On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

I finished this earlier in the week. I also enjoyed this, although I think I would agree with giving the Booker Prize to The Gathering instead - I think it has the slight edge. However, I did enjoy reading this novella; the first three chapters at least. The build up to the consummation of the marriage, the intrepidation, nervousness and fear, I thought was very well presented, interspersed with memories of the courting leading to the marriage. However, I was a bit disappointed with the anticlimax, which seemed a bit of a cop out. I would have been interested to see how McEwan handled the fall out if things had turned out slightly differently.

The Gathering by Anne Enright

I finally finished this Man Booker Prize winner yesterday. It's taken a long time - although it's my second book of the year, I have been reading it since I finished Chicken with Plums! However, this is not because it has been a drag, but instead because the writing has been so good I've been reading it little by little and enjoying it very much.

I can understand why Enright won the prize (although I have not read any of the others yet, although I do have Ian McEwan's Chesil Beach by my bedside). It's a bittersweet tale, full of memory, re-readings of recollections, everyday observations, descriptions of mundane family routines. Some beautiful lines.

Inside the church they passed the paschal flame from candle to candle until it looked like the whole place was on fire: then they switched on the fluorescent lights.

How true, how true!

The Gathering refers to the funeral of one of the narrator's brothers, but most of the book, although it keeps touching back on that event, covers many years and many events. I was given this book as a gift from a book person ... it's been a great read, and I recommend it.