So, Chesil Beach ... what dyou think?

Noooo - her dad didn't abuse her, did he? He was quite distant, but that doesn't explain her complex reasons of fear of intimacy?

My mom read the last few pages because she couldn't stand the suspense... cheating, I thought!

Mrs Bumblebee I couldn't agree with you less. Nothing happened, all the way through I was waiting for something to happen, and very little did. I think the opposite of you about Atonement too - the first half was SO slow I had to prop my eyes open with matchsticks to get through! The second half was much better.

What is with the tragic endings though. Think I am a happy endings girl, I am always disappointed with an open or unhappy ending.

I think I agree with MrsBumblebee. I quite liked the fact it was 'slight'. That's what I needed as I'd just emerged from reading An Introduction to Judaism, which challenged my brain cells a step too far.

Am wondering whether to suggest this book for my book group....

suedonim that's why I disliked it, the implication that if only HE had done something different all could have been saved. Personally I thought she behaved dreadfully. Either there was something more fundamental behind her rejection (like previous abuse) or the marriage was built on very shallow grounds. Clearly it was sexually, as the impression I have is that really she didn't actually fancy him (possibly she didn't know how to, but the only time I have had a kiss like that I was in a relationship where I really liked the guy, but there was absolutely no chemistry).

I did find it embarrassing that my mother was going on about the book to my dad when I was there, but then she has no qualms in telling me that their marriage is now "chaste". She also told me when I was young and impressionable that she was more interested in the horse in the field than my poor father when he proposed to her...

She got a little peeved when I told her that the book had only increased my belief that you should NEVER approach your marriage as a virgin.

But I agree Chesil Beach was a bit 'over-explained', particularly the last few pages.

I really liked it, particularly after Saturday, which I was disappointed by. UD, I know what you mean about it being slight, but I think I actually prefer McEwan when he's being slight, IYKWIM. In my opinion, what he does best is the massive impact of minor incidents and even thought processes on individuals' lives. I loved Black Dogs for that reason, and maybe it's why I didn't like Saturday - there was just too much 'story'. And probably the same reason that I like the first half of Atonement much more than the end.

I thought it was poor. He kept ramming home the point that these people were victims of their class and background and time, as if we were too thick to get it.

As a strand in a bigger novel about the social changes of the 60s it could have worked quite well. On its own it felt slight and frustrating.

bran - that's exactly how I felt about the book, but unlike you I loved it for that!

I always feel that McEwan's characters aren't fully-formed people in their own right, but are rather like pawns within a larger gameplan.
The only other McEwan novels I've read are Atonement (which I loved) and Saturday (which I thought was dire). What I felt both novels shared was a desire to depict middle-class guilt and morality (the true nature of motivation for one's actions, as can be seen in 18th century english novels). However, I couldn't see how On Chesil Beach fitted in this grand scheme.

Am I reading too much into McEwan or can someone see the point I'm trying to make?

I found it startlingly close to home, since it was partly set in Oxfordshire in the 60s, the heroine even went to my school, and lots of other detail was also familiar. Apart from that, it didn't make much of an impact.

I didn't like it at all. But I generally don't like McEwan. My Mum loves his books and keeps giving them to me. She thinks he understands women very well, that he writes as though he were a woman.

I find all his books quite stilted. I like to feel that characters are real and have a life of their own and the author is simply writing their experiences. With McEwan though I can always sort of hear his voice controlling the characters, they are more puppets being used to make a point than real people with depth. I really found it quite dull, as though I was reading a story outline rather than a finished novella.

Nooka, at your mother, lol!! And Suzy, surely your parents are still virgins. I mean, one's parents never have sex, ever, ever, ever.

I didn't think the man was blamed particularly. The implication was that if he'd gone back to the hotel earlier the situation could have been retrieved, but I think that was unlikely. I felt Florence hadn't been truthful to herself or Edward, thus the marriage foundered before it began.

My mother was reading it when I spent a week with them on holiday. She kept saying to my father, that's us, which I could see made him very uncomfortable! Then he read it, and I skimmed it too. I thought that some bits were great, the descriptions of the kiss in particular, and the argument captures that totally pointless scoring where you know you are being completely destructive, but you do it anyway.

But I thought was quite ambiguous as to whether she was just frightened of sexual intimacy, didn't actually fancy her husband, or the possibility of previous abuse.

I also thought it was very unfair on the male character, with the implication that it was all his fault (if only he'd said no sex is just fine dear) and the complete breakdown of the marriage after the one argument, however unpleasant, made me think that the relationship can't have had any depth at all, in which case what's the tragedy?

Ooh, resurrected thread.
I was hugely disappointed by it, having enjoyed a lot of his earlier novels. I came away with a big "so what?" feeling. I felt it laboured the point and constantly told us what to think about the characters.

I liked it
I know my mum and dad read it as it was set in the same year as they were married and I strongly suspect they were both virgins too.

Haven't liked to ask them what they think of it though, TMI and all that

I love Ian mcEwan, did I mention that?

I finished this yesterday. I felt so sad for them both, it was really quite bleak. I thought abuse by the father was going to be involved as well, though maybe that would have been too predictable.

Having been brought up at a pebbly seaside place, I was somewhat concerned they were going to do the deed on the shingle!

Started all right, then I got the impression he couldn't be arsed to write it properly.

Turned into a synopsis or film treatment.

I enjoyed it until the end - I didn't really like the synopsis of his life, nor the summing up at the end (the last paragraph or so).

I thought that abuse was hinted at on the boat trips, too, and there is a reference at one point to smells on the trip which I thought might have been to do with abuse. However, it was only a hint, and I re-read it several times without being able to decide.

ooh, thinking of buying it. Didn't like Saturday too much, but giving him a cgance to redeem himself with Atonement. Going well so far.

Apparently there's a lot of people who think Amsterdam was not worthy of the Booker?

shouldnt have read this thread because in the middle of reading it - she has just gone off to the beach. but i agree that the abuse thing occurred to me. the writing is amazing, so clear and concise yet completely addictive. kept me awake last night much longer than most books. am wondering whether to go and see atonement as i loved the book and don't want to spoil it. love all his books actually

shoulda woulda coulda sophable - agree, if only...

it's a tragedy innit? i mean, the story is a real tragedy. they should have been together, could have been together and with a bit more patience and a little less fear and ignorance WOULD have been together.

agree with justine, i'd thought there had been abuse too. thought the ending was a bit unnecessary (all the detail about his rather sad solitary life) as would have preferred to imagine it iykwim

powerful writing though

Think I'm with you niceglasses although i do agree that it was probably quite realistic in the interaction and arguing between the characters.

I could see it being adapted for the stage quite well maybe.

Humm. Dunno. I found it a bit plodding. I haven't read a lot of McEwan, tho I did enjoy er, oh the one with the balloon accident at the start...(senior moment).

I kept waiting for a bit more to happen, enjoyed the end though - it all became clear to me then that really he had been unreasonable and if he had had some patience........

I really didn't like it although I do like some McEwan - just didn't think there was enough substance to it really.

Then again, my opinion can probably be discredited in most people's eyes in that I didn't like Atonement either.