On Chesil Beach
This has been a particular book. It goes deliberately against the cliche of happy endings. Although I will not lie, I believe that if Edward would have continued foreplay with Florence and had not "saved himself up for her" and prematurely ejaculated all over her (I would have been pissed if I were in her position too.) I think that Florence would have grown to like sex. It seems as if although both of them went into marriage with small instructions, they should have taken their time a little better. Both would have made it through if they had been patient with each other. Edward was too eager for sex and Florence was too eager to get it over with and move on. Maybe their marriage was too soon. Maybe if they had gotten more comfortable beforehand with talking and foreplay then things would have been different. I am a person who is usually sympathetic towards the tragic heroine. I feel bad for Florence. She never seemed to move after that. Edward went off and had another wife and really lived. Yes he never forgot her but there isn't a person in the world who ever forgets their first. Actually little is said about the rest of Florence's life beyond a little of her career and he constant looking at seat C9. This is sort of understandable. The author is a man and the book was written in times of male dominance (not that that's changed). I was really hoping for an optimistic ending but that's just in my nature.