some things that scare me and make me nervous to even think about. I picture myself in Florence's light blue leather heels at that moment. I remember mulling up the confidence... and poise... to ask my husband about these supposed or assumed fantasies one night. I was of the mind that all men were desperate to conquer new land. Even worse was the thought that my husband had tread on that land before and would become aggravated if I, his wife, did not allow him the pleasure to conquer as he desired. Even as I asked the clumsy question, I had made up my mind that I would oblige his every fantasy and desire. The answer, "NO," was out of the question. The point is that I asked.
At the same time I felt like Edward about to explode inside his grey trousers. Marriage was the answer to his freedom from childhood and virginity. The answer to his feeling of nonexistence. It was the border that he had to cross that led to the promise of his future. While we all may like to think that this happened in another time and another world far from our own, it just isn't true. Florence and Edward were a part of the London Revolution in the late sixties. A revolution which spurred the freedom of sex. In many ways, we are still heaving the load of that revolution on our shoulders and the changes that it caused are a large part of who we are today. It has been an evolution in understanding the differences and similarities between a man and a woman and acknowledging their shared sexual and emotional needs.
I believe that I would have been tolerable of a man who could not fulfill his role on our wedding night, but that calmness and courage would have only arrived through my knowledge of the male anatomy, which I learned in my 6th grade health class and moreover, from the reliance and faith that I held in our relationship. When Florence gained the confidence to "guide" Edward, as she had been instructed in her book, she had absolutely no deliberation as to what would occur by her touch. Since Florence had never felt the slightest sense of sexual excitement within herself before this evening, it is supposed that she would have had no idea as to the manner in which she was provoking Edward and how it caused him such pleasure. Pleasure that she did not understand. Pleasure that she considered, or rather "recalled" as shameful and disgusting.
I believe that Florence was sexually abused by her father during their "father-daughter" excursions and that she forced a subconscious block on those memories from her childhood. This is the reason that she was so repulsed by the thought of any sexual acts and also why she had such mixed feelings toward her father. The author mentioned that while at one moment Florence abhorred her father and despised his being, the next moment she would cuddle to his broad chest and kiss his bald head with reassurance. While lodging with the Ponting family, Edward, himself became conflicted with the relationship between Florence and her father. Although it is never mentioned in the afterthoughts of their marriage, it is suggested that Edward pondered the thought that Mr. Ponting might be losing more than just a daughter by their marriage.
Although it was only mentioned for a second, my favorite part of the book was when Florence clearly acknowledged her sexuality and hope that she could feel more pleasure and excitement as she had so briefly when Edward scanned her stray pubic hair with his thumb. After Edward removed her underwear and decided to undress and prepare himself rather than concentrate on the feminine body that lay before him, Florence became aware of the fact that she too had needs to be met. So unlike her character, Florence even wished at that moment that Edward's hand could linger in her pelvic region and suggest the notion of satisfaction and pleasure in her future.
I thought that the end of the book was miserable, but all in all, it was a lesson well taught. Communication, even as unfiltered, baffling and perplexing as it may sound coming from the mouth of another, is the key to happiness in any relationship. I think that the theme of the book was that "they were almost there." (Ok, Edward got there, "arriving too soon.") With just an ounce more of communication, I felt as if their problems would have been solved and that Edward and Florence would have lived happily ever after. Florence definitely needed a "psychoanalyst" to overcome her father's abuse and subsequent repulsion for sex. Edward needed patience and maturity. Unfortunately the two go hand-in-hand.
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Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

03/24/08

Read in September, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

(The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

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 disappointed by the nominees I've read, finding most of them to be inconsequential little wisps of stories, many of them well-written but certainly not weighty enough to be called "The Best Novel of 2007.&...more (The much longer full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

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 disappointed by the nominees I've read, finding most of them to be inconsequential little wisps of stories, many of them well-written but certainly not weighty enough to be called "The Best Novel of 2007." And thus do we come to the fifth Booker nominee to be reviewed here, as well as the one easily most well-known, Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach; and let me tell you, if a common complaint about this year's Booker nominees is of their slight and inconsequential nature, On Chesil Beach isn't helping matters at all, in that it is such a non-excuse for a novel as to almost not exist. In fact, I can literally give you the entire plot of this 200-page, paperback-sized book in literally 177 words; and this is a major spoiler alert, by the way, because I'm not kidding, I really am about to tell you the entire storyline of On Chesil Beach from beginning to end, without skipping a single detail, in 177 words. Ready?

