Atonement by Ian McEwan
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Book Reviews of Atonement
Book Review: Takes awhile to get into, but worth the ride ** warning: spoilers ahead
Summary: 4 Stars
McEwan's writing style is definitely an acquired taste--there are times when it seems like he is overwriting the novel, and we are drumming through as a reader to try to extract the next available plot event. It took me a few chapters to get moving more rapidly with the reading, but ultimately it was rewarding. While the novel does take awhile to get going, the story picks up steam towards the second half. McEwan has an ability to illustrate and pinpoint detail with great vividness, and that goes a long way in creating believable characters, and successfully moving back and forth in time.
** Warning: Spoilers and plot summary ahead, skip to next paragraph if you haven't read book**
Basically the novel is divided into four main parts. Part one begins with young Briony writing a play and awaiting her cousins as well as her brother's arrival. Briony witnesses a moment of flirting between her sister and Robbie at the fountain and then, after reading a "dirty" letter intended for Cecilia, misconstrues Robbie as being some sort of "monster". Later, while both families are out searching for her twin cousins who have run off, she witnesses her cousin Lola apparently being molested by a man. Putting all she has seen--and read-- together, she comes to the conclusion that the man must have been Robbie. Unwavering in her testimony, Briony is the one who sends Robbie off to prison despite his protests. Part two fast forwards a few years where we are given a first-hand account of Robbie's role in the war. He and his comrades encounter many grizzly deaths, and witness first-hand how brutality of battle can strip away the spirit of individuals, both physically and mentally. Robbie keeps Cecelia's note to "come back" to her as comfort and motivation to survive. Cecilia had been the only one of the Tallis family who had believed in his innocence. Part three takes the story at the same time from Briony's point of view. Living with her sin, she is now working relentlessly as a probationer in a hospital helping out fallen and injured soldiers during wartime. Much like Robbie, Briony has had her freedoms stripped from her, only she has done it of her own accord. Briony's work is a form of atonement, as she also sees war's brutal and graphic results, and tries to comfort and tend to the severely injured and the dying. Having written and not heard from her sister Cecilia, she decides one day to go out and find her sister's place. After seeing her sister, she learns that Robbie is there also, and he confronts Briony about the past, telling her that there is one thing she must do to "atone" for her past: tell everyone what the truth is. Briony leaves, apparently agreeing to do this. From here, part four fast forwards to an elderly Briony's point of view. She has gone to her doctor, and realizes that the headaches she has are an early sign of dementia. She only has a short amount of time before this condition will ultimately rob her of her mind, her thoughts, her identity and her life. Despite hearing this news, she is upbeat as she returns home, and gets there to witness many of the young grandchildren perform her childhood play, "The Trials of Arabella." It is significant because this play takes her back to the past, of that fateful day where she made her mistake. She has been a successful writer, but there is one book that never got published and that has gone through many different drafts. It is basically the story of Robbie and Cecilia, and the mistake she made to ruin their love. She tells us that the book has two different endings--one where Robbie and Cecilia live happily ever after, and the other one, in which Robbie and Cecilia both die in 1940. She chooses the first ending because as she puts it "Who would want to believe that they never met again, never fulfilled their love?" She reflects on whether she has atoned for her sin or not.
One significant issue taken from McEwan's novel is the idea of forgiveness. As the novel progresses, not only is Briony coming to terms with what her lie does to the fates of her sister and Robbie, but herself as well. We wonder whether they should forgive her for this, or what acts of retribution make up for a moment of sin. There is a sense that, although Briony is young when making her poor decision, that once her statement is taken down by the police, the fate of the three main characters are all sealed, and that they must all pay for years to come. Briony makes her form of redemption by working tirelessly during the war, and there is a sense by novel's end that McEwan wants us to forgive, or at least be sympathetic to, Briony. This seems especially true since the last two parts of the novel are taken from her point of view. However it is, it begs to the ultimate question at the end: Do WE forgive Briony?
