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| On Chesil Beach | 
 enlarge | Author: Ian Mcewan
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy Used: £0.12
You Save: £6.87 (98%)
New (34) Collectible (1) from £2.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  70 reviews
Sales Rank: 850
Media: Paperback
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 0099512793
EAN: 9780099512790
ASIN: 0099512793
Publication Date: January 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sexual innocence, longing and anxiety in a short, touching novel August 25, 2008
In an age of sex being everywhere, media portrayals of everyone being sexual athletes and 'at it' all the time, this was a welcome novel of innocence, longing and anxiety about the 'first time.'
I was touched by this short novel and would read it again. I think McEwan writes about love sensitively and look forward to reading his other works.
 Paper thin plot and cardboard characters August 23, 2008
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
Okay, so the 1950s were dull (apart from Rock `n' Roll) and this dreary novella will do nothing to dispel that image.
The plot (inasmuch as there is a plot) centres on the courtship and (very) brief marriage of Florence and Edward.
More odd couple than star-crossed lovers, Florence's background is smart, academic Oxford whilst Edward is a grammar school boy from rural Oxfordshire. One day, their eyes meet across a CND leaflet and ...
... well, that's about as exciting as it gets.
Florence and Edward are cardboard characters who never really take on lives of their own and who you will find it difficult to love, hate or even care about much: after all, they're just characters in a book.
 Frustrating... August 16, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've loved all of the other Ian McEwan books I've read, but although I acknoweldge that this is very well written I just didn't enjoy it at all. I found it very hard going and frankly, didn't have much sympathy for either of the characters. Someone called it a "Tragic love story" but love doesn't really come into it in my opinion!
 full of heartache and love not realised July 20, 2008
this novella is a wonderful exploration into the deeper emotions - today is a world of excess and exposure with little censure - this book is an amazing contrast, tapping into emotions, uncertaintly and misunderstanding with such precision, such clarity and such understanding to leave the reader unable to put the book down - it doesn't get 5 stars because the end feels rushed and lacking completeness - otherwise one of Ian McEwans best
My first McEwan July 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is the first McEwan I have read. I only picked it up because I have been to Chesil Beach on many occassions. The story is not of the type I normally enjoy and look for. However I found this book refreshingly different and well written. The two central characters are real and created in superb detail. After reading this book I have gone on to enjoy other McEwan novels, specifically Saturday, which I think is pefect for people who enjoy this novella.
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