A young middle-class couple get married in England in 1962, and spend their wedding night on Chesil Beach. He only got married because he's horny as hell and lives in middle-class 1962 England, where getting married is the only chance you're going to have to get laid, and as a result has now become a cuckold employee of his upper-class father-in-law; she despises the very idea of sex altogether, but is too much of a coward to tell her husband, instead spending months psyching herself up into performing her upcoming "wifely duties." The wedding night arrives. He gets so excited that he has a premature ejaculation on his wife's stomach. She becomes so disgusted that she flees the room in a panic. He chases her down the beach, where they have an explosive argument based on mutual misunderstanding of each other's behavior. She leaves him that night and their marriage is annulled (presumably). And he spends the rest of his life thinking about "the relationship that was never meant to be."

No, dude, seriously, that's it; that's the entire freaking plotline of the book. Which, fine, I don't necessarily mind when it's a 10,000-word short story in a literary magazine, that I'm reading on a boring Sunday afternoon down at my neighborhood cafe; but seriously, as a standalone book for 22 damn dollars? And that the Booker committee has the gall to nominate as the best novel of the entire year? Seriously? Are you kidding me? It's hard for me to......less

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Sarah rated it:

09/17/07

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: students of literature, dirty old men

The first thing you should know about this book is that, like the other Ian McEwan books I’ve read, it is about the most uncomfortable, awkward, and squirmy thing you’ll ever read. Don’t believe me? What if I told you that the book – which is 200 pages long – only covers about two hours of time: the first two hours of a newlywed couple’s honeymoon in which they fumble to consummate their marriage? And that both of them have very embarrassing sexual dysfunctions?

Well, that’s wh...more The first thing you should know about this book is that, like the other Ian McEwan books I’ve read, it is about the most uncomfortable, awkward, and squirmy thing you’ll ever read. Don’t believe me? What if I told you that the book – which is 200 pages long – only covers about two hours of time: the first two hours of a newlywed couple’s honeymoon in which they fumble to consummate their marriage? And that both of them have very embarrassing sexual dysfunctions?

Well, that’s what the book is about. The reader looks on helplessly and squirmingly as two virgins, Edward and Florence, sit in a hotel room on the beach embarrassed out of their minds. It’s 1962, on the cusp of the sexual revolution, and the pair have neither the presence of mind or even the vocabulary to communicate openly with each other. There is only a handful of words spoken until the very last chapter of the book (it was tough for me not to use the word climax here, but I try to stay classy).

For the first 50 pages or so I was convinced that McEwan was just selling a freak show to us (again) – that he’s a popular author because people like reading about sex and other people’s weirdo sex problems. Who needs a plot or well-executed sentences when we could have incest, brain damage, erectile dysfunction, and a 30,000 word sex scene? Bring on other peoples’ guilt and shame!

But I kept reading and I’m glad I did. Through a number of seamless flashbacks, the history of the couple unfolded before me – so slowly and steadily and adeptly that I am now convinced that Ian McEwan is a genius. A dirty old man genius.

It made me think back to a few years ago when Ben and I were lucky enough to interview Jim Shepard, Ben’s favorite contemporary writer and a visiting author at the University of Montana (visiting because Ben requested him, no less). We sat in the Union Club sipping straight whiskeys and Jim Shepard told us that the truly great books (he was specifically talking about Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping) are books that are constantly revelatory.

And that’s exactly what I though about On Chesil Beach. Everyone – we’re talking about the characters and me – were learning and understanding more and more deeply with each page. It felt like a blossoming or, to be less lame and corny, like a picture very slowly coming into focus. Many times when authors reveal information it seems cheap or as if they were withholding it from you in order to keep you reading – dime mystery book stuff. But McEwan’s real gift is in the natural and subtle ways that he presents information to the reader. In fact, many of the biggest revelations in the book are never said outright, but only seep into the story until you understand each one as truth. It’s really pretty well done.

So – if you can handle cringing non-stop for three or four hours and have a strong stomach, you should pick up this book. And let me know if you can figure out exactly how McEwan does what he does, because I’d like to know about it.
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Chazzbot rated it:

06/30/07

This is a relatively short novel (just over 200 pages), but it carries quite a devastating emotional punch, particularly in its final chapters. McEwan's story concerns a newly married young couple in the early 1960's, neither of whom are sexually experienced. Edward looks forward to the societal license granted to him by his wedding to act on his physical impulses; Florence's love for Edward is honest, but the wedding night looms in her imagination like an unpleasant chore.

McEwan follows th...more This is a relatively short novel (just over 200 pages), but it carries quite a devastating emotional punch, particularly in its final chapters. McEwan's story concerns a newly married young couple in the early 1960's, neither of whom are sexually experienced. Edward looks forward to the societal license granted to him by his wedding to act on his physical impulses; Florence's love for Edward is honest, but the wedding night looms in her imagination like an unpleasant chore.

