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On Chesil Beach: A Novel
Unavailable
On Chesil Beach: A Novel
Unavailable
On Chesil Beach: A Novel
Audiobook4 hours

On Chesil Beach: A Novel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

BONUS FEATURE: Exclusive interview with the author!

A novel of remarkable depth and poignancy from one of the most acclaimed writers of our time.

It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their worries about the wedding night to come. Edward, eager for rapture, frets over Florence's response to his advances and nurses a private fear of failure, while Florence's anxieties run deeper: she is overcome by sheer disgust at the idea of physical contact, but dreads disappointing her husband when they finally lie down together in the honeymoon suite.

Ian McEwan has caught with understanding and compassion the innocence of Edward and Florence at a time when marriage was presumed to be the outward sign of maturity and independence. On Chesil Beach is another masterwork from McEwan-a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 5, 2007
ISBN9780739343722
Unavailable
On Chesil Beach: A Novel

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Reviews for On Chesil Beach

Rating: 3.6116101717691778 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

2,894 ratings195 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Eine kurze, sublim britisch-komische, letztlich aber tragische Geschichte einer Liebesbeziehung im Oxford der 1960er Jahre. So ganz erreicht hat mich die Geschichte nicht, auch wenn sie auf den letzten Seiten eine hochspannende Dramatik erreicht.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In July 1962, Edward Mayhew and Florence Ponting, a classically-trained violinist and from a wealthy family marry and have traveled to Chesil Beach for their honeymoon. Edward, a graduate student of history, has been offered a position in his father-in-law's business. Their future appears bright. However, a wedding night incident endangers their future as a married couple.Much of this novel/novella is told through Edward's and Florence's back story, e.g. lives before meeting, their encounter, and dating, reflections of the two in the hotel room. McEwan described Edward's stream of consciousness that I could easily picture myself in Edward's shoes. Although I enjoyed this book less than others I have read by him, I still found it to be a poignant read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    McEwan's writing is such a treat. When I read him I feel like I am reading great quality fiction but it also feels effortless. This book flies by at just over 200 pages and reads like an intense study of two people. I heard there is going to be a movie of this soon and honestly, I just can't imagine (other than the fabulous setting) what that could possible be like on the big screen. There is so much here that makes this novel what it is that is interior to the characters, i just can't imagine how that would translated to the screen. The subject is not light - its definitely has a gloomy cast to it, but it is a fine tightly written piece.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Well written. This is the first book written by Ian McEwan I have read. I'm not certain if I will give another of his books a try.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Heartbreaking.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Heartbreaking story. Amazing writing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    a miniature gem
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    a miniature gem
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another short novel constructed like clockwork. Well-formulated phrases that allow you to continue reading at fast pace. A mix of painful, humoristic and philosophical observations of a failed marriage.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This story of a young couple on their wedding night is one of McEwan's best, or the best I've read so far by the author. It is astonishing just how McEwan can get inside the head of a woman. He is spectacularly successful in capturing the mid-century society and conventions just as the sixties are about to bring changes to many facets of life. This is especially worthy of note because the time frame is a few years ahead of McEwan's own youth. Every word of this story is captivating.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The "Bridges of Madison County" of the summer. A two-day whisper of a book!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Desperately sad story of newly weds on their wedding night in the early '60s. Found the last few pages a bit disappointing but other than that was a superbly crafted story with well developed characters and vivid descriptions of excruciating moments.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A heartbreaking story of love and loss set in 1962, which focuses on a newlywed virgin couple and their fears and expectations as they approach their first night together.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I wonder if any of Ian McEwan's books have happy endings.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    wow, wow, wow! amazing writer.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love how Ian writes. He is so effortlessly descriptive. For a book that really tells the story of events of just 2 people in 2 hours, it feels much deeper than that.
    As with many McEwan stories, it is, well....um, distinctive. Not one you will soon forget.

