McEwan is the kind of author who can say more in a sentence than most can say in a chapter.This is a thoughtful book which provokes thought. In On Chesil Beach McEwan has combined the intensity of his narrowly focused early work with his more expansive later flowered to devastating effect Justin Cartwright, Independent on Sunday

The bedroom scene itself is carried off brilliantly Christopher Taylor, Sunday TelegraphĪ fine book, homing in with devastating precision on a kind of Englishness which McEwan understands better than any other living writer, the Englishness of deceit, evasion, repression and regret. McEwan gives the reader access to both characters' thoughts with his usual skill, and the comedy of embarrassment, or of the kind of erotic misunderstanding that Milan Kundera used to specialise in, quickly disappears as the marital bed begins to seem more and more ominous. McEwan's brilliance as a novelist lies in his ability to isolate discrete moments in life and invest them with incredible significance Tim Adams, ObserverĪ tightly focused human drama. McEwan's style is lean and clear.every sentence feels carefully crafted, the words all perfectly in place John Harding, Daily Mail McEwan is word-perfect at handling the awkward comedy of this relationship and, as ever, turning it into something far more disturbing Observer

On chesil beach by ian mcewan