On Chesil Beach: Ian McEwan

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On Chesil Beach is a linguistic balancing act, each sentence delicately positioning itself both by historical co-ordinates -- an early-Sixties world of Austin 35s and wireless news bulletins -- and by more private reference points -- the separate anxieties and assumptions of the young bride and groom. McEwan, as Atonement demonstrated, is at his best with this finely tuned historical pastiche. The period detail allows him some virtuosic touches (…..) McEwan's forensic account of the warring couple's partialities (…) is perfectly constructed, but fails to throw off the feel of a private technical exercise. In a novel so reliant on bias and conviction, a little more authorly engagement would be welcome." - Rachel Aspden, New Statesman Thus it was no surprise when Ian McEwan both enlarged his readership and elevated his international renown with Atonement (2003), a novel that spanned decades and was about twice as long as the slim, unsettling volumes for which he’d previously been known. He followed with Saturday (2005), which also seemed epic in comparison with his early work – though its scope was a single, particularly eventful day. Florence yearns for the former; she would rather never have anyone touch her, she believes, even this man she loves. She has been undone by the language of the wedding manual she has been reading (all 'mucous membranes' and 'glans' and 'penetration'). Edward, meanwhile, dreams fervently, silently, of the uninterrupted pleasure that will be theirs now the 'wrangle over the ring' has been sorted. Inevitably, these two worlds have collided several times already, and not favourably. Yes, Florence's attitude is pathological; worse yet, she hasn't made it entirely clear to Edward how she feels about this act they're supposed to engage in. a b Thomas, Lou (18 May 2018). "Adapting Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach: 'My advice would be don't worry about having sex tonight' ". British Film Institute . Retrieved 23 May 2018.

On Chesil Beach - Penguin Books UK

It's not nostalgic, but he is trying to capture an era and he's very explicit about it, constantly reminding the reader of this different time (down to noting that: "This was not a good moment in the history of English cuisine" when discussing their meal). In the beginning, Edward and Florence prepare each other for their wedding night. It is the year 1962; a time when talking about sexuality was not as easy and natural as it would be fifty years later. Both Edward and Florence are virgins; however, Florence believes Edward to be experienced with other women, and Edward doesn't know about Florence's anxiety to even think of sexual relationships, of the disgusting feeling which builds in her stomach whenever her thoughts wander off to this night she fears so much. It is a simple premise, a fact which keeps this book from becoming as interesting and masterful as the complex Atonement, yet a premise intriguing enough for me to become interested in the characters. And interesting and complex they were indeed.We learn about their families and upbringing; how they met and how they dated. Both are intellectuals. He’s studying to be a professor of history; her life is music and playing the violin. As it turns out, McEwan’s concern for his characters’ individual humanity and his interest in the larger historical movement end up being somewhat at odds; they refuse, in the end, to embody sociological analysis. Liberation, in this novel, happens somewhere else. But that can only be to the benefit of the humanity of this small but interesting novel. I like it much more than McEwan’s last six novels, at least. (…) The novel is saved by an honest familiarity with individual psychology, and by the fact that it is, really, all about sex, which McEwan certainly does understand. The larger movements of history, however, enter into these lives in ways which are all too much like the novel that Professor Peter Hennessy might write about the period." - Philip Hensher, The Spectator Thirteen years later, in 1975, a young girl enters the record shop that Edward now runs. He realises that she must be Florence's daughter, and he painfully reminisces about his lost love. Much later, in 2007, Edward, still single, overhears on the radio that Florence's quartet – including her husband – will be giving a farewell concert after 45 years of professional success. He attends and sits near the front of the audience. When their eyes meet, Edward and Florence shed silent tears. Jaremko-Greenwold, Anya (31 May 2018). " "On Chesil Beach" and What Is Expected of Women". FLOOD Magazine. Anthemic Agency . Retrieved 4 June 2018.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan – review | Books | The Guardian

The film had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2017, and was released in the United States and United Kingdom in May 2018. [2] [3] Plot [ edit ] being touched "down there" by someone else, even someone she loved, was as repulsive as, say, a surgical procedure on the eye. Her problem, she thought, was greater, deeper, than straightforward physical disgust; her whole being was in revolt against a prospect of entanglement and flesh; her composure and essential happiness were about to be violated. Florence’s family is upper middle class. Her father is a successful businessman and her mother teaches philosophy at Oxford. Edward’s father is a beleaguered elementary school principal, who must manage the household because a freak accident has left his wife brain-damaged. Well, that’s what the book is about. The reader looks on helplessly and squirmingly as two virgins, Edward and Florence, sit in a hotel room on the beach embarrassed out of their minds. It’s 1962, on the cusp of the sexual revolution, and the pair have neither the presence of mind or even the vocabulary to communicate openly with each other. There is only a handful of words spoken until the very last chapter of the book (it was tough for me not to use the word climax here, but I try to stay classy).It's almost a shame that McEwan had to go that far; surely the unsettling weirdness of sex to a sheltered child of the times might have been enough to get him nearly as far.) Communication failure is at the center of his tale, and he evokes it with heartbreaking eloquence." - Kyle Smith, People Joe McGovern (22 August 2016). "Billy Howle joins Saoirse Ronan in Ian McEwan adaptation on Chesil Beach". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 23 August 2016.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan | Waterstones On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan | Waterstones

The honeymoon is to take place beside Chesil Beach, in a Georgian hotel. They eat their nuptial supper - melon with glace cherries, slabs of beef with overcooked veg, in their room overlooking the bay - while a pair of waiters, local lads, stands by intrusively. The beach, that unique spit of shingle which runs between the Fleet Lagoon and the Channel, immediately seems emblematic of several things: of this moment of certainty in lives that might never again seem certain; of the path that they have just embarked on together, a path which, like all married couples in love they believe they will be making new; but also of a romance that has taken place between the devil of Middle English rectitude and the deep blue sea of the coming sexual revolution. McEwan describes that wedding night in painful, exacting detail, from the meal they have in their room all the way through to the bitter end on the beach. Marvellously, it comes even worse than expected, as Edward contributes to the mess with his own sexual difficulties (let's just say that his decision to lay off gratifying himself in the days before the wedding looks like it left him more precariously bottled-up than is healthy). Lodderhose, Diana (22 August 2016). "Billy Howle Boards 'On Chesil Beach' For 'Carol' Producer Number 9 Films". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media . Retrieved 20 October 2016.Finally, the time arrives to consummate the marriage. However, it is rather short-lived as Florence accidentally overstimulates Edward, causing him to ejaculate all over her body before they even have sex. This disgusts Florence on many levels, and she storms out. Edward goes after Florence to discuss what has happened and they have a heated argument. By the end of it, Florence has made it clear that she has no interest in ever having sex. I adored this short but insightful, powerfully written book. I vow to read McEwan again within the next few months. He’s an expert at his craft and a gifted observer of human nature.