On Chesil Beach

The book itself is rather small in stature but when the story started my attention was instantly saturated with powerful intensity for it. I found this novel to be quite extraordinary and read it in one sitting - right after having oysters for brunch; I left ready and pounced on it ferociously and enjoyed it until dusk arrived. This was my first time reading McEwan and I found his language, ideas and wording very easy to slip into. Some authors requite an adjustment, sometimes it feels like a change of latitude and climate, even gravity but not with Ian, it's hard for me to imagine anyone who's not curios about life that would not enjoy this. It's a brief novel set in the 1960's, all I knew about it before I read it was that I spotted it on the New York Times Saturday Book Review ( my favorite) bestsellers section and the simple mention of a wedding night going horribly wrong hooked me. This indeed was a mess slowly unraveling, making me read on nervously knowing that something ugly is about to perspire. The story starts of gently enough but pretty soon the reader gets a real glimpse of Florence, the young bride, and her revulsion of all things having to do with the secrets of the flesh. Even before she married Edward her love for him was warm and pleasant, almost maternal but a few hours after the wedding during their supper, being able to see the freshly made bed in the next room of their honeymoon suite was making her nauseous and fearful of disappointing her new husband with her true feelings concerning the dreaded wedding night. The acting between Florence and Edward that takes place, the restrained talk and emotions when Edward can barely stand not pouncing on his bride while eating, the dance like charade skillfully played by almost petrified Florence and the glimpses back on how they met set up a heck of a story, the reader knows that things are about to go badly for both of them. Either the bride goes with the flow and makes the best of her situation or she offends Edward and shows him her true feelings. The energy generated by minimal dialogue, sensitive writing and skillful psychology made for an incredibly alluring and mesmerizing book. This isn't only about committing the act, it was more about human errs and not being true and honest with one self, trying to act according to the times and not engaging in close contact with your partner, not understanding who he is until marriage. One can easily see how this type of a scenario can make for hair rising fiction (even scarier, it was probably true back then). Living in different times makes it easy for me to judge, through out the book I kept thinking "I would never do that" or " I can't even imagine feeling like this woman" but I still connected with her, feeling sorry for her and being angry at her at the same time. This is a treat not to be missed, skillfully written and well told, a story that truly feeds the soul. - Kasia S.

This is the story of a moment in time, a few hours really, and its consequences. The story takes place on the wedding night of a young couple, Florence and Edward. They are staying at a small hotel on Chesil Beach, and when the time comes to consummate the marriage, well, let's just say there is a misunderstanding. This is prudish, pre-sexual-revolution Britain, the incident is blown out of proportion, and the fears and frustrations of Edward and Florence, the same fears and frustrations of any young couple just married, manifest themselves in a pointless and stubborn argument. I have mixed feelings about this book. Most of it, the part that leads up to and surrounds the incident itself, I found quite boring. McEwan's writing is solid, but the Victorian sensibility of it all just isn't my thing. But the last part of the book, when Edward is looking back on the incident many years later and thinking about how that one small moment had such a large impact on his life--that part's really moving and relatable and masterfully executed. And it made the rest of the book worth it. On Chesil Beach is the first McEwan I've read, but from what I've heard, it deals with a favorite topic of his--how small events, even the ones that don't feel like events at the time, can change everything. It's little more than a short story, really, which is the perfect length for it. If the upfront required much more investment, I'm not sure I would recommend this book. But as it is, I found it to be a quick and powerful read.

There is no doubt that the author is a brilliant writer, and that it is thrilling to read some phrases, sentences and passages in this book. However, the story and characters in it are all just depressing, and for me, often very unrealistic as well. Oddly enough as others have stated it feels much more like a short story than a novel. In its awkwardness, it feels a bit too long for a short story, and a bit too short for a novel. I felt that the story in many aspects was formulaic and overly predictable. The reader knows from about page 1 or 2, what is going to happen at the end. Reading about the past history of the two main characters, is not compelling enough, to make reading the entire book worthwhile. Reading about a tragic situation with one parent, just feels like the author trying to wring yet one more Kleenex box out of the reader, to no purpose in this story. I did read the entire book, and at the end, besides feeling sad and frustrated by yet another romance destroyed by lack of realistic communication, my first thought was about how many hours I had wasted reading it. I am very tired of reading the same story over and over, great lovers who are reportedly very intelligent - not stupid - reasonably self-aware - and yet they cannot manage to pull together any form of honest communication. There are some additional things about this book which I am hesitant to write about, as one does not want to give away too much of the plot in a review. However there is an underlying suggestion of pre-existing father-daughter incest which is never fully explored. I suppose since the main female character could not communicate about it, the author decided to mirror this by not communicating about it either. I just found this annoying. The book takes place in 1962, not 1862 or 1762. Meh.

Just a couple of hours of tension between a couple. All the thoughts and the memories and the futures. The spoken and unspoken told by a master storyteller. The first book I read my McEwan, which made me got for his other works. Amazing book. Please read it.

Libro molto bello, ottimo nella versione Kindle in lingua originale. La scrittura di Ian McEwan è magistrale e i flashback si susseguono a ritmo incalzante intercalati allo svolgersi della storia ,con l stessa freschezza del tempo presente. I "segreti del passato" e "le altre vite possibili" sono un a cifra di lettura di questa "novella" di 200 pagine.

When I watched the movie, I felt there was something missing. Therefore, I bought the book to discover what it was.

I read this novel (novella) twice... I was impressed by the way McEwan could " read" into a young woman'heart, mind and...body even! Of course some young people of today's generation might have difficulty understanding Florence and Edward's tragedy but who knows...the mystery of love and of sexuality still remains... The problem of communication is there again of such a paramount importance... When talk? About what? Which words shall be the best adapted? If Nothing is said at all, will it always be too late? An extremely moving book, I deeply recommed it. When I closed the book, I couldn't help saying to myself: What a waste! I really liked the way Edward's family was described, very "restrained" and touching with his mentally handicapped mother after her accident.

Para cualquier que quiere entender porque las relaciones fracasan por ignorancia sexual, este libro es imprescindible. Escrito con inteligencia en un ambiente británico, podría ser la primera noche de bodas en cualquier país, en cualquier cultura donde todavía los novios llegan al matrimonio no iniciados. Los abuelos van a identificar con la historia, a los padres todo va a resultar familia mientras para los jóvenes que quieren entender la mentalidad de no hace tanto, es lectura obligatoria.