I reread Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach today, after discussing it here a few weeks ago. Whatever issues I might have had about it before seemed to evaporate this time round - maybe because this time I read it in one single go. Beautifully written and constructed is a given with McEwan but, while it may superficially lack the edge of his earlier books, in some ways it's even tougher. And truly heartbreaking, in a way that other novels try but rarely actually achieve.