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Atonement

Atonement

List Price: $34.99
Your Price: $22.04
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A New Form of Torture!
Review: This is the first book I've read by Ian McEwan, and I absolutely hated it. Surprisingly, I did venture later to read another of his books, Amsterdam, which I enjoyed. In Atonement, the circumstances of the plot are not revealed until the middle of the book by which time the reader is totally frustrated by, for example, two-paragraph descriptions of the way the sunlight appeared on the garden lawn. I finished the book with increasing irritation only because I felt I deserved to know the ending. However, I was very disappointed. Evidently, whatever McEwan was trying to convey does not mesh with my concept of atonement.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb!
Review: For a plot description just scroll down a couple of reviews.

WHAT AN ENDING. I loved it. Brilliant!!!!!!! Read it for the last three pages. I nearly fell off the bed.

Did Briony atone? I think so. People having written here that it's for "the reader ro decide"...however...isn't it for her to decide? I think she thinks she did.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: McEwan Atones for Amsterdam
Review: Having had only limited and disappointing exposure to McEwan's work in the past I approached Atonement with a degree of scepticism. For reasons I can no longer recall I had been putting off reading McEwan for some years, however, when Amsterdam won the Booker I could avoid him no longer. Amsterdam (the only other work by McEwan that I have read) received a chorus of fulsome accolades from the professional critics, much like its follow-up, Atonement. I was exceptionally disappointed by Amsterdam, which I found to be slight and under-developed, and I assumed that the Booker was awarded more in recognition of a 'life-time's achievement', rather than specifically for Amsterdam. I mention this only to further elevate the praise that I'm about to confer on Atonement.

Atonement is a wide ranging novel that employs beautifully sensitive and elegant writing. The novel is in three parts, the first of which concerns the events of one long, hot summer's day in 1935. Briony Tallis, the novel's central protagonist, is introduced in part one and is expertly rendered. The emotions and feelings of this precocious 13 year old are conveyed expertly. Briony mistakenly believes herself to have crossed into adulthood; the catalyst to this premature revelation is her witnessing from afar unusual events between her elder sister and the housekeeper's son, Robbie. After witnessing this episode Briony conjures a fantastic justification that sets in train a dramatic and tragic series of events.

The second part of Atonement explores the repercussions of Briony's actions on the lives of herself and those around her. The tragedy that befell Briony, her sister and Robbie is expounded against the broader, but equally harrowing retreat to Dunkirk and the expected invasion of Britain. McEwan focuses on the minutiae of war, the personal, and in doing so presents us with an intimate perspective of life during wartime for the combatants and those that were left behind. The themes of guilt, redemption, blame, punishment and betrayal are paralleled between the global events of the unfolding second world war and those within the family.

The final part of Atonement is Briony's personal denouement, which attempts to serve a satisfactory conclusion to the novel but, in my view, is an unnecessary contribution. McEwan is perhaps a little too clever in his summation, although this is a minor criticism of an otherwise excellent novel.

McEwan's writing is redolent of the era in which Atonement is set: there is a sense of formality to his prose that accords his characters with a dignity and austerity that is entirely sympathetic to his subject. His pacing is expert and without relying on fantastically dramatic material McEwan is able to contrive drama through his tight prose. I enjoyed this novel enormously and recommend it without reservation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chilling, Beautiful...a 4.6 on a scale of 1 to 5
Review: This book chilled me. The premise-a 13-year old girl tells a lie that ruins lives-snares the reader early on. Can someone make such a profound mistake at such a young age and never be able to seek atonement for the rest of one's life? McEwen explores this thought throughout the book.
The writing is beautiful, at times lyrical. The settings-an odd English country home, London during WW II, Dunkirk, the home again-have been visited before and we will be visited again in numerous tomes. However, McEwen casts a fresh eye on these locales and these times. The War almost comes as a relief to these individuals, a new focus for their energies previously consumed or destroyed by the lie.
The ending provokes thought. The author leaves the reader with a challenge: what is reality in fiction and what is not?
I would recommend this book for those individuals who like to have new thoughts thrown at them. At times, the story gets a bit slow (hence the 4.6 on a scale of a 1 to 5), and if you are seeking fast paced action, then you might have trouble with this book. But it is well worth the time and the energy. Once you finish it, you will want to discuss with someone else.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A slow read
Review: The language in this novel is wonderful, however, it is a slow story. I found the story similiar to Birdsong but not as good. I don't think this is a novel I would recommend.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Ride up is worth the ride down
Review: The beginning of the story is a slow ride up the roller coaster while Ian does in depth character development. You know there is an event about to occur that will require someone's atonement. After the "event" the story takes off as a roller coaster going down the highest hill. Hold on and enjoy the ride! Like "Amsterdam", the end is a bit of a surprise....and yet...it isn't.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Much better in audio
Review: I purchased the book and got stuck after about 30 pages. I just couldn't pick it up again. Then I came upon the audio tapes. I am thoroughly enjoying listening to the tapes. The criticism that descriptions are long and tedious are much easier to deal with when listerning rather than reading. The audio version is great and much easier to digest and expeience. I am touched by the story and encourage you to get the audio version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautifully written, heartbreaking story
Review: I cannot believe the number of negative reviews I see on this site for this book! Yes, it's a little slow to start, but I persisted and it quickly drew me in. McEwan's writing is effortlessly exquisite. One of the reviews inside the first few pages of the book says "it will break your heart". I think that sums up my feelings more than anything else I've read about it. Definitely a must read if you appreciate beautifully detailed storytelling.

