On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
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Book Reviews of On Chesil Beach
Book Review: So much feeling in so few pages
Summary: 4 Stars
Some reviewers are complaining that this is really just a short story. Uhhhhh, ok, maybe, but the author has packed it full of emotion and feelings that make it a page turner. Who hasn't said the wrong thing at the wrong time and regretted it later, sometimes much later? Or who hasn't stood by and done nothing to save a relationship out of pride or fear of rejection? And who hasn't wondered decades later about the paths not taken? Most of us can relate to at least some of the feelings that Ian McEwan so masterfully depicts.
If it's a "short story," it's definitely the best short story I've read in many years.
Book Review: The Unconsummated Marriage
Summary: 4 Stars
Ian McEwan has a way about taking a heightened sexual moment and writing a story about how it forever affects the people's lives of those involved. In this book, he writes about a wedding night whose honeymoon is taking place on Chesil Beach. From this night, he projects forward and backward revealing the spouse's lives before they met, their courtship, and the fate that is to befall both of them. Perhaps you find yourself reading these digressions to learn whether their first time in bed together is a success, but you end up with a deeper, poignant understanding of the events that transpire.Book Review: on chesil beach
Summary: 4 Stars
Unlike McEwan's "Saturday", this story does not take place all in a single day,but still, most of the story centers on the events of a twenty-four hour period. The author's inimitable use of foreshadowing made this reader want to climb into the story and "do a little counseling". The inability of the two central characters to communicate their inmost emotions leads to unbelievably sad and irreparable consequences for them.
Fortunately, the story can be read in one or two sittings, so the final resolution isn't long in coming.
Book Review: a short, simple story that is masterfully well written
Summary: 4 Stars
'On Chesil Beach' is really a very basic story about two British newlyweds circa 1963 who "have issues" on their wedding night. Ian McEwan, who always writes so beautifully, does a superb job in going into detail about this couple and how their lives lead up to this momentous night. My only disappointment is that it ended all too soon! That is, not too much is said about what happens after that night. I felt slightly cheated and disappointed.
Bottom line: delicious literary brain food. Recommended.
Book Review: A brilliant little book!
Summary: 4 Stars
Such a brilliant little book. On Chesil Beach captures the heart-felt feelings of Edward and Florence, newlyweds, as they honeymoon on the coast. I would not say this is a happy book, on the contrary. McEwan never misses an opportunity to point out to us how close this couple came to happiness. Instead, we are taken along on their sad path watching as happiness spirals out of their reach forever. How true to life this is for so many of us.