On Chesil Beach
 Customer ReviewsPrice: Manufacturer: Vintage Publisher: Vintage | |
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Customer Reviews
Too slow for me, 2008.10.08
Vaguely interesting, especially as books/films are not often set in the early 60's. But didn't anyone else find themselves shouting at the characters to "just get on with it".
Rushed, 2008.09.17
I agree with the reviewer who said that it was ridiculous to cram the final forty year of the protagonist's life into seven pages. Also, the poorly edited statement that the man's business was dwindling due to 'internet' shopping when the setting was only the early 80s was like a Ferrari driving across a Jane Austen film.
That said, although nothing really happens, the insights into both male and female interior lives during a relationship was powerful.
It was just too bad that McEwen seemed to suddenly get bored with his own work and rush through the denouement.
Beautifully written story about the expectations of marriage., 2008.09.08
I found this a beautifully written story about Edward and Florence, two characters set in the fifites in England. The story begins at the start of their honey-moon and McEwan's comi-tragic prose equips the reader with the central character's expectations of their roles in marriage and general expectations of what a marriage was in the 1950s. The tightly controlled language easily reflects the sense of English restriction and politeness between lovers and partners that prevailed in that decade. The story progresses to a wonderfully described climax where McEwan's gift of presenting the comic with the tragic comes to the forefront. I recommend this quick-read for its sense of style and beautiful prose capturing two lives in a day on Chesil Beach.
Sexual innocence, longing and anxiety in a short, touching novel, 2008.08.25
In an age of sex being everywhere, media portrayals of everyone being sexual athletes and 'at it' all the time, this was a welcome novel of innocence, longing and anxiety about the 'first time.'
I was touched by this short novel and would read it again. I think McEwan writes about love sensitively and look forward to reading his other works.
Paper thin plot and cardboard characters, 2008.08.23
Okay, so the 1950s were dull (apart from Rock `n' Roll) and this dreary novella will do nothing to dispel that image.
The plot (inasmuch as there is a plot) centres on the courtship and (very) brief marriage of Florence and Edward.
More odd couple than star-crossed lovers, Florence's background is smart, academic Oxford whilst Edward is a grammar school boy from rural Oxfordshire. One day, their eyes meet across a CND leaflet and ...
... well, that's about as exciting as it gets.
Florence and Edward are cardboard characters who never really take on lives of their own and who you will find it difficult to love, hate or even care about much: after all, they're just characters in a book.