McEwan follows this couple as they arrive in their honeymoon suite and pares apart their respective emotional histories with an almost cold precision. Edward and Florence live just on the edge of the massive cultural changes of the mid-1960's; Florence, for example, anticipates a successful career with her string quartet and politely tolerates Edward's fondness for Chuck Berry and early rock & roll: "When the tunes were so elementary, mostly in simple four-four time, why this relentless thumping and crashing and clattering to keep time? What was the point, when there was already a rhythm guitar, and often a piano?"

Different taste in music is probably the least of this couple's trouble, but McEwan uses this polite disagreement ("He kissed her and told her she was the squarest person in all of Western civilization.") as an indicator of future divergencies. The literally climactic scene of the wedding consummation reads at first like slapstick, but McEwan's precise delving into Edward's and Florence's internal dialogue makes it tragic. The novel turns entirely on the reader's acceptance of this scene, and McEwan's blend of emotional and physical detail is flawless. It's a scene that would only be lessened by paraphrase (or a filmed interpretation, for that matter).

McEwan's skill is to use these two characters, neither of which is ultimately very likeable, to offer a subtle indication of what the convulsive societal shifts of the 1960s freed us from and, more important, to demonstrate how "by doing nothing. . . the entire course of a life can be changed." By the end of the novel, it's not just the characters who feel the chill winds off the beach.

The clumsy fumbling of a newly married couple is not unknown to me. Nor is the frustration of a young man whose partner is less experienced than he. This is McEwan's starting point, and perhaps one that elicits easy empathy, but by the time the full consequences of this young couple's inexperience become evident, the reader is almost divided in their loyalties (or pity) for the characters.

More so than other McEwan novels I've read, On Chesil Beach carries a direct moralistic tone, one that would seem chiding in the hands of a lesser stylist. The beauty of McEwan's language, the patience of his narrative voice as he outlines the tangled emotional backgrounds of his characters, and the sense of omniscient pity he uses to instruct us are Hardy-esque. The impact of this small novel is heartbreaking and cold. ...less

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Cody rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

09/13/07

bookshelves: contemporary-post-modernism, favorites, recently-read

I hadn't intended on reading any Ian McEwan in the near future, and this wasn't even atop my McEwan "to-read" list. However, as it is short-listed for the Booker, and since I have a tendency to hardly ever keep up with contemporary literature, I was inspired to pick this up at the library yesterday. Then, I proceeded to read it in one sitting.

Of course, this rapid reading was very much aided by the length of the book, but this is ultimately an inconsequential reason for my fixati...more I hadn't intended on reading any Ian McEwan in the near future, and this wasn't even atop my McEwan "to-read" list. However, as it is short-listed for the Booker, and since I have a tendency to hardly ever keep up with contemporary literature, I was inspired to pick this up at the library yesterday. Then, I proceeded to read it in one sitting.

Of course, this rapid reading was very much aided by the length of the book, but this is ultimately an inconsequential reason for my fixation. As with *Atonement*, the only other of his I've read, McEwan here displays the most amazing ability to create such honest and well-developed characters, that it is, for me, seemingly impossible not to attach yourself at least somewhat to the “their stories”.

While I think that *Atonement* is a more developed work—complex and historical, at once youthfully passionate and bitterly resigned—and, thus literarily, impressed me more, *On Chesil Beach* is, for me, much more affecting. This was due, in part, because I was more willing and able to become wholly enmeshed in the text. It also seemed more relevant to my present life, which, though I often shrink from reviews that make such a point, I must admit allowed me to become more invested, more enveloped in McEwan's tale.

Though I claim that *Atonement* is more developed, we should remind ourselves that *On Chesil Beach* is a notably shorter work. I'm astounded at McEwan's ability, in such few words, to create complex characters and themes that are not in the least bit inchoate. The only author I know of who can take on such a multitude of themes in such a concise text is J.M. Coetzee, though he is an utterly different writer than McEwan. Whereas Coetzee is focused more on what we might call the social and the universal, McEwan explores the psychological and the individual. And, yet, through the seemingly specific individuals that McEwan creates, we wholly relate, thus imbuing his themes, emotions, ideas with a kind of universality.

This work explores, so beautifully, much of what it means to be young, in love, and attempting to assume adulthood and take the first, daunting steps in an attempt to forge a fulfilling life. And, as I read, my heart simply broke....less

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Lucy rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

01/02/08

Read in December, 2007

What a disappointment! I really enjoy McEwen's writing style and 90% of this book had me reeled in. But the climax of this book is so mind-blowing retarded that it loses any recommendation points from me.

