Atonement

by Ian McEwan

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
12,278	324	73	(3.96)	483

Work details

Book details

Title	Atonement
Author	Ian McEwan
Rating
Tags	1-a, 1-b, 2-own-parents, 3-read, 4-bookmooch, A-2007-11, england, fiction, forgiveness, france, historical fiction, london, lt-inspired, R-2007-11, rape, read 2007, world war ii
Collections	Your library, Books I have read, Books I can lend you
Your review	Summary: A misinterpretation of events by an over-imaginative young girl changes three lives forever. On one hot summer day in 1935, 13-year-old aspiring writer Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia argue with their housekeeper's son, Robbie Turner, and then strip down and submerge herself in a fountain. This is the beginning of her imagined new understanding, the consequences of which reach far beyond the terrible events of that night and irrevocably change the courses of the lives of all three. This novel is told in four parts: the first, and longest, describes the events of the pivotal day and night; the second and third take place five years later, both in the British retreat from Dunkirk in France, and from the perspective of a nurse in London's war hospitals; and the final section is a retrospective told from 1999. Review: This book had been on the periphery of my radar for a long time; the upcoming movie pushed me into action to finally read it. And I'm so glad I did; it was wonderful. Not even the story, so much, although the plot is compelling, if somewhat oddly paced. The language, though, was beautiful, and terrifically evocative. McEwan describes sensations, emotions, or impressions, and they're instantly familiar, either because it's something you've felt before, exactly, or else because he describes it so well that it feels like you have. The sections that were the most vivid to were those told from Robbie and Cecilia's points of view, so I was a little disappointed that there weren't more of them. However, Briony's the central figure of the book, and she lives a lot more in her head than the other two, which made her more immediately recognizable (to me, anyways - I think I was that thirteen-year-old), but did make her sections a little more dispassionate. I was also all geared up to be disappointed by the ending; a small part of my brain is always judging the number of pages left against what I think it will take to get the resolution I want, and nearing the end of this book the tally was coming out disfavorably. However, on the second-to-last page, a missing piece clicks into place, and casts everything that has gone before in a different - and revelatory - new light. Overall, a fantastic book on repentance, and love, and forgiveness, and the wonderful and terrible ways we touch each others' lives. Recommendation: This was my first Ian McEwan book, but it won't be my last. Highly recommended.
Other authors*
Publication	Anchor Books (2003), Paperback, 351 pages
Publication date	2002
ISBN	038572179x / 9780385721790
LC classification 1	PR6063.C4A88
Dewey 1	823.914
Subjects	Atonement › Fiction Bildungsromane Country life › Fiction Crime › Fiction Domestic fiction England › Fiction Ex-convicts › Fiction Great Britain › History › George V, 1910-1936 › Fiction Great Britain › History › George VI, 1936-1952 › Fiction Guilt › Fiction Life change events › Fiction Psychological fiction Sisters › England › Fiction Sisters › Fiction Teenage girls › Fiction Teenagers › England › Fiction
Primary language eng	English
Secondary language	(blank)
Original language
Date acquired	2007-11-25
Date started	2007-11-06
Date finished	2007-11-12
Summary 0	Atonement: A Novel by Ian Mcewan (2002)
Comments
BCID	XXX-
Number of copies	1
Citation	MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, Wikipedia citation
Data source	amazon.com

* We recently added a more robust system for other authors, including separate standing for each author and a role (eg., Editor, Illustrator).This feature is currently available for newly-added books only, but it will be extended to all books soon.

Help