On Chesil Beach ~ Ian McEwan
It is June, 1962. In a hotel on the Dorset coast, overlooking Chesil Beach, Edward and Florence, who got married that morning, are sitting down to dinner in their room. Neither is entirely able to suppress their anxieties about the wedding night to come …
I’m guessing from the reviews I’ve read, that this is a book you either think is fantastic or wonder what all the hype is about. I think I’m leaning towards the latter.
I’d heard great things about McEwan’s work and the cover reviews and the fact it was Booker Short-Listed last year, suggested that this was as good a good place as any to start.
Also being only 166 pages this is novella territory so at least I wouldn’t be stuck for long if I didn’t enjoy it, but having read it, it’s not really whether or not I enjoyed it, but what the point was…
It’s not the lack of a happy ending, for I am partial to a bit of angst every now and again, or that the writing is clumsy, because it is not. But I never cared about the characters, there wasn’t really a “journey” to be told as such either. So when we hit the denouement on Chesil Beach itself, my reaction was along the lines of, Meh… So what…
The final page and a bit, when in later life, Edward, looks back and considers, what if? Are probably the most meaningful pages in the book, and do hint at what maybe McEwan was trying to achieve in this book, but for the other 164 pages it missed me completely. I’m thinking if I’d read this bit first, then I’d have got much more from the book.
I’m going to give it 3 stars rather than 2, because whatever I didn’t “get” about the book, I was compelled at least, to finish the thing.
I have got Saturday in my TBR pile, and I really do hope it captures my imagination more that this one did.
Rating: 
Buy:On Chesil Beach at Amazon.
Other Reviews to Consider:
I have done 6 shots till now. Your...
You want to try ‘Enduring Love’ - it has some of the most beautiful prose of any contemporary author I’ve read in it. The first chapter left me breathless.
MissMacs last blog post..Oh, I do like to be beside the sea side…
I completely agree - I wish I’d just read the last page and not wasted 2 hours of my life on the other 100 and something pages!
Well, I’m going to give him another go, because, well it wasn’t as if it was like wading through treacle to read or anything. It was just when I got the end I wasn’t sure what the point was.
Does look like “Saturday” will be the next one as it’s in the TBR pile, but I can usually trust your recommendations MissMac, so “Enduring Love” has gone on the ole’ Bookmooch Wishlist!
Barts last blog post..The Uncommon Reader
I’ll post you my copy over on loan if you’d like. It’s a definite ‘keeper’ in my library but I don’t mind if you want to borrow it for a while.