Atonement by Ian Mcewan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Atonement
Book Review: So-So
Summary: 3 Stars
Yes, Ian McEwan writes beautifully. Yes, I actully liked the last section of the novel where as a reader, I understood more about Briony. But the novel felt sluggish, and the characters seemed shallow. I just never connected, which was a disappointment. It seemed on the surface to have all of the elements I usually enjoy. Book Review: A Writer Learns About Life
Summary: 5 Stars
There are so many reviews of this book already that I am loathe to add more redundant verbiage to the pile. So I'll just say that this is my third Ian McEwan novel (having read "On Chesil Beach" and "Saturday" before I read this one), and I must say that he is now one of my favorite writers. This book functions on so many levels and in the end is really as much about the craft of writing as anything else. We first meet Briony, who is really the protagonist, as a young adolescent, and we see into her young mind and heart, and understand, before she does, the disaster that her overactive imagination will cause in the lives of her friends and family. She is precocious and thoughtful, but she is young and fails to understand that she is wrong, in so many ways, about what she sees before her own eyes. Her emotions and her imagination get the better of her and although she ultimately realizes the mistake she made and seeks atonement for it, she has nonetheless changed forever the lives of her Cecilia, her sister, and of Robbie, the young man with a promising future whose mother works for the Tallis family. Ironically, though, it is her imagination that will serve her well as a novelist. The book flows through personal lives, society, as well as world history and moves from mid-20th century to the end of the century. A good deal of ground to cover, but McEwan does it well, I think. The characters are interesting and real and the story is compelling. Book Review: Not What I Expected ...
Summary: 3 Stars
I normally have a 100 page limit on a book where if it doesn't pick up by then, I would put it down and consider it a lost cause. This book is really tedious in the beginning ... lots of flowery words and it just wasn't getting anywhere. Frankly, it was just boring. It finally picked up when Robbie, the accused, was marching home from a battle ... till the end. I have to admit, I never felt drawn to the characters at all in this book. I thought it was a superficial book, written in a way that you keep thinking it's a movie, peopled by people who just aren't real.
I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know how good that is. I figured out who was the antagonist early on. I figured out why Briony blamed Robbie for the crime and I figured out the ending long before it arrived. The saving grace of this novel is the World War II scenes and the nursing scenes that Briony described. I love history and that little bits of it really saved this book for me.
If you like books where people put on affected airs, you'll love this book. If you like writing that is long-winded and trying to be flowery and lyrical, this book is for you. Don't try to read this book when you're in a bad mood, because it will keep you grumpy (that is probably my problem). If you have the time to sit and read a book like this, I highly recommend it. If you're a busy mom like me, no, this book won't do. It just didn't move fast enough for me to savor.
8/3/08
Book Review: Delicious
Summary: 4 Stars
A wonderful read (well... a wonderful listen... I got the audiobook). Jill Tanner's reading was gorgeous... GORGEOUS. McEwan should buy her a hot meal. She really brought his words to life. I enjoyed this book immensely. The unveiling at the end... twisting back in your mind. Lovely read. Worth the purchase.Book Review: A truly admirable novel
Summary: 4 Stars
So many people have written a review of this book already that I think it would be a little redundant of me to do another plot summary (yawn). Suffice it to say that the plot really revolves around three characters: Briony Tallis, who's thirteen in the summer of 1935, her sister Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the charlady's son, who conducts an illicit romance with her. The novel is written in four parts, taking place in 1935, the Battle of Dunkirk during WWII, at a hospital in London, and then in 1999 when Briony is an old woman.
I have to say that I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I'd heard that the book was slow to begin with, but for me that wasn't the case at all. Rather, it was when the novel got to WWII where my interest began to flag a bit (I'm sorry, but endless descriptions of warfare are uninteresting to me). The novel is all about perspective: that of thirteen-year-old Briony as she truly doesn't understand what was going on at the fountain that day; that of Robbie on the warfront; that of Briony, age 18 as a nurse and trying to make amends for what she has done; and that of 77-year old Briony at her birthday party. It's a pretty amazing story, and McEwan is a pretty fantastic writer. Even though I really didn't like Briony, I could more or less understand why she does what she does. It's a book with a complicated plot and not much action--but don't allow that to put you off from reading this truly admirable novel.