| The fly cover of On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan | | | | deals with just one event, a newlywed couple's |
| describes the book as "a short novel of | | | | wedding night. What happens to them is the |
| remarkable depth by a writer at the height of his | | | | book's crucial point, so to reveal it would render |
| powers". On Chesil Beach was recently short-listed | | | | the reading less rewarding. Suffice it to say that |
| for the Man Booker Prize, but lost out to Anne | | | | Edward and Florence are newlyweds and they are |
| Enright's The Gathering. I have read both books | | | | in a Dorset hotel for their honeymoon. This is the |
| and, for me at least, what is so amazing is the | | | | early 1960s, an era when sexuality was not |
| mere fact that two such utterly different | | | | discussed or even approached in the manner of |
| concepts could have been considered for the | | | | even half a decade later. |
| same prize. It is reassuringly astounding that the | | | | Edward and Florence are products of their age |
| "genre" of literary fiction can be home to every | | | | and of their upbringing. Ian McEwan tells us much |
| style, every emotion, every approach, every | | | | of these aspects of their characters in asides and |
| outcome, everything imaginable and much that is | | | | cameos throughout the narrative. When I |
| real. | | | | reviewed the same writer's Saturday, I described |
| Those who write book blurbs are often prone to | | | | the book as time turned inside out. In that book, |
| hyperbole. The greatest, the best, the most, the | | | | across the span of a single day, an entire family is |
| biggest, the most superlative are terms of | | | | presented through its past, its aspirations, its |
| mundane commonplace. The term "best selling" is | | | | identities. On Chesil Beach accomplishes a similar |
| usually an empty platitude. "Real" often signifies | | | | feat across a smaller canvas, but in a much more |
| "very", but without the latter's imagined meaning. | | | | concentrated form, replete with comment, detail, |
| So what can we make of "a short novel of | | | | analysis and observation. |
| remarkable depth by a writer at the height of his | | | | Florence is solidly middle class, Edward less so. She |
| powers"? In the case of On Chesil Beach this | | | | is a violinist from a musical family. He likes Chuck |
| blurb is an understatement, but it is essentially | | | | Berry. They are deeply in love and they marry, |
| accurate and justified. If I were to write a blurb | | | | but they remain children of their age, and there is |
| for this Ian McEwan novel, I would use a single | | | | the rationale for the book, an examination of their |
| word: masterpiece. | | | | private ideas on how to cope with adulthood, |
| I will offer only the merest summary of the plot | | | | alongside an account of the practicalities. |
| to provide context, because the book effectively | | | | |