Atonement by Ian McEwan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Atonement
Book Review: 3 Different books that never become one
Summary: 3 Stars
When a highly touted book receives such varied customer reviews, I've got to read it. And I can't resist adding my voice to the many reviews already posted. What an odd book this is.
It begins portraying domestic life in the English countryside. The only person who regularly goes to town is the sketchily drawn father. The mother takes to her bed frequently to avoid the apparently very real, migraines she is cursed with. The children and staff live in the country as if insulated from the world by a chintz tea-cozy. The oldest daughter's dilemma in choosing a dress for dinner is described, "...she wanted to look as though she had not given the matter a moment's thought...Soon her mother would appear and want to discuss the table placings, Paul Marshall would come down from his room and be in need of company, and then Robbie would be at the door. How was she to think straight?" Difficulties, indeed. This tightly enclosed domestic scene is set, and the hypocrisy of the British upper class is gently skewered. This portion of the book climaxes when the youngest daughter, Briony, a self-centered, overly dramatic 13 year old mis-interprets actions of the adults; accuses, testifies, and is the cause of the public damnation of one of the young men. Suddenly, the scene shifts dramatically.
WWII descends on their lives abruptly. The wrongly convicted young man is fighting in France. The story of his service is not of predictable noble heroism. It is the ugly, dispiriting retreat of the English army from France back to Britain. This may be the most affecting portion of the book, but any waggish views of British life are left firmly in the first part of the book. It is a sad, cruel journey he makes. And his fate is telegraphed loud and clear; the continuous jabs of shrapnel in his side, into his ribs, against his organs, leave little doubt that he will not complete his journey.
Before this ends though, the book shifts (again) to the life of the now grown Brionywho is in nursing training. Her duties, mostly the lowliest in the hospital, include endless cleaning of bed pans and other distasteful jobs. So, is this the "atonement" for her former errors we have been promised? It seems not. The older daughter who had so much difficulty choosing a dress becomes a nurse and is promptly promoted to Ward Sister; a position which requires a "she who must be obeyed" personality. No explanation for this personality shift is explored. It just happens.
Then things get dicey indeed. A walk the younger girl takes to visit her long estranged sister is described in tremendous detail. It is not a very interesting walk, but each observation, no matter how mundane, is recorded. In fact, in my paperback copy, the description of this tedious walk goes on for 17 pages! Even the most naive reader can tell something is up the author's sleeve. This boring segment has a purpose though; everything that occurs after it, (until the last chapter) is untrue. While some people have been delighted with this over-used plotting technique, I was unimpressed. To describe a vivid love story resolution, and then to find out it was all made up by another character is over-used, cheap, and manipulative. It didn't help that in this book it was also obvious as all get-out. But Briony writing an untrue happy resolution of the love story between her sister and the young man who's life she ruined, seems to be the best "atonement" we're going to get. She actually has the nerve to muse, "How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?" WHAT??? She didn't decide an outcome of people's lives, she decided the outcome of her fiction. And her foolish, wrong-headed error becomes unforgivable, because she never asks for forgiveness.
I would not classify this amongst the worse books I've ever read but I certainly wouldn't recommend it. Writing a nice sentence, even one that can be described as "lyrical" is one thing. Writing a good book is quite another.
Book Review: I was moved
Summary: 3 Stars
I decided to read this book because I fell in love with the movie. But the problem lies with mixing the images from the movie with the imagery created by McEwan. First and foremost, the movie closely resembles the book, so at times it was hard for me to picture the events and people without thinking of the movie. Atonement is a story about a little girl (Briony) who convinces herself of something that she knows is a lie, and this lie changes the lives of everyone around her. (I won't tell you exactly what the lie is, but you might be able to get an idea.) She grows up to become a novelist and writes Atonement as her way to absolve herself of the lie that ruins her sister's, Cecilia and Robbie (the housekeeper's son) relationship. The story is told from many different points of view, which takes readers to the state of mind of the characters. Surprisingly, you come to understand that everyone has a little made up story in their mind. Robbie is convinved that Briony told that lie because she was in love with him. Briony tells the lie because she made up the story that Robbie is a sex maniac and wanted to protect her sister. In a sense, she wanted the lie to be true for her own vindication. The thing that moves me about this book is the kind of love that Cecilia and Robbie had for each other, their longing to be with one another, and never even having that single wish fulfilled. It was absolutely heartbreaking to think of a life that you can share with someone, look forward to it, and never have it realized. Although Briony was absolutely wrong about what she did, you realize, that there is this human side to her and it's hard to hate her because you, as a reader, also get to see what went on in her mind when she lied. Book Review: Atonement
Summary: 1 Stars
Very hard to follow and very hard to keep interested. One of the worst books I have read so far.Book Review: Cramped, overwritten book
Summary: 2 Stars
I won't offer a plot summary that can be found in other book reviews. I'll offer my frank opinion that this book is over-rated and destined for the literary dustbin. "Atonement" is a cramped miniaturist piece that aspires to something greater, particularly in its commentary about written narrative, but ultimately, the major plot points boil down to the warped opinions of an adolescent mind. Lies, false accusations, fanciful opinions, need for drama--all products of a prepubescent's girl's mind. And unfortunately, a rather likable student is sent to war, separating him from his true love, because everyone is too willing to believe the idiotic opinions of the teenage girl Briony.Book Review: Hmmmmm.....
Summary: 2 Stars
So this is one of those books that you pick up only coz it has tons of reviews and everyone you know is reading it and there's a movie on it, so it must be good right?
Welll it is an interesting theme but at the end of it the only image of Briony that I had was of a silly brat and not the complicated child prodigy that the author beings to paint her as. I did enjoy reading the book but only because the author does a good job of eloquently beating around the bush and making you believe the story is about to get fiercely dramatic...that never happens. The story wraps up much too quickly in a few pages for all the time you've spent tracking these people's lives. Overall the book's an easy, fast read so go ahead but do not set high expectations.