ON CHESIL BEACH - Ian McEwan (June 20/07)

This story about a couple on their wedding night is as deliberate and rambling as one would expect from McEwan. And although the author occasionally gets a little too carried away with the backstory - who cares about their respective families, really? - there is simply no denying the power of the conclusion. On Chesil Beach eventually reveals itself to be an absolutely heartbreaking and admittedly depressing story about how one choice affects the rest of the central character's life ("This is how the course of a life can be changed - by doing nothing.") It would have been nice to find out what happened to the girl, though (did she ever find love again? Was she able to get over her revulsion towards sexual intercourse?) *** out of ****