Wednesday, August 25, 2010

On Chesil Beach

Arnold Bockin: Isle of the Dead *
My grand-daughter, who had been staying here with me, left last Monday abandoning on the table a copy of  'On Chesil Beach', by Ian McEwan.  Finding it there on Tuesday morning I picked it up and, over my morning coffee, I began to read it.  Before I rose from the table I had finished reading all of its 166 pages.  It is a tragic tale beautifully written.  In less able, or more salacious hands several passages essential to the story could easily have been narrated sensationally but McEwan handles his story to invoke emotions of tenderness and understanding rather than eroticism.  I enjoyed reading 'On Chesil Beach'.  In a way it left me feeling much as I did when I had finished reading William Trevor's,  'The Story of Lucy Gault'.
*Oh yes, despite the principal protagonists surviving to the end of the story, there is a connection!

1 comment:

Sean Jeating said...

A fine mixture, Böcklin, McEwan and Trevor.
Having read some stories and novels by either [or ought I to write 'both'?) McEwan and Trevor, I did not read those you are commending.

Sounds good, John. A mug of coffee and 166 pages. Probably I shall need two more mugs.
The peace of the night.