Atonement by Ian McEwan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Atonement
Book Review: Beautifully written and engrossing.
Summary: 5 Stars
Atonement is an extremely beautiful story about how differing perceptions of a single event can affect the lives of those involved, whether negatively or positively.
This book is told in three parts and each part is from three different perspectives.
The story begins in 1935 and is told from the viewpoint of the 13 year old Briony. Briony witnesses an event involving her older sister, Cecile, and the gardener, Robbie, that her young brain does not understand. Briony decides that Cecile would never commit such an indecent act of her own accord; therefore, Robbie must have forced Cecile into the situation.
Briony later witnesses an assault on her cousin and names the lewd Robbie as the perpetrator. Briony is unwaveringly believed in her account of the tale and Robbie is imprisoned.
Part two of the book is told from the viewpoint of Robbie. He was able to bargain an early release from prison by joining the military and being shipped off to France to fight. Robbie wants nothing more than to return to England and his beloved Cecile. His account of his struggle through the French countryside in an attempt at retreat is mesmerizing. His love for Cecile and absolute hatred for the person who tore him away from her and single handedly imprisoned him instills the same passion in the reader.
The third part of the book is told, again, from Briony's perspective. Years have passed and she is now a nurse for the wounded soldiers. She feels an immense sense of guilt for her childish take on the event so many years ago. She wants nothing more than to reconcile with Cecile and Robbie. Briony is finally able to confront the ghosts of her past and make her appeal to the parties involved. The outcome of this occurrence lies within the pages of the book itself. I will say, however, that the ending...affected me.
I found this book to be elegantly written. The language was absolutely exquisite and I identified with Briony. I could hardly put the book down...I had to force myself to stop reading each night when the hands of the clock approached 1 a.m. I was entranced with every page, every word. The tale of Briony, Cecile, and Robbie will be carried with me for the rest of my days and is now considered to be one of my most beloved experiences.
Book Review: Better than I expected
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoy reading Ian Mcewan's books, but I didn't expect much from this one since both my mother and my friend had stopped reading it midway. That was a few years ago. When I saw that the movie came out I figured I better read it before seeing the film. So I checked out this "mass market version." I usually steer away from these editions but I like the way the cover looks and feels. Anyway, at no point during my read of this book did I want to take a break from it. Quite a bit of time is spent setting up characters and background, but this only makes the events that follow all the more gripping and compelling. I really cared about the characters and felt what they were going through as much as I have in any book I've read. At times I even felt my body reacting to McEwan's highly descriptive writing. Indeed, this is an intense and at times grisly read, but it's one that creates an enjoyable connection to the story that McEwan exploits to the fullest as he plays with expectations and draws out some points in the story while delivering plot development in shockingly brisk fashion at others. He makes it easy to get sucked in. I still haven't seen the movie, but the pleasure I got from the book was more than I expected from both.Book Review: Better than the film
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a delicious, provocative read...beautifully written and crafted with aching accuracy. Rich in both historical detail, period atmosphere and character development, I daresay reading the novel is a much better way to spend your time than seeing the melodramatic film version which at least is helping to propel book sales.
Try to avoid the movie hype if possible and enjoy the novel on its own merit.
Book Review: Book Review: Atonement
Summary: 3 Stars
The Story
This is a tragic story of a love that was truly meant to be, but never fully grew to its full fruition because of the naitivity of a girl, bound by jealousy and fear. The lovers are Cecelia and Robbie and their fate is turned in the events that take place on one night. The girl who interrupted their love was Briony, Cecelia's younger, imaginative sister who made more of what she saw and heard than she had a right to.
This is also the story of consequences and how the decisions you make influence not only your path, but those of others around you. Briony's false accusations tear apart Cecilia & Robbie's love. It takes a lifetime for Briony to make atonement for the wake of her lies.
The Review
I watched this movie in Big Bear over Thanksgiving week in 2008. The movie brought me to tears. It was a movie that I had purchased, however had just not gotten around to watching. In the dark of the night, I watched it alone and was struck by its force. It was a truly incredible movie. For those who may be familiar with my blog, I am a stickler about reading books before watching the movies based upon them. I want my mind to be a fresh and clean palate for the words of the book. In this particular case, it ended up that the movie induced me to purchase the book. Particularly, it was the commentary on the movie DVD that had indicated that this movie so closely followed the book that I thought the book must be wonderful.
Along with several others, I purchased the book. When I went to read it, I found that I was disturbed by the images in my head that were associated with the movie. It is hard reading a story that you already know the ending to. This further enforces my belief that I should always read a book before viewing the movie (thank God I read The Secret Life of Bees and haven't watched the movie yet). In any case, I've started and stopped reading this novel several times. Why? Because it felt "wordy" to me and I already knew the story. I became disappointed in myself. I had made a determination to read this book, I invested in purchasing it in hardback, and damn it if I wasn't going to read it!
I promised myself it would be read before April was over; as such, I have read the novel. I felt differently about the novel than the movie. I loved the movie and didn't love the book. Why? Because when I read Briony's thoughts and feelings, I felt nothing but contempt for her. I already knew that she had ruined Cecelia & Robbie's hopes at love and life. She seemed almost oblivious to the ramifications of her childish whims. In addition, the book was so filled with description of scenery and events that I found myself rushing to finish the book. I didn't want to envision what the book was saying because the movie had done that for me.
There were some differences between the movie and the book. The ending was quite different than the movie and I believe that the movie would have been better served had it chosen the identical ending to the book. I also felt a much deeper connection to Briony in her years as a nurse in the book versus how it was displayed in the movie. Overall, if I had to choose one or the other, I'd choose the movie. How sad is that? I love books! I love the poetry of words. But, I feel in some ways that my read and review were doomed because of my love for the movie.
On Sher's "Out of Ten Scale:"
In regards to recommendations, I would DEFINITELY recommend the movie. The book... I believe is for the few who really love the art of writing and the art of words. Some of the passages were so well written that they were poetic in nature. This is a truly gifted author and his efforts are not wasted on this novel. If there is one thing that you can take away from this review, it is to read the book before you see this movie and not in the reverse order, as I did.
For the genre Fiction:Historical, I am going to rate this book an 8.5 OUT OF 10.
Book Review: Boring and unengaging
Summary: 1 Stars
I read this for a book club where a number of the other members had described this as one of their absolute favorite books ever, so I had high hopes. It became an arduous and unrewarding slog through pedantic, verbose descriptions of landscapes and characters. I never figured out why I should care for even one second about any of the people in the story, so completely unsympathetic were they. As a side note, I saw the movie after a friend said it was better than the book, but I found it equally uninteresting.