Atonement

Rating:
Summary: weeves the story
Review: Although this is book is fiction, you would swear it was a non-fiction memoir like that of NIGHTMARES ECHO,RUNNING WITH SCISSORS and RAINBOWS. The Author weeves the story so that you see and feel what the character is going through. It is hard to put down and just an excellently written book.

Rating:
Summary: a waste of paper
Review: this is another strange book by ian mcewan,it features the misinterpretation of a young girl named Briony and her false accusation of the man who raped her cousin.it is cleverly divided into different time periods;1935,1939 and 1999 therefore showing the events leading up to world war 2 and during and after.it includes startling and accurate viewpoints from nurses and soldiers.i think this book is only let down by ian mcewans habit of rambling on and over analysing a situation or feeling. not a bad read but uneventful and slightly dated.

Rating:
Summary: Apparently I Read this the "Wrong" Way...
Review: This is yet another one of those prize-winning novels selected for discussion by my book group that I probably wouldn't have read on my own (cf. Soul Mountain, Possession, et al). And once again, I fail to be entranced by what seems to drive everyone else bonkers with reading delight. The caveat to this is that it turns out that I read the book with a very different perspective from my fellow book group members. You see, there's a bit of authorial slight of hand at work, and if you notice what's going on, everything in the book takes on a different shade altogether. Now, I wasn't actively looking for any such thing, but I picked up on a few clues (maybe 'cause I read a lot of detective stories?) and made a few assumptions, which ended up being correct in the end. This is in contrast to the seven other people I discussed the book with, who were floored (and delighted) by a revelation made about 2/3 of the way into it.

In any event, the story starts in mid-1930s England in the home of a wealthy landed family. The first third slowly sets up a scenario of the prodigal son returning for the weekend. This is a very controlled and precisely structured bit of very old-fashioned writing which feels highly artificial until the weekend starts to unravel when a crude love note gets into the wrong hands. Emotions start to run high and then a terrible crime is committed, creating a moral ambiguity that the rest of the novel revolves around. In the next section we meet one of the characters in the fields of France several years later, as he struggles with two other soldiers to make it to Dunkirk for the great evacuation. This slender section is quite evocative and quite different from those bookending it. The third section takes the reader back across the channel to Blitz-era London, where several other characters from the country weekend train to be nurses. However, amidst all the action (such as it is), the characters all exist in the shadow of that awful weekend, and operate in service of the much larger theme named by the title.

This central question is posed by one the characters: "How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?" Well, this is the point at which you will either laud McEwan for cleverness and precision of plotting that reveal layers within the story, or you will sigh at McEwan for playing too many games with his work in an attempt to present Deep Thoughts. While I can admire McEwan's precise control of style and voice, which he maintains throughout, and the elaborate construction of layers to the book, I certainly wasn't entranced by the central theme or how it propelled the interaction between characters. Perhaps had I read the story without "getting" what McEwan was up to from the start, I would have enjoyed it more, but I didn't. It doesn't help matters that the characters mostly remain period ciphers of the repressed variety, the kind that the comedian Eddie Izzard is so good at spoofing. Finally, the pace... is... glacial-one of the slowest books to unravel I've ever read. All in all, not a book I'd recommend to friends.

Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: This was one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. McEwan shows astounding insight into the mind of the young girl at the center of the story and creates a wonderully woven tapestry of the people and the world around her. His ability to provide the reader with a sympathetic viewpoint as we see a tragedy unfolding is remarkable. Throughout the book are instances that showed a deep understanding of the strengths and weaknesses consistent with our human condition, and that there may be reasoning behind even the most profound mistakes that we make in life. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Polished and haunting
Review: If you are the sort of reader whose interest is held primarily by event-driven plots, you will find much of this novel nearly intolerable.

I, however, enjoy the work of writers who, with precise observations and elegant prose, can render characters through the flow of their thoughts. Ian McEwan is such a writer. In ATONEMENT he succeeds in getting into the heads of a variety of characters, which is essential in showing us how a series of misunderstandings can escalate into a tragedy.

I bought the book because it had been so highly praised by critics, but I postponed reading it, thinking, why should I care about THESE people--these upper middle class Brits? Initially, as I began to read, my attitude remained unchanged. But the often-annoying 13-year-old Briony brought me an uncomfortable reminder of some of my own childhood ambitions, misunderstandings and cruelties. And the writing was so fluid. I was gradually drawn in. So at that moment when the cleaning woman's son Robbie realizes his dreadful error, I was hit with the force of a slap. "OH NO," I thought, and rapidly devoured the rest of the book, anxious to learn what becomes of the promising young man.