On Chesil Beach is a story about Edward and Florence. Two educated and good people, they marry as virgins due to their own personalities and also the expectations of the current times (the story takes place in 1962.) , McEwen effortlessly drifts between the thoughts and backgrounds of his tw...more

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Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

12/15/07

bookshelves: crazy-ladies, happyendings-, love-and-other-indoor-sports

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: those of us who enjoy whining about the complexity of heterosexual relationships these days

Reading Ian McEwan makes me want to give up forever on writing any more sentences of my own. It's just embarrassing. Why bother? Ugh.

_______________

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 Beach and Bell Jar I would've almost certainly gotten me to a nunnery, and I'd be there right now (though come to think of it, would that be such a bad thing?).

Actually, I think I read this at precisely...more

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Becky added it (review of isbn 0224081187)

05/12/08

Read in May, 2008

McEwan's novel is rich is most ways. His two main characters, Edward and Florence, are fully and affectionately rendered. When describing Edward's and Florence's respective perspectives, McEwan captures their personalities acutely, and delivers their convictions, their insecurities, their silly adolescent beliefs so sincerely the narration sings. "It had never occurred to Florence that the preliminaries of love would take place in dumb show, in such intense and watchful silence. But beyond ...more McEwan's novel is rich is most ways. His two main characters, Edward and Florence, are fully and affectionately rendered. When describing Edward's and Florence's respective perspectives, McEwan captures their personalities acutely, and delivers their convictions, their insecurities, their silly adolescent beliefs so sincerely the narration sings. "It had never occurred to Florence that the preliminaries of love would take place in dumb show, in such intense and watchful silence. But beyond the obvious three words, what could she herself say that did not sound contrived or foolish? And since he was silent, she thought this must be the convention. She would have preferred it if they had murmured the silly endearments they used when the lay around her bedroom in North Oxford, fully clothed, wasting the afternoons away." "But now, on his wedding night, he did not trust himself. He could not be certain that the tunnel vision and selective deafness would never descend again, enveloping him like a wintry mist on Turville Heath, obscuring his more recent, more sophisticated self... His painful craving was building intolerably, and he was frightened by his own savage impatience and the furious words or actions it might provoke, and so end the evening."
The greatest feat, I thought, was McEwan's ability to capture the newness of the love between the Edward and Florence, and the delusions of maturity such love inspires. McEwan plants barely perceptible fissures in the armor of their new adulthood, offering a retrospective explanation for the book's end without diminishing its concussive shock.
I could have done without Florence's absurd final proposition. It untied her character a little, allowing her primly contained panic to unspool into outright hysteria--a digression from her otherwise neatly delineated (and satisfyingly intelligent) persona. Her outburst was central to the story's end, I suppose, but I thought McEwan could have achieved the same result without Florence's uncharacteristic abandon. The epilogue, too, I thought was manipulative, a cloying and sentimental rehashing of the story. The five-page refresher was unnecessary, but only because Edward and Florence's love was already so real to me....less

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Alistair rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

02/11/08

Read in February, 2008

McEwan is such a famous and well reviewed author that he should stand up to scrutiny unlike say a first time author feeling their way .
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 so years after their disasterous wedding night should not have found a way to overcome the inauspicious start .

we are also led to believe that somehow this problem was because they were living in an era ...more McEwan is such a famous and well reviewed author that he should stand up to scrutiny unlike say a first time author feeling their way .
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 so years after their disasterous wedding night should not have found a way to overcome the inauspicious start .

we are also led to believe that somehow this problem was because they were living in an era before sex was invented and emotional problems were talked about .this warped view is also compounded by the post Florence life of Edward which as the years roll on seems to be exaggeratedly liberated .it's suddenly all freelove and drugs . the two characters seem to be cyphers for their generation .

The fact that she lived in Oxford , was a classical musician , hated pop music , had a distant father , an intellectual mother and lived in upper middle class Summertown are a lazy shorthand to explain her reticence about lurv making .

he of course lived outside in the country , geddit , loved rock music ,and had a charmingly chaotic crazy family , is just a normal bloke eager to get his hands on a girl and marriage seemed to only way .

that two so disimilar people should be in love at all was totally daft .

the author also ruins the scene setting by intruding from his desk and computer to says things like " this was not a good moment in English cuisine " , the poor things no ciabbata , so unsophisticated !