It is easy to see how this novel was turned into a film up for an award last year, because the scenery and moments "come to life" in McEwan's writing. As far as reading, I would recommend this novel, but do so with the advice that it might take you more than one try to get through, but that it will ultimately pay off. I watched the film first before reading, but now am anxious to go back and watch the film again.
Book Review: love, rape, lies, war, injury and redemption
Summary: 4 Stars
All right, here are reasons to read, or not read, Atonement, depending on what your preferences are. The bad news first.
What you may not like:
1. While Ian McEwan does wonderful things with imagery (see below), it becomes a bit much at times, especially when he is detailing landscapes.
2. If you are not one who enjoys reading a novel that takes place on the battlefront, beware. About eighty pages center around a character's (who is a soldier) trek through France as it is being attacked by the Germans. 3. Having questions that you don't feel are being resolved. And I'm not just talking about the ending; throughout the novel I felt slightly frustrated at times that I was being left out. Granted, that's how life works, you're not always privy to every piece of information.
4. The last section seemed rushed, to me. On one level, I felt McEwan was trying to hurry up and tidy up the novel, but I again felt left out of the loop in some regards. The premise for the last section was interesting, though, I just had a problem with the execution.
What you may like:
1. Ian McEwan is an outstanding writer. He develops interesting, multi-faceted characters, beautiful descriptions and an intriguing plot. His writing isn't generic or typical of the genre; you can tell his syntax is carefully crafted, he's trying to create something more than just words on a page.
2. There is definitely a feeling of drama to this novel. You have love, rape, lies, war, injury and redemption all in one novel. Because of McEwan's style, it's drama that flows and weaves between characters, places and time periods.
3. The two main female characters, who are sisters, are strong, independent women who refuse to rely on their wealthy parents. Their mother is a perfect contrast; not as modern as her daughters, she doesn't understand their desire to become educated and explore the world.
4. The male characters are a diverse sample. There's rich and poor, motivated and unmotivated, honest and deceitful, kind and malicious.
5. The concept of justice isn't unrealistically portrayed. Unfortunately, the wealthy often prevail, although that doesn't mean there's no hope for the common man.
All in all, I recommend it!
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.
Book Review: multi-faceted, fascinating
Summary: 4 Stars
There were a lot of things I liked about this book; not the least was how the author drew believable characters and gave me so many reasons to identify with each one. Young Briony, who loses herself in her fantasies, writing stories and plays to impress her family, particularly her older brother. And her later experiences as a trainee nurse, writing in her her journal every day as the only way to preserve her individuality in her institutionalized life. Her older sister Cecilia, agonizing over the few choices an independent woman has in 1930's Britain after college. Robbie trying to understand where his relationship with the child Briony went wrong. Somehow, McEwan turns what might have been a mundane tale in another writer's hands into a page turner. His writing is smooth, detailed and evocative, but never feels overwritten. he painstakingly constructs the viewpoints of various characters and de-constructs many miscommunications. He keeps the drama taught--Briony witnesses a sexual assault and fingers a family friend as the perpetrator--yet keeps the right amount of humor present, such as when Robbie sends the *wrong* love note to Cecilia. Only the ending felt a bit out of place and contrived, if unexpected. Highly recommended.Book Review: An atonement?
Summary: 4 Stars
This was my first Ian McEwan read, and it was a good one. This was an interesting story though not really a whole lot happened in it, and somehow it went for a few hundred pages. The reason for that was McEwan's precise and extensive descriptions of characters' thoughts and the story's various settings. McEwan is rather amazing at imagining the possible details of a one's thoughts, details that most people might not ordinarily be conscious of, but upon reading them ring true. The limited plot is lengthened also by the story being told from several viewpoints, particularly in Part 1. It was all very intelligently done.
But was there really any atonement in this story? At least atonement when it counted? I don't know if the title really applied considering how things turned out.
I hadn't ever planned to see the movie. Seemed to be a chic flick, but after this reading, I plan to rent/on demand it. I guess by being from the England and reading it while on my recent trip there, I appreciated an English story.