With 'On Chesil Beach', Ian McEwan serves up a beautifully crafted and haunting novella to add to a string of critically acclaimed and best selling novels. Set during the early 1960's, a newly married couple, Edward and Florence, travel to the Dorset coastline to celebrate the first night of their honeymoon. As both settle into their hotel, next to Chesil Beach, and as they try to enjoy their evening meal they are inwardly preoccupied with the impending consumation of their marriage. During their courtship and engagement both neglected to discuss the whole issue of having sex and as the event draws closer and closer they grow increasingly anxious, but for very different reasons. McEwan skillfully interweaves this situation with flashbacks of the couple's past and thus builds up a rich and subtle picture of the two characters. What happens on Chesil Beach is a powerful and heart-renching climax, a warning against the human pitfalls of repression and pride. McEwan writes with great style and captures the reader from his very first sentence, never letting go. Beautiful, compelling and devastating. (Contains one scene of strong sex) 8.5 out of 10.
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