Atonement by Ian McEwan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Atonement
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: Dense Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Ian McEwan's Atonement is a dense novel; it has an intricate structure, and broad themes that elicit universal resonance. Set in England in the 1935's and ending in 1999 the novel follows the life of Briony Tallis, an English girl, from childhood to old age, touching on issues of family, class, war, good and evil, atonement, and forgiveness. Through the consciousness of Briony, McEwan asks questions about who controls human destiny. Do we write our own scripts?
Like real life, the novel is complicated by multiple viewpoints: Cecilia's, Robbie's, and most importantly Briony's. Each character has a limited perspective. Only the reader has access to the larger picture. McEwan shows life as perspectival, and shows the closest thing to truth is the union of multiple, sometimes conflicting narratives.
At the age of thirteen Briony Tallis tells a lie that negatively affects the lives of her sister Cecilia, and Cecilia's lover Robbie Turner. Her lie accuses Robbie of raping her young cousin Lola. Robbie loses a promising career, is sent to prison, and finally suffers the indignities of war as a foot soldier. Cecilia stands by Robbie, and forsakes her family because they believe Briony's lie.
When Briony understands the implications of her evil act she dedicates her life to making reparation. The dictionary says atonement is the making of reparation for a sin or a mistake. Briony, an upper-class girl, skips university to go into nursing in the middle of WWII as atonement for her terrible lie. She obeys hostile superiors, empties bedpans, dresses unimaginable wounds, and brings comfort to young soldiers torn apart physically and emotionally by war. She exchanges self-absorption for selfless care of others.
Briony admits her lie in front of Cecilia and Robbie. Her life of atonement and her admission of truth do not influence the couple to forgive her. Though they refuse pardon, they demand a witnessed written statement by Briony with the real facts, and an admission to the family about the lie. She promises to do this, and accepts their refusal of absolution. Briony can never repair the damage she has done. Her selfless work gives solace to others, but not her sister and Robbie.
Beyond the plot the novel is complicated by its structure. One narration is Briony's life; the other story is Briony's writing. She creates narratives in her imagination, which are played out in real life. She actually writes the story of Cecilia and Robbie, and exposes the true rapist. At first the reader is aware that this is reality. Then the reader begins to question outcomes. Is Briony writing this or living it? Where is the boundary between life and art? Briony, facing the onset of dementia, writes the final chapters of the story with enough ambiguity the reader is left wondering what actually happened. As a writer we know Briony has the capacity to play god--to control outcomes. But the reader is unclear about who is in control of destiny. McEwan asks profound questions, but gives no obvious answers.
Book Review: Don't Waste your Time or Money!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
This novel, in all of its 351 page glory, was an absolute waste of time. First of all, it takes the reader to have read over 150 pages of the novel, before the central conflict is even introduced. It takes over 150 pages to describe an event in one single day. The author uses many run-on sentences and loves to describe things to death. I have to admit that the first couple of chapters were very well written and interesting. After those first two chapters, the novel pretty much flatlined. The worst was about 2/3 of the way into the novel, the ravages of war were described in too much detail and really took away from the romance of the novel. Not to mention, there was hardly any dialogue during these parts of the novel-just banal, endless descriptions. The most insufferable part was about the last six pages-I couldn't bring myself to finish the last six pages of it, I had to skim it and put the book down. This is one of the few times you would be better off watching the movie-it was a little bit better than the book. I honestly don't know what the hype is about!Book Review: Dull To The Point Of Being Insipid
Summary: 1 Stars
This book fails to live up to expectations. The novel is so dull and dreary and worse, the characters lack the necessary spine for this reader to have any sympathy with them. The characters are all too typical - the man of the man working to the point he has little contact with his family, the wife, a 'migraine' sufferer; read invalid of the type one finds in the Pre-Raphaelite Era. So bad was this book, I never completed it because I simply didn't care what happened or didn't happen. My suggestion to potential buyers of this book is to spend the money on another book and leave this one where I did, in with the trash.Book Review: Emotionally draining yet resounding in its importance and significance, completely worth the read...
Summary: 5 Stars
Upon reading `Atonement' one is completely removed from their lives, their places of dwelling and time of departure and transplanted to a place where nothing is familiar yet everything is impressionable. Being the first novel I've read by the acclaimed novelist Ian McEwan I was immediately made aware of his immense talent. The tale presented to the reader is one of remarkable effectiveness, one that is truly relatable and believable and in the end of dire importance for its overall moral is one that transcends the boundaries of this prose and cements itself in our very being, in our every interaction and in our constant memory. Separated into four sections `Atonement' is broken down in such a way as to make the true conclusion all the more shocking and heartbreaking.
Part one retells the events on one especially harsh summer day in 1935. I say `especially harsh' mainly because by the days end events take place that harshly affect the lives of everyone involved. 13-yearold Briony Tallis is a smart and imaginative young girl and she becomes the main focus of our attention as we hear of the day's events. As she attempts to orchestrate a theatrical production in honor of her brother Leon's arrival home she is met with a few snags and some ominous distractions that put her initial plans on hold and send her into a newfound direction. As the relationship between her older sister Cecilia and their housekeepers son Robbie begins to take a turn Briony finds herself in the know of a serious misunderstanding that changes the course of everyone's lives. With their three cousins Lola, Jackson and Pierrot visiting as well as Leon's friend Paul Marshall the house is quite full on the evening in question, so when events take a turn for the worse there are so many more eyes to cast their judgment.
Briony is a very interesting character. I found it truly fascinating as her character unveiled itself with each turning page. Her immaturity is emphasized by her incessant need to be the mature one despite her inability to do so. She's lost in her writing, an obsession that causes her to read deeply into matters that aren't her concern and imagine the possibilities no matter how devastating they may become. She also allows the actions of others to affect her too deeply, finding herself reacting irrationally and this leaves her in a position to do much harm. It's hard for the reader not to find themselves calling Briony out as the villain here, for it's her needless actions that cause so much pain, but in reality she's nothing more than a young child who was invested in a poor decision.
So, with an accusation made and a terrible crime committed we brace ourselves for the second and third parts of the novel where we follow Robbie and Briony respectably as they strive to patch up their lives. Robbie has been through hell, literally, and in the second part of the novel we follow his journey as he strives to get home from the war. The horrors he is witness to, the atrocities he is privy to are all sprawled out for us is detail, as is his dire need to be reunited with his lost love Cecilia. The third part covers Briony's struggles as a nurse during the war, but more importantly her struggles within herself for some ounce of atonement for her sins. She has grown up since that summer day, not only in age but in understanding, and she is finally able to grasp the seriousness of her lies. The pain she has caused will never fully be undone, but she desires to do all she can to write them.
The novel opens with such a brilliantly conceived idea, and is so effortlessly and elegantly penned that one is immediately engulfed in its design. I for one could not put it down and read the entire first section in one sitting. Sadly the second a third sections do not read as briskly, but their importance is all the more secured by the closing section as elderly Briony recounts her actions and the ultimate consequences of them all. The final pages are chilling to say the least, and are completely unexpected, so much so that the tears running down my face had all but dried before I realized I was crying.
`Atonement' is a brilliantly orchestrated tale of pain, despair, loyalty, betrayal and the ultimate yearning to make amends, to find atonement for our sins and attain forgiveness for our souls. Truly one of the most inspiring and ultimately absorbing novels I've read to date.