Atonement

Rating:
Summary: "Atonement" is McEwan's most accomplished to date
Review: Book critics have proclaimed "Atonement" as Ian McEwan's best novel to date. They may be right. In my humble opinion, it should have beaten Peter Carey's more showy "True Story of the Kelly Gang" for the 2001 Booker Prize. "Atonement" is about how a young girl innocently ruins the lives of two people she cares about and spends the rest of her adult life atoning for her crime. Did aspiring playwright Briony let her fertile imagination run wild after witnessing scenes she barely understood ? Did she jump tragically to the wrong conclusion or was there something subterranean at work that we or even she didn't realise at the time ?

The novel breaks neatly into three parts. The first and arguably finest part is so expertly constructed it knocks practically everything else that follows - barring the epilogue - into the shade. In typical McEwan fashion, we are spared long intros common to writers who indulge in elaborate scene setting. We cut straight to that fateful summer in 1934. The action begins after the extended family has assembled in the Tallis' home and at once there is a brooding tension that perfectly anticipates the tragedy that follows. Here, McEwan shows his mastery of suspense by going over the same happenings through different eyes.

The middle section deals with the aftermath of the crime. The torrid war scenes poignantly heightens the bitterness experienced by Cecilia and Robbie of their broken lives. This section also provides a natural bridge to the final part where we see the adult Briony working tirelessly as a nurse in a hospital attending to the sick and wounded. Will the physical punishment she puts herself through atone for her crime ? How does she seek forgiveness from the aggrieved when the past cannot be rewritten and when she was only doing what she thought was right ? As usual, McEwan has left his best shot for the last. The ace secretly tucked up his sleeve is revealed in the concluding chapter when the 77-year old Briony makes peace with herself and those she has hurt by using that same imagination she was blessed (or cursed) with. What an ingenius resolution....but then again, it's only McEwan spinning his magic.

Ian McEwan is unquestionably the pre-eminent contemporary novelist of our time. He gets better and better with each effort and with "Atonement" he may have reached his peak. A literary masterpiece. I have every incentive to mine his entire back catalogue for the enjoyment it will provide.

Rating:
Summary: A Wrenching Novel
Review: What starts off seeming like an unfortaunate mistake turns into a life changing event, and although there may be ATONEMENT there is no redemption - it's a devastating view of the irreversible nature of mistakes we sometimes make. It's heart breaking and yet totally real.

Rating:
Summary: Kept expecting it to get better...
Review: Was ultimately very disappointed with this book. The ending left me feeling very unsatisfied especially considering how I had labored through the bulk of the book hoping for an ending to redeem my efforts.

Rating:
Summary: Strong and Involving from Beginning to End
Review: Fiction told from a child's perspective usually annoys me. Reason: In my experience, this is often a lazy writer's tool for conveying a superficial, albeit sometimes insightful, comment on adult situations. This bias made me a reluctant reader of "Atonement", since the first section of the book conveys the perspective of Briony Tallis, a 13-year old girl. Yet this is no ordinary girl, since her mind is a powerful mixture of romance, heroic assertiveness, and sexual innocence. Interestingly, I found the chapter featuring her immature point of view to be richer than chapters told from the point of view Robbie-- a soldier, trudging through France, wounded and headed for evacuation at Dunkirk-and Cecilia-a young woman whose life is powered by anger toward her parents. And, don't pay attention to certain critics! Everything ties together very nicely.

Rating:
Summary: Atonement
Review: What a frustrating, pretentious book! McEwan puts together a nineteenth century novel and then "cleverly" refuses to end it, because the godlike author/narrator is unable to do so. A tired concept and a rip-off. Nothing Pirandello didn't do a whole lot better a long time ago.

Rating:
Summary: could have been better
Review: This book is beautifully written...it is slow in the beginning, but it gets more interesting as the story goes on... not his best novel, but it is worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Well written, suspenseful but very disappointing ending
Review: This was a very slow but well written book. I would have stopped reading if it were not for my wife's recommendation. I was happy that I kept on. The ending was absolutely unacceptable and this was not because it was happy or sad. For all the fine work McEwan did at drawing me into the story, in a two page fell swoop, he pulled me out. I was left with no emotional attachment to the characters. He not only disappointed the reader but did great injustice to his own hard work - what a shame!!! Why an author would undo his work like McEwan did is beyond me.

This was the first McEwan book I read and I was prepared to read other books by him until the last part of this book. Now I am boycotting his books. I would recommend to the reader to stop reading after the first 331 pages however tempting it is to read the last 20 pages.

WET Rating: (Out of 5)
Writing Quality - 5 Very well written book
Entertainment - 3 Very slow at times but keeps your interest
Thought Provoking - 3 Poor ending leaves you very unsatisfied

Rating:
Summary: Technically elegant, substantively heart-warming.
Review: McEwan is obviously a technically superb writer, but there are many of those about. McEwan adds a heart for his story and an incisiveness about people that is truly amazing. With his story, McEwan explores the petty sources of sin and the inordinate price -- indeed, humanly speaking, its unattainability -- of forgiveness. If you are to read but one fiction book this year, make this one the one.

Rating:
Summary: Great potential in the rich characters, but falls short
Review: It took me awhile to get into the story. By the end of the first part, I was excited to see how the lives of the characters would unfold. Unfortunately, parts II and III jump so far ahead in time that you feel that you no longer know the characters. I felt as though I missed the formative years of the characters I had come to care about in the first part. I would have rather seen McEwan develop Briony's story further during the teen years instead of skipping ahead from age 13 to 18. Overall, I enjoyed it, but it had so much more potential!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, but how much thought for the reader ?
Review: Beautiful, beautiful writing, and clever, and crafted by a master word-smith, but there must be something else to satisfy, not necessarily something of brawn, but something that quenches the thirst of those who love stories; and this was a story, afterall. McEwan successfully breaks most rules that literary folk try to push on others, and that I thank him for, but some risky things here didn't quite work for me. There is a slow beginning that doesn't really grab you, then comes a voice that lures you in, and gives you the endless pleasure of tasting the trappings and the intimacies of the characters. Then it is gone, and the voice changes, and the characters are taken from you, and it becomes an effort again to keep turning the pages. The second section snatches you away from your familiar setting, the context of a story that you had only just agreed to surrender to (something that can be good when you need to be challenged, but not when it takes you in another direction, another voice, another time, another sentiment), and you spend your time distracted, mourning the absence of the characters you took the time to get to know. Then the third section comes up with a 'technical surprise', which you can see coming, and then you wonder about whether you will feel passion for any of the ideas behind the title, 'atonement', and you crave for some kind of conclusion, some kind of denouement, some kind of meaty substance. It is not there though. There is cleverness and beauty in the writing, which is pleasurable in itself, but you feel let down, and you close the book not really feeling any empathy, not missing the characters, not wanting to examine the theme. In trying to be different and challenging (or providing a challenge for himself), I feel that McEwan has indulged himself, failing to write this book with a 'reader' in mind. Of course, it may be exactly what he had in mind!!