Venus Rising

Film & BooksIssue: Scorpio 07

On Chesil Beach

This book rests in your hand with a comfort and ease that makes it one that cannot be put down until finished. Though it is literally small in shape, McEwan’s literary talent is large in capacity. His plot is tight, and his technique is so riveting that it is difficult to review this title without giving away the juicy parts. Really, you will read the book faster than I can write this review.

On Chesil Beach By Ian McEwan. 203 pp. Doubleday c. 2007. $22.

Set in England during an era when sex was a taboo topic of discussion, the bulk of the novel consists of one single sex scene. The disastrous outcome of a wedding night explores the impossibility of sustaining love while evoking profound sympathy for the characters. McEwan writes with an authority that makes you feel as if you are a fly on the wall, observing every move and feeling all the tension front row and center.  

It pained him [Edward] tremendously that their wedding night was not simple, when their love was so obvious.

Edward and Florence are likable, and their difficulties are understandable. Their love for each other is palpable; because of this the complexity of their childhood experiences becomes evident to the reader but not to them. 

Their courtship had been pavane, a stately unfolding, bound by protocols never agreed or voiced but generally observed. Nothing was ever discussed – nor did they feel the lack of intimate talk.  These were matters beyond words, beyond definition. The language and practice of therapy, the currency of feelings diligently shared, mutually analyzed, were not yet in general circulation. While one heard of wealthier people going in for psychoanalysis, it was not yet customary to regard oneself in everyday terms as an enigma, an exercise in narrative history, or as a problem waiting to be solved.