The average married couple tends to spend their early days in bliss. However, the protagonists of Ian McEwan's "On Chesil Beach" find themselves in quite the bind. Every effort to become intimate backfires, eventually leading to a question as to whether they love each other on a deeper level. With a fast-paced story that takes place over a matter of days, McEwan captures the small moments of being lost in doubt and disconnect from the life that one envisions. It's a compelling if slight reading experience that finds audiences not only coming to understand the complexities of an individual's personal drives, but also how love shows itself sometimes in unpredictable ways.
If there's one feature that McEwan does with precision, it's getting lost in the moment. For endless pages, he forces the reader to contemplate the interiority of his dual leads, creating their own understanding of their wants and needs. While the instinct would be to pick an easy black and white solution for why things aren't working out, the real answer falls somewhere in the grey zone. Yes, there are some predictable themes of past trauma and feelings of insecurity that keep these characters from being true to themselves. However, there's a lot more of fear about what their future could be and how recent blunders lead to major superstitions.
If there's one feature that McEwan does with precision, it's getting lost in the moment. For endless pages, he forces the reader to contemplate the interiority of his dual leads, creating their own understanding of their wants and needs. While the instinct would be to pick an easy black and white solution for why things aren't working out, the real answer falls somewhere in the grey zone. Yes, there are some predictable themes of past trauma and feelings of insecurity that keep these characters from being true to themselves. However, there's a lot more of fear about what their future could be and how recent blunders lead to major superstitions.
As an exercise, this is another excellent work by McEwan. His ability to dig into a minute by minute pacing is unmatched and allows for every feeling to pop off the page. If there's one issue, it's maybe the limitations of the characters he's chosen, who aren't always the most forthcoming. The reclusiveness adds to the mystery, but it also keeps the reader from feeling total empathy for its leads. As a whole, it works as the broad strokes of a character study. It understands that marriage isn't always a happy ending. Sometimes the reality of not starting the post-script on the right foot can hurt the larger foundation and hinder any positive progress.
The questions that "On Chesil Beach" raises are a valuable insight into a dysfunctional romance. There's enough to keep the reader entertained in a search for their own personal connection to two people who are deeply flawed. Do they really love each other? The answer isn't a simple yes or no and is instead a byproduct of overcoming the struggles of their past. In an effort to experience unabashed romance, they had to give up so much while asking if what they finally got is rewarding. For any of its plodding execution, there is something powerful for being stuck in that moment and feeling every ounce of discomfort, if just to try and understand these people on a microcosmic level. By the end, the reader may know even less than the people on the page and it's their job to figure out how satisfied they are with the gossip.
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