On Chesil Beach
by Ian McEwan
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Book Reviews of On Chesil Beach
Book Review: Don't Let Your Hubris Be Your Hamartia
Summary: 4 Stars
This book says: Your life can change in one moment. One bad decision, one hour of inflated pride or of deflated self-confidence, and your way may be lost, your course derailed, and you may not be smart enough or brave enough to fix it when you should.
This book is poetic, brief, heart-wrenching. You will read it overnight.
McEwan's seamless movement through time - taking you from Point A (a second-by-millisecond play-by-play of the couples first and foiled attempt at making love) to Point B (a condensed reflection on the monotony of their regular and separate lives, two decades later) - accentuates the way memories of some painful, scary, awkward, unprecedented seconds (spent trying to navigate romance, sex, and love) last a lifetime, while the memories of the years between such episodes (spent naviating the more predictable terrain of career changes, aging, and self-improvement) blur together and dissolve, lose their shape and form, are boiled down into resumes instead of love letters.
This book says: Don't let pride, fear, or practicality ruin your shot at true love. Just. Don't. Do. It.
Book Review: Accidents Happen
Summary: 5 Stars
Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach describes what can happen when two young people with little sexual experience and different desires marry without expressing their needs.
Explosively Subtle
- I guess you could call me a McEwan groupie- I adore his subtle, meaningful prose. He says so much without going overboard (but not in an annoying Hemingway-esque type of style).
- McEwan takes one small event, one that is broadcasted on billboards in this day and age, and makes it so meaningful and life-changing.
- If someone were to tell me exactly what this novel is about (issues consummating a marriage, shall we say) I'd think it would have the potential to be crude or silly. McEwan's talent prohibits either.
- You end up feeling for both characters and appreciating the historical context of their situation, just a few years shy of the sexual revolution.
Protect Yourself
- If you're squeamish about sex and it's by-products this may not be for you.
- There is definitely a plot, but it's not plot driven, as the characters' thoughts and feelings really drive the text.
Book Review: A little hard to believe...
Summary: 2 Stars
Atonement is one of my favorite books, and I worship Ian McEwan. But Chesil Beach was a big letdown. McEwan's writing is of course gorgeous, he shows that decisions have consequences, and the characters are believable, but..eh.
Because I think so highly of McEwan, I was disappointed by the scaled down ambitions of this book. A couple in the sixties get married, have bad sex and go their separate ways. Snoozefest.
I find it hard to believe that nobody knew anything about sex at that point in the 60s in England - I was not convinced that the female character could really be that pure as the driven snow. If the people in Atonement were having perfectly good, not-so-shameful sex in pre-WWII English high society, are we really to believe that sex would be quite so mysterious and revolting in the liberal sixties? Give me a break. Do you know how many divorces there would be if a woman left her husband every time he left her unsatisfied in bed? No one would be married.
Wake me up when McEwan regains his ambition and starts writing books worthy of his name.
Book Review: Why did I love this book?
Summary: 5 Stars
Not because it has a happy ending, that's for sure.
In fact, if you're a reader who likes happy endings, this is probably not the choice for a day on the beach. But I don't need to tell you that. All you have to do is read the first sentence. "Tears before supper" -- that's what my mother would say. Right from the beginning the author makes it very clear that this is a story that ends badly. As indeed it does.
So why did I love this book? Why couldn't I put it down? Why did I uncharacteristically stay up all night reading it? (The last time I stayed up all night was my Senior Prom, back when dinosaurs were still roaming the earth)
I loved it because it was absolutely, fantastically beautifully crafted and written. And I loved it because it was true.
This sort of thing happens. A split second changes your life. A response. A non-response. Sometimes, you can go back. But mostly you can't. And the awful thing is, you don't know the moment is decisive until after it's passed.
This is the story of one of those moments. And it is as gripping a story as any I've ever read.
Book Review: Artistic writing, intriguing story, but completely laborious to read
Summary: 3 Stars
The concept of this story is interesting, but I felt like I was trudging through mud to get through it. I like a story that keeps me captivated and I read to be entertained and informed. This book, like Atonement, has so much description that, in my opinion, it detracts from the flow of the story. The entire book takes place in less than a single day, if that helps explain what I mean about a lot of description and detail. That being said, however, it does offer a compelling insight into the human psyche. McEwan explores the depths (literally every step from the surface to the bottom) of the human mind and the feelings, fears and thoughts associated with "the" honeymoon night of a newlywed couple.
So depending on what you are looking for, you may or may not enjoy this book. If you want a great story, stay away, especially if you are looking for romance. If you are looking for pyschological stimulation and more artistic prose, this may be the book for you. I would say this book is interesting, just not really entertaining.