Atonement
by Ian McEwan
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Book Reviews of Atonement
Book Review: love scene should have been steamier
Summary: 3 Stars
Somehow, even though I thought the characters (especially Briony) were well crafted, and the writing was skilled, it was almost more than I could do to finish part one. It was filled with lengthy descriptions and tiresome English snobbery (our house is less than five hundred years old -- oh the shame!!).
I had very high hopes for Robbie and Cecilia to tear apart this stuffy backdrop with their passion, especially when Robbie broke out the infamous c-word, but the sex scene was extremely disappointing; bogged down by detail and totally without abandon. I was especially angered by Robbie's reserve. I thought this should have been an opening to throw off self-consciousness, but it wasn't, and because of that I didn't believe in their bond the way I wanted to. I believed that they loved each other, but I didn't *feel* it. Therefore there was no chance of liking the book no matter how good the writing was (and it *was* good).
Maybe this was intentional? We learn later (spoiler alert...?) that viewpoints other than Briony's are still her creation -- her own novelization of her greatest regret. That being the case I'm not sure where to shift the blame. Briony for not "getting" Robbie? Or McEwan for thinking this WAS a passionate love scene?
I also did not like the way the plot was structured. Briony sees something and misunderstands. Then she sees something else and misunderstands, then she sees something ELSE and misunderstands... Did she have to see so many things just so that later, when she was writing about it, she would know they happened? I got bored, and furthermore, Briony's fictionalization would have been richer if she'd imagined more of Cecilia and Robbie together, not just elaborated on the tidbits she did see.
Still, I was glad I kept going. The war, both from Robbie's POV and from Briony's, was spectacularly visceral and immediate. I felt like I and the characters were all being shaken awake. Briony's introduction to wounded soldiers is some of the best writing I've seen recently. I'm not unhappy I read this book, but i wouldn't be surprised if I enjoyed this author's other books more.
Book Review: This Book Has Stayed With Me...
Summary: 3 Stars
Atonement, by Ian McEwan, is one of those rare books that I don't like. I have observed in recent months that the more I anticipate a book, the less I seem to enjoy it when I finally have the opportunity to read it.
The story is that of Briony Tallis, who during her childhood witnesses a brief incident between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie, the son of a servant. Her young and imaginative mind make the encounter into something dirty and disastrous, and Briony lives out the rest of her life struggling to make atonement for her accusations against her sister's lover.
I didn't particularly like Ian McEwan's Atonement at first. The book progressed (for me) very slowly and I found it difficult to pick up the threads of plot that should have been holding the overall story together. When I was finished, I swore that I would never read this book (or anything else written by McEwan) again. Three months later I realized that I was wrong.
While Atonement didn't surprise me in the way that it seems to surprise other readers, it did leave me with an aching desire to know more, to go deeper, to have a greater sympathy for Robbie and Cecilia, or even Briony. Atonement left me with an ache that wouldn't go away, and told me that I would read this book again.
Atonement is incredibly slow, and the story could be told in a few paragraphs rather than 496 pages. At times the book was overwhelmingly descriptive, even repetitive. The characters (yes, all of them!) are unlikeable and perhaps too realistic as a result.
But those characters have stayed with me for a reason, and I know that I will read (and enjoy) Atonement again.
Ian McEwan has a gift in this respect: I can't stop thinking about this book. Whenever I look up and see it on my shelf, a little pang of longing goes through me: a desire to read the book and experience it again (and perhaps again). You never know, Atonement might just wind up on my "favorites" shelf!
Book Review: Couldn't get into it before viewing the movie . . .
Summary: 2 Stars
. . . Couldn't really get into it after watching the movie, but actually managed to finish it this time. Would I read another book of Ian McEwan's? Not unless he changed his writing style drastically.
At first the book is hard to get into, because it flicks back and forth between the different characters' points of views. But then the film is the same. But the book is pages and pages of never ending description - with very little dialogue added in between. And when you do get dialogue, it seems to be all grouped together, before you get more pages and pages of description.
What I will say about the book is that the film was at least faithful to it. You know I hate watching movies of books that I loved (the recent Narnia movies being prime examples), but reading the book after watching the film, I saw a few more insights into what I liked in the movie, but didn't quite make sense.
What I will NEVER get about the movie or the book for that matter, is the whole Lola/Paul Marshall storyline. What girl marries the man who sexually abused her? Or was it consensual? Considering she looked like she was crying the second time at least, we can think it wasn't consensual? I found this whole storyline very difficult to understand, since she marries Paul in both the movie and the book.
The ending of the movie is also changed, and to be honest, I preferred the ending depicted in the movie. The ending in the book just didn't work. I'm not quite sure what it was, but I was still turning pages, trying to find the rest of it.
If I'm going to be brutally honest, I skimmed a lot of sections of this book. I still read it, but particularly the war section of the book (scenes I hated in the movie) I skimmed. I was certainly disappointed even more than I was first time around, and would only recommend it to readers of Ian McEwan's work. Certainly do not read as your first book.
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: Brilliant piece on writing . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
It's odd that a book with so little action taking place can be so gripping. It was truly hard to put this book down, despite the fact that page after page is spent on character reflection.
Atonement follows the story of Briony Tallis, who witnesses the beginning of a love affair between her sister and the son of a charlady. But, being thirteen and prone to a vivid imagination, Briony's interpretations of what she sees causes her to accuse her sister's lover of a criminal act. This accusation goes on to change everyone's life, Briony's included. All of this is backdropped by the coming of World War II.
While at heart this seems to be a story about a young girl ruining lives due to her own ignorance, or the story of two lovers torn apart by circumstance, at heart this is a novel about the act of writing, about characterization, narrative development, and the act of an author playing God in the world he or she has created. It is for that reason that the long passages of character reflection are so engaging. This book asks the question, how can you atone for sins in a world that you created, where you are God and answer to no one?
I felt at times that the extended opener to the story dragged just a little--that at times McEwan tried to draw out the dramatic and tension in a scene to beyond its breaking point. There are also some who might find the ending completely unsatisfying in its lack of concrete answers. This is not a cut-and-dry war-time romance piece, so anyone looking for a story of that nature need not pick this up. But for anyone interested in the art of writing--whether you're a writer yourself or just an avid reader--this book is simply not to be missed.