Rating: 
Summary: A Thought Provoking Novel About Pain, Loss and Redemption
Review: Atonement is one of those novels that begins slowly, grows on you and becomes impossible to put down. McEwan has crafted a tale that begins with the Tallis family in 1930's England and ends in 1999.
Briony Tallis is a 13 year old girl prone to fantasies and daydreaming who has a particular talent for writing. On a hot summer day in 1935, she witnesses a scene between her sister Cecelia and the housekeeper's son Robbie that confuses her and sets into motion events that spin out of control.
The novel follows the aftermath of this one day through Cecelia's, Briony's and Robbie's life which includes a stunning and heartbreaking description of the retreat from Dunkirk in 1940.
McEwan writes with exquisite detail about the surroundings and each character. Some readers may find this difficult but this novel is not meant to be read through at breakneck speed rather each detail is to be savored and refleced upon as he slowly builds to the stories climax. Once you come to know the characters you are hooked and this fine Booker nominated novel brilliantly concludes leaving the reader wondering if atonement is ever truely possible.
Rating: 
Summary: somewhat disappointing
Review: Atonement was highly recommended from a review I saw on TV- I was surprised at how slow the story moves --- it was in slo-mo for the first half -- then the war part dragged along. The ending is Ok, but not worthy of the high praise it had received.
Rating: 
Summary: What Did I Miss?
Review: It took me over a week to slog (and I DO mean "slog"!) through this book. It was with great anticipation that I bought it, after having read so many rave reviews, but what a disappointment. The first part was so tedious, I could barely get through it ...... . On I slogged, nonetheless, searching for something to care about in any of the characters, waiting for something - anything - of interest to happen. While some of the prose was beautifully written, the actual story had no flow or coherence. I didn't feel the characters were fleshed out in any way ....
Within 10 or so pages of the end, I could have happily put the book down and not even bothered to finish it. I am a voracious reader and I don't recall having felt that way about another book I've read. You get the point. I DID finish it, finally, but it was pure torture.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful masterpiece
Review: Read this book if you enjoy literature. This book will rank among one of the greatest novels in the 21st century. Mr. McEwan manages to pack maximum emotional and spiritual power into his understated narrative.The first 50 pages or so go slowly as we are introduced to the various key characters, but then as we become vested in the characters, we cannot put the book down.
Rating:
Summary: I never saw the end coming. Masterful conclusion!
Review: I've never read Ian McEwan before, but I will read everything of his I can get my hands on in the future. I found this book reeled me into its aura as though I were a fish on a line.
The technique of having each of the four parts focus on a single pivotal day in the very long lives of the characters worked perfectly.
When I read the last two pages, I burst into tears with no warning. I never saw the end coming.
Also, there's a terrific sex scene beginning on p. 126...McEwan has nailed it!
Rating:
Summary: Difficult, rewarding, satisfying
Review: A few impressions of Atonement: The characterization of the adolescent Briony is stunning. She wonders, at one point, if *everyone* is just as aware of their being as she is. McEwan's depiction of burgeoning consciousness in an adolescent mind is, I think, nearly unparalleled.
I am not a fan of war literature, but McEwan's lengthy description of the miserable retreat of British troops from France during WW II is wrenching without ever being maudlin, sentimental, or gratuitously violent. It is the chaos of war and its humanity that he describes so well.
This book was difficult to read yet impossible to put down. I found myself with the book on my lap at work, trying to sneak passages when I could. I can't imagine any serious reader being disappointed with this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Love conquers all.
