Soon to be a major motion picture starring Saoirse RonanThe bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of Atonement brilliantly illuminates the collision of sexual longing, deep-seated fears, and romantic fantasy on a young couple’s wedding night. It is 1962, and Florence and Edward are celebrating their wedding in a hotel on the Dorset coast. Yet as they dine, the expectation of their marital … expectation of their marital duties become overwhelming. Unbeknownst to them both, the decisions they make this night will resonate throughout their lives. With exquisite prose, Ian McEwan creates in On Chesil Beach a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.
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I really like this author’s other books but was a little disappointed with this one. It was well written but probably should have been a short story.
No comment!
Depressing.
Typical McEwen gorgeous writing
Psychologically astute.
A neat, quick read.
I reviewed On Chesil Beach in January of 2015. A friend wanted to discuss the book with me, so I just read it for a third time! What a surprise when this time I noticed something significant. Florence had most likely been abused by her father. I did some research and discovered McEwan edited the final draft to leave only a “shadowy fact for readers to make of it what they will… Many readers, he said, will miss it altogether, which is fine.” Well, I missed it twice!
My review from January 2015
I wanted to pay attention to Ian McEwan’s small and intimate style of writing; not to mention his brevity. This is an important book that makes us pause and reflect on how one incident and the way we react at that moment can determine the rest of our lives. What we say and most important what we do not say–our silence– can change our lives forever. I think this is a theme of Mr. McEwan’s as Atonement has a similar message.
There is no doubt that Ian McEwan is a brilliant writer, but On Chesil Beach was a romance destroyed. The book lacked realistic characters, and the fact of a painfully awkward wedding night led to the very unhappy outcome was just all a failure for the reader. I really do not know what to say about this story, for me I found it depressing and outdated.
This book is short and spends a lot of time on newlywed’s first night together. Takes place in England in early 1960s. I enjoyed reading about the lives of the bride and groom leading up to the wedding, but the actions on the wedding night were really what takes up most of the book.