Review by Erin Owens
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
Set in 1962, Ian McEwan's beautifully crafted; On Chesil Beach takes place in a quaint Georgian hotel just on the coast of Dorset. Set just before the sexual revolution, the novel tells the story of Edward Mayhew and Florence Ponting, two newlyweds spending there first night together on their honeymoon in an ‘adequate' hotel room. Edward, a graduate historian and Florence, a passionate violinist in a string quartet, are both in love, both twenty-two, and both virgins awaiting their first night alone. With Edward's fears of ‘arriving too soon' and Florence's preferal not to have anyone touch her, we are introduced into a story of love, tragedy and humility which leaves the reader no room to think of the old cliché, ‘It's better to have loved and lost.'
McEwan places his characters in the middle of the awkwardness of their first night alone, with nothing but the waiter's squeaking shoe's on the wooden floor for comic relief. Aside from this we have the scenery, which McEwan describes with the same careful manor as he does with the awkwardness of Edward and Florence. The scenery and the story seem to go hand in hand in this novel, however once we are introduced to the setting and description of Chesil Beach it becomes quite obvious that McEwan's eminent description is also symbolic of Edward and Florence's anxieties and the coming of change. The beach which stretches out by the English Channel seems to be cut off and could represent the isolation of not only marriage, but possibly the characters isolation from one and other. The representation of change may be embellished by the image of the ‘English Channel' in the background which could suggest a change or sacrifice in the characters lives, or the coming of the sexual revolution, which creates some amount of irony in the novel which McEwan possibly intended.
Aside from the beauty of Chesil Beach we have Florence's screaming anxieties and reluctance for the night ahead, which is made fun of in the opening of the novel by the image of the ‘four poster bed' looming in the background. Florence's only source of power, a wedding how-to guide, seems to have done more damage than good and thrown her further off her now binding marriage vows. With phrases such as ‘penetration' trailing through and haunting her mind Florence becomes far more repulsed towards her new husband. Edward on the other hand appears to be facing the classical teenage dilemma of ‘arriving too soon' which to him could not be a day too soon. Despite all of this, we as a reader never seem to doubt that the two characters love each other dearly, however McEwan's ability to switch gracefully from past to present tense allows us to see both the characters lives and the collision of what they both want, or do not want.
Many critics seem to respond greatly to McEwan's novels, the release of the cinematic novel Atonement put him on the map as far as best selling authors go, On Chesil Beach though the novel might be said to be basic, holds a great amount of beauty in the simplicity of his language. McEwan seems to handle the set up of Edward and Florence perfectly; his delicate and precise language makes the novel beautifully disastrous. As we get towards the ending of the novel we are shown the last shreds of hope in the relationship, which we as readers, cannot help but feel sorrowful about. The ‘last glow of daylight' which trails along the floor, may be McEwan's way to naturalise the situation by reminding us as readers of the beauty in life. However it could also be representative of the coming of an end to the relationship, the emphasis on the ‘last' glow may justify the significance of the conversation that Florence ‘dreaded' having. The daylight in some form may link to the representation of the English Channel, as they both might be a reference or reminder to the outside world, and too all the different people with different relationships, the English Channel seems to distance them from the outside world, however the daylight seems to bring them closer to it, however the negativity of the sun going down and daylight fading brings the relationship to a cleverly constructed halt.
McEwan's talent in writing is not only shown through his many critically acclaimed ‘bestselling' novels but through the audiences that read them. Ian McEwan was quoted in an interview about Chesil Beach saying, ‘I have read it now to a lot of younger kids and they speak rather tenderly of the characters, and in rather compassionate terms, too'. McEwan's own acknowledgement of the variety of his fan base is something no one can criticise him for, his novels may well be appreciated and loved by adults alike, but it is something of an achievement for a writer of his standing to interest and engage with ‘kids', and for younger readers to want to look past other more obvious authors like J.K Rowling. Who can blame any reader of On Chesil Beach for falling in love with not only the characters but the setting and the lives these newlyweds lead, it is no surprise that any reader should think ‘tenderly' of the characters for their insecurities and innocence. For instance, Florence's convincing thoughts of something being ‘profoundly wrong with her' for being afraid of sex.
As readers the first sentence is important for us to be able to build upon, On Chesil Beach lays the perfect building ground: ‘They were young, educated, and both virgins on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible'. In a sentence McEwan manages to prepare us for the story yet to come, the let downs of marriage life, the tainting of the ‘young' newlyweds and the post war gloom people would have been facing. On first reading it is highly probable that details that correspond to the story would be over looked, however in McEwan's first sentence we are stopped in our tracks at the mention of ‘virginity'. His choice for doing this in the first sentence is cleverly written in possibly for the comedy of the story, though the disastrous fall of this seemly perfect couple is enough to make even the solid souls among us cry, from the beginning we are aware of the humility the couple are faced with to an extent that the waiters feet squeaking on the wooden floor seem suggestive enough to make Edward blush.
The failure to talk about sexual acts in the novel adds greatly to the repression, fear and loathing felt by the main characters, especially Florence. Throughout the novel Florence is drifting between acceptance of who she is and the fear of intimacy, it appears to be this element in the novel which presents Florence as the ‘frigid' one, or, to put it another way, the difficult one. We often see an enthusiastic side to Edward as his ‘sudden happiness' is usually caused by the love of his life, however we never seem to get past Florence's anxieties, even though Edward appears to feel the same to an extent, this may be due to the unbearable lack of communication in the novel. This is just another reminder of McEwan's ability to coat and cover the characters negative attributes like those observed in First Love, Last Rites and focus of the characters appraisals.
On Chesil Beach approaches its two main characters and delves deeper into the past and present of both lives. What seems like an easy solution to a humiliating problem leaves the reader screaming for the two to communicate however the story would not be complete in its tragedy without the parting of the two. This is a recommended read for anyone who can be suede by beautiful imagery, and delicately crafted characters, one whom you cannot help but fall in love with.