    I'm not sure I can say I recommend it, but if you like McEwan, it is definitely worth a read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It’s short, I read it in a day, but oh my god. This is one of most moving novels I’ve read in a long time. A tragedy about everyday people, with the kind of details that make them real and ended up breaking my heart. It stayed with me a long time.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The touching story of two adult children, the product of the British University System, who between them did not posses the brains of a caterpillar. There’s a lot of it about!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    "A story lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not said"'On Chesil Beach' primarily focuses on a single night but also features childhood flashbacks as well as future events and revolves around a newly married couple's lack of meaningful communication. “They barely knew each other, and never could because of the blanket of companionable near-silence that smothered their differences and blinded them as much as bound them.”After a short courtship, Edward and Florence are married and are to spend their wedding night in a hotel on Chesil Beach. Both are virgins and over dinner each are preoccupied with thoughts about what will happen when they consummate their marriage. Both are worried for very different reasons. After months of gentle petting Edward is looking forward to the freedom from constraints that marriage will allow him but is worried he will climax prematurely. Meanwhile Florence, has absolutely no interest in sex and is trying to convince herself that she can go through with it.“She could not bear to let Edward down. And she was convinced she was completely in the wrong.”The most compelling question of the story is whether Florence is simply asexual or had she suffered some sort of sexual trauma in her past which whilst not entirely put her off the act has certainly shaped her attitude towards it? Even now my opinion swings from one standpoint to the other but ultimately I don’t think that it really matters. Instead we should focus on the couple's difficulties with talking about sex. Florence in particular doesn't think that she has either the terminology or ability to do so, nor is it socially acceptable to even try. “She could never have described her array of feelings: a dry physical sensation of tight shrinking, general revulsion at what she might be asked to do, shame at the prospect of disappointing him, and of being revealed as a fraud.”In contrast I felt that Edward was much more poorly drawn. To me he seemed shallow and peevish which meant that the final climatic conversation when it arrived lost some of its punch for I had little sympathy for him by that point. I don't think that the disparity in their upbringing helped the plot either.I have read a few of the author's books and thus far all of them have left me underwhelmed, this one is little different.Despite only being first published in 2007 it already felt dated. A quick read but one unlikely to live long in the memory.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read the book years ago and recently watched the movie so I wanted to refresh my memory about the book. The book is great. The movie was ok.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ian McEwan writes as if he knows what it's like to be a woman. A small story, but a profound one. Great writing about setting and character emotions. But I would have liked to know what happened to the woman; whether she married or had children, whether she found her life satisfying. Not sure why he only told us what happened to the man.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Didn't keep my interest. I skimmed and skipped my way through. Only read about 50% of this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    McEwan's novel focuses on the interactions and, most particularly, on the very different inner dialogue taking place when a young couple experiences their wedding night in the 1960's. The timeline is critical for the inexperience of these young adults would be almost unthinkable in today's world when even youngsters without direct sexual experience have grown up in a barrage of sexual information and stimulation. McEwan writes with a delicate touch and suggests rather than tells. Watch for the hints of a rather horrifying history for the female protagonist. This book is short; can be read quickly, but will return to the reader for some time afterward as a source of thoughtful consideration.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book. It is a very powerful story about a couple through courtship and to their wedding. All the way through you understand the feelings that the couple are going through, the nerves, the fear and anticipation. All of this overlayed with the customs and social pressures of the day.

    I thought that the ending was weak, it should have finished with the scene on Chesil Beach. I feel that would have made the story much more powerful.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I read this after I read Atonement years ago, and so began my slow and gradual appreciation for literary fiction.

    Not a lot happens in this book. It focusses on a couple who are on their honeymoon on a beach. If you like plot-driven novels, this is not the novel for you. It is a quiet, slow, character-driven novel but I enjoyed how McEwan was able to milk so much tension and angst out of such tiny, minuscule moments.

    To be honest, I don't remember much more than that apart from the mood, which means that the book hasn't stayed with me. But I did like reading it and I feel like it was one of the books that really signalled a change in my reading tastes.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My favorite so far of Ian McEwan's books. He is an amazing writer and has great insight into the human condition.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is my second Ian McEwan book (The Cement Garden was my first), and he's definitely now up there as one of my favourite authors. He has such tremendous skill in taking a short snapshot of time and delicately describing the horrors that can unfold from the most ordinary of beginnings, happenings which go on to change the course of an individual's life.The main story of On Chesil Beach revolves around a young couple on their wedding night, and how a failure to do or say the right thing in a single moment can change your life forever. To say much more than that would require a spoiler alert. McEwan's prose is so quietly and beautifully honest, his characters are within touching distance.Devour it in no more than a few days - be touched by it for a lifetime.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An enjoyable read. I'll definately read more from this. Its based around a young couple on their wedding night in the early 60's. Theres plenty of awkward moments and nervousness. I felt for the characters and could understand how they both felt, although their feelings were different.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A character study of a man and wife on their wedding night. While I usually do not like things this focused, I found the writing entrancing. I will read more by McEwan.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In life, small moments hold the secrets of years, and one chance disaster or dream changes everything. Like Chesil Beach, our lives are built on pebbles stranded by chance.In Ian McEwan’s novel, the course of dreams has led to the wedding night of two characters who, like any married couple, might just as easily never have met. Each carries the secrets of their time—1960s, before the sexual revolution, when intimacy wasn’t talked about and fears were never expressed. The question arises promptly—how much control will those secrets, born of small moments, have over the future of love.Ian McEwan’s ability to slip into the mind of a woman’s wounded innocence drives one third of this tale, while his masterful depiction of man’s balancing act between action and emotion drives another. But a third story slips between the lines, extending what could be a simple story of the 60s into a novel for all times. Those secrets we keep, those moments that break, those hurts that are secret until the right time which, being a moment itself, might never arise...Are there dark things untold in this novel? That’s for the reader to guess. Certainly sexual details are proffered with surprising detail and intimate compassion. But there’s always a sense of more, guessed at but never expressed. And if life’s unknowns are poured into music by the end, perhaps it’s the song of the waves on Chesil Beach.Disclosure: A friend didn’t particularly enjoy this novel so she gave it to me and I loved it.