Atonement by Ian Mcewan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Atonement
Book Review: Wonderful!
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband got this book as a gift. We are both fans of Ian McEwan. His writing is great and this book is no exception. We highly recommend this.Book Review: Abandon all Hope ye who Enter Here
Summary: 1 Stars
In all my life, I have only ever been unable to finish two books. Atonement is the second. After having such high hopes from other reviewers and friends, I made it halfway into this book - reaching, at last, the crime - before having to toss the book aside. It is cliche, none of the characters are remotely likable, or even bearable, and the writing is over-detailed to the point that it makes a reader struggle to remember what is actually happening in the story. It is with great regret that I am forced to add another book to my "Unbearable" list, and hope that no more innocents are trapped into reading Atonement.Book Review: Slow start
Summary: 2 Stars
Hang in there, it takes about 75 pages until it starts to get readable. Does make an interesting book club book. Anxious to see the movie to understand how this was a best seller.Book Review: a remarkable creation
Summary: 5 Stars
I have more or less stopped reading modern fiction, but my wife pushed this one with the argument that I'd appreciate the section on Dunkirk. Come to find out, I thought that was the weakest part of the book--amusing, but not terribly convincing. But Briony Tallis! She is one of the great female characters in all fiction, right up there with Natasha Rostov. (And almost as dangerous.)
Read it. Good book. And if you don't enjoy it, at least go and rent the DVD, because the movie's pretty good as well. - CDB
Book Review: The Life Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Ian McEwan's novel, Atonement, is a story of chance encounters that disrupt even the most carefully controlled lives. Set in England during the period between the two World Wars with a leap to the present, the plans of members of a wealthy family are changed because of the conscious misperceptions of a creative child, Briony. Because of her disingenuous account of an assault that takes place on the family's estate, irreversible life paths are set for the characters, and the reader is aware of the novelist's deliberate plot decisions.
The beautifully written story follows the lives of the characters most affected by Briony's embellishment of her observations and her desire to tell stories, to become a novelist. McEwan presents a novel within a novel and surprises the reader on many occasions with plot twists. He has a very good ability to give the reader insight into the characters' motivations, describing reasons for their life changing choices.
The most impressive aspect of Atonement is McEwan's illustration of the power of a life review, the revisiting of personal history by a person as she gains wisdom through aging. In Brionys' life review, initiated both consciously and by chance encounters with people and cues from the environment, a resolution of her life is achieved. The task of aging is atonement through memories, a unity of the story of the self and a personal history with others. The most difficult conclusion to reach is that upon looking back, it all makes sense.