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  • Reading On Chesil Beach

  • Ian McEwan remains one of my favorite writers working today, and On Chesil Beach provides testament as to why. As with his previous books, detail is key. McEwan places the reader so solidly in the story that it feels as though you're standing right alongside the main characters.

    The novella c ... Continue

    Ian McEwan remains one of my favorite writers working today, and On Chesil Beach provides testament as to why. As with his previous books, detail is key. McEwan places the reader so solidly in the story that it feels as though you're standing right alongside the main characters.

    The novella centers around a brand new married couple and the events of their wedding night. The story is set in the late 50s, when sexual mores were obviously significantly different than they are today. Both husband and wife have serious hangups and fears going into the big night, and we flash forward and backward to see the evolution of their relationship. The story is brutally realistic, but beautifully told. McEwan is able to write sentences so sublime that they require reading and re-reading. As with all McEwan novels on my list, this one is highly recommended.

    

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• ― moogle said on Apr 20, 2007 | Add your feedback

• .

  • I got the audio version of this and it's read by the author. I don't tend to like audio-books read by the author, they generally seem too monotone for me or something. Also, the beginning just seemed to go on too long about her aversion to sex. I got bored and my mind wandered.
    This book has g ... Continue

    I got the audio version of this and it's read by the author. I don't tend to like audio-books read by the author, they generally seem too monotone for me or something. Also, the beginning just seemed to go on too long about her aversion to sex. I got bored and my mind wandered.
    This book has generally good ratings so my recommendation would be not to listen to the audio version. Maybe you will have better luck with it than I did. Good luck.

    

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• ― Angie (angiebro) said on Jan 9, 2008 about the Audio CD edition| Add your feedback

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..."On Chesil Beach" is another masterwork from Ian McEwan - a story about how the entire course of a life can be changed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken.

Ian McEwan向來以利筆冷眼勾勒當代人心的不安和恐懼，這次脫去沈重的時代背景，極其精簡的角色，濃縮數個小時的時間，用詩般的文字凝鍊成人性的篇章。

推薦理由：英國當代重量級作家Ian McEwan的最新作品，第四度入圍布克獎。 McEwan初出道即以短篇小說集First Love, Last Rites獲毛姆獎，一九九八年以《阿姆斯特丹》Amsterdam 榮獲布克獎，《贖罪》Atonement獲美國國家書卷獎，上一本著作Saturday也入選紐約時報年度好書。每本小說都受到高度期待。

故事主角是1960年代一對年輕夫妻的新婚之夜，聚焦在數小時之內的場景中。兩人彼此相愛，他們的生活時代是保守的，婚前不能發生關係，對於性愛方面的話題更是難以啟齒、無法談論。兩人都非常矜持，就在尷尬與害怕中彼此揣摩心意、犯下離譜的錯誤。

儘管本書篇幅很短，也因此讓評審對於選擇這本書的入圍感到遲疑，但是因為這本書的緊湊和品質極佳，也讓評審放下顧慮。從晚餐開始，作者生動描寫兩人之間的緊張氣氛、隨著時間過去逐漸高漲；對於主角兩人的純真，但又因為相愛而產生過多轉折想法，這些心理層面的深刻描寫，也讓這個作品充滿它應有的份量，而不至淪為一本過輕的簡單小說。

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NY Times Notable Book Club (328)

Eclectic Book Club (230)

• marriagesexfictionnovelbritish literature2007