"On Chesil Beach" - what a great book.

[terrya]

If we do have a DU Book Club sometime, I hope we talk about this book. It's just brilliant.

[ClintonTyree]

1. A brief synopsis perhaps?

Not giving away the heart of the story, of course. :shrug:

[terrya]

5. Brief synopsis:

The book takes place in the time span of one night...a newly married couple's honeymoon night, in fact. It's England in the year 1962.

Richly drawn characters. Engrossing writing. Do read it.

[Ninga]

2. Is it fiction?

[terrya]

6. Yes.

[jonnyblitz]

3. I just put this book on hold at my local library after seeing

this thread and discovering Ian McEwan is the author because I like anything he writes. I wasn't aware he had written this book! (I am so glad I can do my public library stuff online!)

[terrya]

7. You'll like it, jonnyblitz.

I very much liked "Atonement". Ian McEwan is one of our best writers today.

[PA Democrat]

4. Have you read "Atonement" which is by the same author (Ian McEwan)?

I haven't read "On Chesil Beach" but I will have to check it out, given how much I liked Atonement.

[Unreconstructed Lib]

8. Read it last week. (semi-spoiler/avoid, if you don't want to know how the story ends.)

A very sad ending to a very tense read. But I liked it.

I don't know why but I really expected that the couple would get through the night and maybe learn some larger lessons about themselves and life. But that doesn't always happen, I guess.

I got the impression that she never did overcome her sexual fears, while he was more successful in that regard. And, maybe the idea that the world would be more accommodating of his eventual sexual enlightenment, is probably the point, to some degree. Anyway, I think her fears were far more disabling than were his.

[terrya]

9. I got the same impression.

I don't think Florence ever got over her sexual fears. In the coda, she has a successful career as a classical violinist....but it's not mentioned that she had a husband or even lovers.

I took from it a sense of sadness...that she didn't live in a time (the early 60's) when she could have talked to someone about her sexual fears and to deal with them..it was sad that she had to live with those fears.

The ending is sad. But a very good read. Brilliant writing.

[Unreconstructed Lib]

10. Did you pick up on a fleeting hint

Did you pick up on a fleeting hint as to why her sexual revulsion was so strong? At one point, something was said about a boat trip across the Channel with her father that made me wonder if something so terrible happened that she couldn't even stand to think about it. And, of course, if she couldn't think about it then we couldn't really know much more than that barest reference because the book is almost entirely written from the perspective of the main characters thoughts. I really was surprised, though, that this tiny thread of a clue didn't ever get picked back up again.

Edited to add that, also, the author made it clear that her revulsion wasn't simply an artifact of her era. Her girlfriends, for example, could talk about their own sex lives, to some extent, and she knew that her feelings about sex made her different. She also knew what people expected of her on her wedding night. And she had even consulted a book about it but the book never acknowledged that her revulsion was normal.

Something must have happened to her.

[terrya]

11. I picked up on that.

I wondered the same thing...whether that boat ride involved sexual abuse from her father. That absolutely would help to explain her sexual revulsion towards towards men...and in this case, Edward.

I agree with you...that information was mentioned once and...that was it. It could have been a very important reason for her attitudes about sex.