If you liked 'Corelli's Mandolin', you may like this as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A work of staggering beauty and emotional complexity
Review: In the realm of modern literature, no star seems to be shining as brilliantly as that of Ian McEwan, and Atonement is a work of truly magical beauty and grace. McEwan's writing makes the English language come alive with all sorts of powerful emotions and complex subtleties. I can't say that Atonement is a particularly happy sort of book, but there's no reason why it should be. Life's most important lessons are learned in times of sorrow and regret, and the lynchpin of this story is one girl's crime and the troubles that it brings cascading down upon a number of important lives with a terrible force, made even more tragic by the onset of war with the Third Reich. Those looking for a light read may not find themselves immersed in Atonement; not only does it take a while for the novel to really take off, it is broken up into several somewhat drastically different narrative flows. It all works beautifully in the end, though, and casts a hypnotic spell over the reader.

First, we meet young, precocious, writer-to-be Briony Tallis and her family and friends. The family home is suddenly filled with life again as Briony's brother and his friend from college come to visit - sister Cecilia having returned home from school a few months earlier, three cousins have moved in after their mother left her husband and ran off to Paris with another man, and Robbie Turner is once again a fixture on the landscape. The son of a family servant, Robbie is an unofficial member of the family whose education has been financed by Briony's always-absent father. On the particular day we meet these fascinating characters, Briony becomes an adult, throwing away childish dreams while seeking adult themes and stories to write, and a chance sighting of Cecilia and Robbie outside at the fountain sets the stage for a tragedy of immense proportions. We soon move ahead a few years to witness the horrors of war during the British panicked retreat to Dunkirk, a riveting section of the book that is at first rather annoying given the fact that the first section ended at a point of high drama. Briony comes to realize the gravity and unforgivable nature of what she has done, and we read about her first steps toward atonement in the third section, where she foregoes school to work as a nurse just as the war in Europe is rushing headlong onto England's very shores. I found the description of the wounded soldiers and Briony's life as a nurse quite powerful and must admit feeling the onset of tears at one point. The final section is an epilogue of sorts, taking us from 1940 all the way to 1999, and what we see is Briony still seeking to atone for what she did decades earlier. The last few pages are infinitely sad, and I almost wish I hadn't read the last two pages because, in a way, they make these events even more tragic than they already were.

To a small degree, Atonement is a mystery of sorts, by which I mean to say that McEwan holds out several facts along the way, including one small bombshell, thereby keeping the story alive and riveting. I think I am most amazed by his subtlety, however. I was impressed by some really almost hidden parallels between the early and late portions of the novel; in most cases, McEwan simply inserts them for the careful reader to find and appreciate on his/her own. Whereas many writers would go out of their way pointing blinking arrows at such little touches of complexity, McEwan simply slips them in with quiet grace. I dare not say more about the plot than what I revealed earlier, but I have to reiterate my sense of wonder at this novel and its creator whom I consider, without the first qualm of doubt, a modern literary genius.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Best
Review: I was glad when I picked up this book. One of the workers at my local bookstore placed a dare for customers - guaranteed money back if they did not truly liked the book. Now, how can someone refuse that!
Ian McEwan created a classic. This book is funny, witty, and intense. It begins with a single afternoon in the life of Briony Tallis as she takes her 13-year old imagination and transforms the lives of those around her. All though part one takes place in the course of one afternoon, the rest of the book moves fast and furious. Mr. McEwan uses Briony to slowly captivate his reader without their knowledge until it is too late and the book is finished and we are left with the feeling of exhaustion and pleasure for we know we have just been prevy to an excellent story.


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