The second part of the book is likely to interest all readers. It is set during WWII, and Robbie takes center stage. We read his tumbling reflections and observations during the chaotic withdrawal of the British army to Dunkirk. (I was reminded of parts of the movie "Saving Private Ryan.") Robbie's hopeful musings are undercut by a mounting dread at his dangerous predicament. But what ultimately happens to him? One must read on.

Briony's life as a young woman--a nurse in training--dominates part three, which takes place during the same period of time-- wartime London before the blitz. She hopes to establish a writing career one day, but for the time wants to lose herself in the demands of her job. She is haunted by her past actions. How can she atone for them?

The answer is gracefully explored in the heart-rending and thoughtful epilogue. For Briony, atonement is incomplete, but the nature and possibilities of writing bring some comfort to all.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but too Elaborate
Review: Interesting plot.
It was in 1935, in a country home of a family. Here's Briony, a 13-year old girl, with creative imagination and the talent of writing. The elder siblings are back for the summer. Come the cousins from a troubled family; an enterpreneur guest; and a long-time friend who increasingly seemed to be crazy and scary. Events are cleverly built up to the center of story. It was such a tragedy when Briony's complex messed with the adult world. What a heart-breaking turn of events!

Contemplative issue.
How long does it take to atone? What do we have to do to undo our grievous mistakes? We probably carry our guilts to the grave.

Elaborate story-telling.
Woaw, in this novel things are elaborated in details. The surrounding, the physical beings, the thoughts. It's too much to my liking tho. I mean, I don't care how dark the sky was when it has nothing to do with the plot. Or maybe it has.

If you like to indulge in the beautifully, stupendously crafted descriptions of details, then you would really enjoy this book. Otherwise, you're probably like me. I wish the storyline was faster.. it's too exhaustive transforming the written illustration into the visual imagination, that I had to skip some of the details.

Rating:
Summary: Richly told story of lifelong anguish and resolve
Review: "Atonement", Ian McEwan's follow up novel to the hugely successful Booker Prize-winner "Amsterdam", is a very richly told story about the lifelong struggle of a young girl who makes a tragic mistake and ruins three lives in the process.

Young Briony accuses a college-aged friend of the family of a horrible crime, destroying his life and the life of her older sister who loves him. The book tells the story of the lives of these three characters as they struggle to recover from the tragedy. But is all really as it seems?

McEwan does an excellent job convincing the reader that they know what the truth is - but it isn't until the final pages that the real truth is known. It's a well-told story that will surprise you in the end.

Rating:
Summary: Alternative Storytelling
Review: "Atonement" is not a run of the mill novel. Ian McEwan writes with a fresh and unique style. His style though has a melancholy sadness to it much like Rikki Lee Travolta's "My Fractured Life." There are also similar aspects to Sue Monk Kidd's "The Secret Life of Bees", but where Kidd finds a way to turn that frown upside down for a happy uplifting turn, McEwan stays the course with the sadness like Travolta. I certainly enjoyed this book and appreciate the alternative approach to storytelling. McEwan earns my praise.

Rating:
Summary: Atonement? No, It's Penance!
Review: ATONEMENT gets an unqualified thumbs down. I eagerly bought the novel, intrigued by its premises of overcoming wrongdoing and deep regret. I started reading and was surprised when nothing at all happened over dozens and dozens of pages. Huh? I plodded through the mud of more and more narrative about characters I didn't care about, where still nothing happened. Finally on page 100 (or was it 150?) the "crisis" occurred and I almost missed it, was hardly sure if it really happened, just didn't get the feel that it had huge consequences. I almost gave up then, but the reviewers on this site who were still wiping tears away as they praised the novel's ending persuaded me to finish. And now I can't remember much about the end, that's how un-invested I was in the story. I am fascinated by the divergence of opinion in the reviews of this novel but must admit I'm one who didn't "get" it and wish I knew how others did.

Rating:
Summary: frustration thy name is atonement
Review: If this book's a masterpiece, I gotta start writing more.

Words, words, words. Then more words. (Did McEwan never read Elements of Style? Omit Needless Words?) There are so many paragraphs here -- so many pages -- that writers like Graham Swift and William Boyd could have dashed off with a single line, losing nothing. For example, THREE PAGES to dissect Cecilia's choice of a dress for the evening??? And in those pages, false lines abound, like -- "...and though one bore wine stains and another a burn hole from her first cigarette..." Ugh! (How about "...and though one bore wine stains and another a burn hole from a cigarette (her first!) ..."?)

I liked both Amsterdam and The Innocent very much. Wonderful, clean, direct writing, with interesting engaging characters. Before McEwan starts his next book, I suggest he reads less Jane Austen, and more Elmore Leonard.