Ian McEwan is an author I love dearly, and I manage to discover something foreign to me in each of his books. I read On Chesil Beach on a bus trip. And I couldn’t even sleep out of curiosity. I still had the joy and surprise of reading another Ian McEwan book when I got off the bus.
It is about the first night of a newly married couple on their honeymoon on the beach. The book, which deals with both men and women differently, touches on marriage, the complicated feelings of people, and all the crazy things we do. Annoying, thought-provoking and shocking like any McEwan book. The characters are so real and honest that you have the feeling that you are with them. It is just that they don’t listen to you at all.
Although I am not against marriage, I know how troublesome it can be if one is under peer pressure. It makes me sad that many women do not know what pleasure or even sex is. This little book explains this problem brilliantly. If you’ve never read McEwan, try his books; you’ll love him.
On Chesil Beach
It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come and, unbeknownst to them both, the events of the evening will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan, CBE, FRSA, FRSL is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, The Times featured him on its list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945” and The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 19 in its list of the “100 most powerful people in British culture”.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