Review: 'Atonement' is an intimate story of members of an English family and their trials, tribulations, and buried secrets throughout the twentieth century; from the early to mid 1900's, London's military hospitals of World War II, right up to 1999. It is a depiction of the all too common break up of the family, mistakes made within, tragedies a result of, and the attempts made to amend the wrongs forced to persist for decades. It is a story of love; the love that is broken within a family, and conversely, the infinite adoration between lovers that thrives with neither boundaries nor limitations. It all unravels as the eyes of young Briony Tallis become exposed to situations that her adolescent imagination can only decipher on its own terms, even when a serious crime becomes one of those scenes. The young storyteller is then forced to describe what actually transpired, and, unfortunately for herself and those involved, unwillingly changes the lives of her family and friends forever, not necessarily for the better. Maybe there's a hidden storyline here of the mistakes that can come about when a court of law is forced to base its decision upon the observations of a child witness. Nevertheless, as this does happen, life goes on, and individuals endure, especially because of the love that's ever so obvious between them all. This was an unpretentious though compelling novel from Ian McEwan. His depiction of Turner's eventual situation, in incarceration and war (without giving away too much of the inner story) was grippingly sorrowful and heartfelt. The perseverant and feisty spirit of young Cecilia was both enriching and endearing. Her beauty radiated from the pages. Love conquers all.
Rating:
Summary: An good-old fashioned postmodern read
Review: In Atonement, Ian McEwan has written both a powerful and deeply affecting "old-fashioned" narrative that in many ways recalls and updates the best of E.M. Forster (Think Howard's End and A Passage to India) and a postmodern work that calls into question the ability of fiction to represent life (Think Borges and Calvino). In fact, McEwan handles the machinery of the traditional novel -- vividly realistic settings (a summer day at an English country house in the mid-30s, the British retreat to Dunkirk, a London hospital in the early months of World War II), sympathetic characters, suspense-filled plot -- so expertly that I remain somewhat ambivalent about the need for the postmodernism. It seems as if McEwan is uncomfortable with his emotions -- and the emotions his story creates in his readers -- and so must distance himself intellectually from the passions of his characters; or maybe he is telling us something about keeping emotions in balance with intelligence. Read the book yourself and decide.
Rating:
Summary: HUH??
Review: Ok, I've never read McEwan before...there's a list of his books that I'd like to read, but after reading this one...
I don't know, I think I will give him one more chance.
This book was awful! It was very boring.
First, take the book, some 350 pages & flip through it looking through the words---see many quotes for conversations??
That's because there aren't many! That's one problem
Second, start reading if you like, then start to notice that the author uses 20 words to describe something where one work would have sufficed. Then notice that this goes on, on EVERY page!!
This book could have been shortened up to probably 150 pages. Easy!
I had a very hard time getting through this book. I love to read, and have a nice size vocab, but come on!!!
I'll admit the ending was interesting though. Curiosity kept me going to see what would happen
Rating:
Summary: The best so far!
Review: I picked up this book right after moving to London last fall. It had received lots of media coverage, and it was nominated for the Booker prize (now we know that it didn't win..) I have read most of McEwan's books, and truly loves his writing. "Atonement", together with "Comfort of Strangers" and "Amsterdam" are the books that I have liked the best. "Atonement" is one story told through three (almost) "separate" novellas. First part takes us to England in the 1930'ies. We meet the Tallis family. They live on a beautiful estate, with servants and you name it. The protagonist, is the 13-year-old daughter of the family, Briony Tallis. She is quite theatrical (which kid of 13 doesn't? My 12-year-old daughter certainly competes well against Briony!) and wants to be a writer. She is daily writing on her master play, and she is planning to set up a play that summer, using the whole family as the actors. But something happens that summer, and with a child's mind and perception, she is unable to control the situation. I am not sure if Briony lied, or if she told the truth, truth the way she perceived it. Nevertheless, without realizing, her fantasy and imaginary world soon ruin the world of two of her loved ones, her sister Cecilia and the son of the housekeeper, Robbie. After that, things can never go back to what it was. No matter how much she would later give up in life as her personal atonement, things would, and could, never be the same again. The second part of "Atonement" jumps to the 1940'ies, and it gets us through the WWII in England and France, and the third part brings us to present, and we end up in 1999 for a rendez-vous on the Tallis estate. McEwan is a true master of writing. All characters are (as usual) very well developed. I like Briony, but I also have a soft spot for her slightly eccentric mom, and the son of the housekeeper, Robbie Turner. The themes in "Atonement" are well known - love and peace, loyalty vs. obligation, innocence vs. guilt, reality vs. imagination. A less clever writer might have lost the reader's attention, but gifted as he is, McEwan pulls this together masterly! This is a true page-turner. Highly recommended!
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