European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 24 scene stars and stripes july 2007 books i Beach a Brilliant disaster Mcevans latest novel spins hear stopping Domestic drama s 5 5 to i a u talk about minimalism Ian Mcevans new on Chesil unfolds almost entirely Over the course of a Young couples wedding and the plot hinges on a Brief moment of sexual awkward its the Book Mcewan seems to have been building toward for years his last Nad a similarly compressed time taking place Over the course of a tense Day his two books before atonement and both told stories similar to that of on Chesil about the disastrous consequences of silence and mis comm is Mcewan conducting some sort of academic Experiment trying to figure out How far into the realm of pare Down abstraction he can journey without completely alienating the Reader on Chesil Beach which is just 202 pages Long and can easily be finished in one sitting sometimes feels that but Mcewan Hast lost any of his Powers of observation or his ability to illuminate the tensions that fester just beneath the Placid surface of everyday the result is like an appetizer pre pared by a fourstar chef it might leave you hungry for another but it still Man Ages to be satisfying in its own Chesil Beach is the summer resort on the Dorset coast to which Edward and Florence have come to celebrate their the year is a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly Imossi both Florence and Edward grew up near though on the proverbial opposite Side of the tracks Florence lived in the daughter of a sue m i a Cess Ful businessman Edward came from a squalid family with a Mother who spent her Days in bed in the throes of a deep Florence and Edward Arent the most originally conceived and occasionally the author drifts into cliche in characterizing but As he showed in the classic open ing chapter of enduring in which a couples afternoon picnic goes terrifyingly Mcewan can turn banal Domestic melodrama into the stuff of hear stopping the first Sec Tion of on Chesil Beach is devoted to an awkward dinner Between the Deli Cate Florence and the More coarse natured As the expectation of sex hangs Over them like an eve dark ening storm Mcewan is especially adept at capturing Florences terror at having to sleep with Edward for the first the moment was rising to meet just As she was foolishly moving to wards the author she was trapped in a game whose rules she could not in Les confident on Chesil Beach might have come off As Over wrought and ridiculous especially to modern who May wonder Why these two people Are making such a big fuss about but Mcewan treats their dilemma effortlessly shifting from Edwards perspective to Florences and Back making their anxieties seem human and recon As with Don Delillo recent falling on Chesil Beach finds a famously Cool and Distant novelist tapping into newfound reserves of by the time Florence and Edward finally get into on Chesil Beach has revealed itself to be a surprisingly affecting tragicomedy a study of How misinterpreted gestures and tiny mistakes can gradually accumulate and finally destroy Mcevans description of the All too Brief sexual coupling and the terrible fight Between Florence and Edward that ensues is funny without being and humane without being sentimental it could be the wrought in Minia of any marriage that simply want meant to Usa today bestsellers key fiction a nonfiction hardcover paperback a thousand splendid suns the dangerous Book for boys by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden nah the secret by Rhonda Byrne nah the Road by Cormac Mccarthy up the Reagan diaries by Ronald Reagan nah Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides up by Richard Bachman Fth Beach Road by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge up Angels fall by Nora Roberts up double take by Catherine Coulter Fth Wisdom of our fathers by Tim Russert nip the Kite runner by Khaled Hosseini up the Diana chronicles by Tina Brown nah the assault 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