Iiving in Oxford i did like the local references but if you lived in Croydon i should not think this meant much . it would just reinforce the idea that everyone in Oxford was called Rupert and cycled everywhere with a basket on his bike . ok some people do .

if this was someone's first novel all this would be accepted but as the umpteenth novel from McEwan it all seems very narrow and unreal and superficial , so there ! BTW i think the author is not a nice man .

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Jim rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

08/27/07

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: Anyone who has ever wondered if they're made the wrong choice.

I'm unsure what my expectations were about this book before I sat down to read it. I suppose if I was pushed I'd have said that I was expecting an intelligent, carefully constructed chamber piece and, as far as that goes, it did not disappoint. So why do I feel let down?

I think the first thing is that, if I had read it without knowing the author's name I would have guessed that it was Ian McEwan. Now, why is that a bad thing? Because the last book by him I read was The Cement Garden a...more

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Carolyn rated it:

04/23/08

Read in April, 2008

I was prepared to not like this. I had just read his Atonement and wasn't that thrilled with it, but this book was also on my list of things to read and I didn't realize at the time they were by the same author.

I wasn't around in 1962. I certainly wasn't around England in 1962, so I don't know how faithful this book is to the times and the people. I started off not believing that two just-married people were unable to have a conversation about sex, and that their whole lives could be chang...more

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Reagan rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

11/30/07

Read in September, 2007

this book was a really quick read and very well written. ian mcewan's characters seem so real because you are privy to all their faults and raw emotions; you can put yourself in their shoes. there are only 2 characters in this book, a young engaged couple (both virgins), and the story goes back and forth telling each of their perspectives on the grand consummation. it is set in the early 1960s and you sense from the beginning that these two people know absolutely nothing about sex or even lov...more

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Sergey rated it:

07/19/07

bookshelves: 2007, english, fiction, loan, novel

Read in June, 2007

I say, to embark on a journey with an author previously unfamiliar to me should be, for the most part, an interesting voyage. How thundering a disappointment when such proves not to be the case. On Chesil Beach, my introduction to Ian McEwan, is beautifully written; the imaginative, florid prose sticks to the brain waves and rides along a melodic note. The writing struck me at first, but that is the best I can say about this novel. It had premise that felt unfulfilled towards the end....more

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Bart rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

12/22/07

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: Purveyors of short, concise fiction

On Chesil Beach is a short work that probably could have been longer but ultimately worked because no contemporary novelist understands time and space better than Ian McEwan.

With the highest of literature, it is often written, the best parts are those which are left unsaid. This is something of an illogical maxim; when taken to its logical ends, this maxim canonizes the hundreds of millions of folks who never write anything at all - leaving everything unsaid.

A better way o...more

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Penny rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

02/27/08

Read in February, 2008

Florence and Edward meet in the early 1960s at an anti-nuclear proliferation meeting; at the moment when Edward first spies Florence, a tedious young man is describing to her what would happen if a bomb hit Oxford, where they are all standing. This may seem an extreme and unlikely occurrence. For Ian McEwan, however, bombs are all around us, ready to go off at any second and destroy one's hopes, expectations and sense of self. In novel after novel, McEwan describes how innocent moments can turn ...more

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Dioni rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

04/27/08

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: people who likes words (threaded beautifully :)

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I read another McEwan’s book a while ago, Atonement, and didn’t quite like it, despite all the high praises. I really so wanted to like his books. I just couldn’t believe that I didn’t. I thought his types of books were just the ones that I would like. I still couldn’t let it go for a while, so I started On Chesil Beach.

I was so glad to find that I enjoyed it.

On Chesil Beach tells a story about a newly married couple, young, virgin, extremely shy and awkward. Setting is in old ...more

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Pdxstacey rated it:

07/29/07

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: dullards

I suppose I am not deep enough to cherish this book and its details.

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 much more repressed time in England who can't have sex on their wedding night. Then they have the marriage dissolved and the man moves to London and has several record shops and some affairs and enjoys the swinging...more

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Lisa rated it:

05/15/08

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan is another lyrical novel from a master. McEwan is a beautiful writer. His use of language pulls me in every time. While I am usually a fan of a character driven story, McEwan’s novels tend to be such a deep mix of character, time and place that it is hard to say if it is character or plot driven. In fact, the characters in On Chesil Beach are the plot. The novel opens as a couple of newlyweds dine on their wedding night. Both characters are inexperienced and ...more

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Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 0224081187)

12/28/07

bookshelves: 2007, drama, own_dc

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: self-absorbed waspy bourgeois

OK, seriously, Ian McEwan, you wrote 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, Ian McEwan, what the hell is this crap???

It could have been good -- it was a promising premise. If only your characters hadn't been completely despicable, pathetic, mean creatures. ...more

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