Rating: 
Summary: A deeply reflective masterpiece...
Review: Beautifully written and skilfully structured, Ian McEwan's "Atonement" surpasses his previous Booker Prize winner - "Amsterdam" - by a country mile and raises the question as to why on earth it failed to win last year's competition. Sure, the storyline contains a couple of superficially serious flaws... but these criticisms of its logic completely miss the point. What McEwan is in fact exploring is: firstly, the character of the novel's central character (Briony), her view of the truth and, how she, and we, can, if we wish, distort "the truth" to suit or own requirements; and, secondly, the power of the writer to make you believe that figments of their own imagination are "real". The clever and, in the end, wholly convincing trick McEwan uses to explore such a complex subject is to make Briony a successful author in her own right: i.e. someone with the literary skills and therefore the persuasive power to convince others of her version of "reality". McEwan's own superb writing skills (transposed onto those of Briony) make the story's supporting characters and the predicaments they face so convincing that you become deeply sympathetic to their fates and, as such, really do want them to "exist" as told. So much so that the book's first twist - Briony's serious distortion of "the truth" in her "published" version of the story - comes as both a shock and a disconcertingly effective insight into its first underlying theme: what is reality? And... having sowed the seeds of doubt in Briony's own veracity, its ultimate question - "can I believe any of this?" - is, in turn, a quite brilliant insight into the nature of "the novel" and the reader's own expectations of it when, by definition, nothing in any novel is "true": it's all fiction made up by the writer! Similar in its impact to Bryan Singer's equally brilliant film "The Usual Suspects", "Atonement" will leave those wanting a comfortable "A to Z" progression of a believable story to a believable conclusion confused & disappointed. But... for those wanting a multi-layered, thought provoking and, ultimately, deeply reflective exploration of both the impact of human frailty on the lives of others and, the power of the written word to convince it's an absolute treat.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: Briony Tallis, 13, has written a play in honor of her idolized older brother's homecoming. It is 1935, the hottest day of summer in a charming country property in England. Briony has rather arbitrarily assigned parts to her young cousins who will be arriving shortly. Briony, of course, has the lead. Older sister Cecilia is readying the house for the party, as the mother as usual is indisposed. Robbie, the brilliant son of the housemaid, is also returning from University, his education financed by Mr. Tallis. The stage is set for Briony to put in motion terrible events that will change the lives of every person in this halcyon setting. "Atonement" is written in four books, The Crime, The War, The Atonement, and The 1999 Reunion. Mr. McEwen's prose is a delight: languorous, taut, whatever the situation calls for. The dialogue is crisp and rings true for all characters. The complete change of pace when we follow Robbie through the fall of Dunkirk is breathtaking. It is that most excruciating military situation: the command has broken down; all are on their own. The Atonement itself has the hard clarity of cold winter sunlight on a city street. The author has more to tell than the story at hand; he speaks of writing and the duties of authors to their readers, all without ever wandering away from the storyline. I cannot wait to read "Amsterdam," Mr. McEwen's earlier novel. His writing is magical. - And, oh yes, "Atonement" has a twist at the end that will shock and upset you for days. Do yourself a favor, and read it.
Rating:
Summary: Bring An IQ
Review: Those readers who gallop through novels--or rather skate over their surfaces--or even throw them away half-read when they become too difficult, should be warned that this one demands some thought and attention.
Those who find the criminal conviction in this story "improbable" need to remember when the story is set. Actually it's all too likely, given the "victim" and the significance of class in pre-war England. (In any case: note that Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel has just been convicted of murder on far less evidence). This book's brilliant design does not emerge until the final pages, and its full power comes only upon reflection. So bring something along or you'll miss the parade.
Rating: 
Summary: No "Amsterdam"
Review: I enjoyed "Amsterdam," McEwan's Booker Prize-winning novel. I thought it was a clever (albeit slick) little jewel of a book. Hearing that "Atonement" was his masterpiece, I knew I had to read it. Frankly, I found it a dull book about dull people. To be perfectly honest, after starting to skim it halfway through,I never finished it. As social comedy (or commentary) it can't hold a candle to anything by Anthony Powell or Evelyn Waugh. Masterpiece or not, I thought it a bore and a major disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: So very well written!!!!
Review: A feeble attempt at reviewing such a beautiful literary piece of work on my part is useless. A magnificent book. Just read it and see for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: language barrier
Review: like so many other fine foreign novels, the language barrier became something that's very difficult to overcome. Even brilliant translation would not do the job.
Rating: 
Summary: Yak, Yak, YAK.....
Review: ....Talk, talk, talk. This should have been written as a short story or three part magizine piece. While the premise is interesting, I found that it lacked suspense and true bite. I know all the critics are raving about but I don't see it. I do not even understand how the story advanced as far as it did. What kind of defense attorney did this guy hire? Briony should have ended up in prison, but the author has a quick fix for that. The ending is very pat and so unsatisfying. If you like "wordy", you get it. Otherwise, pass on this and move on to other books.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book!
Review: This is a great novel -- it should have won the Booker Prize. And it is far more engaging than his previous novel, Amsterdam (which did win the Booker Prize).
Rating:
Summary: Nabokov would have loved this work of art
Review: Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures on literature at Cornell, told his students that "Style and structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash." I have no doubt VN would have greatly admired Ian McEwan's ATONEMENT. In short, the book is a luminous, finely crafted work of art, as exquisite - and fragile - as the vase which plays a crucial role in the plot. Don't compare it to McEwan's other novels. Forget BIRDSONG too. Read ATONEMENT for what it is, and like many readers you will discover a masterpiece, a beautiful artifice that at its heart is also about the act of writing itself. And here's another tip from VN to heighten your reading pleasure: draw yourself a diagram of the household and grounds, and watch how McEwan artfully stage manages the comings and goings of his characters in part one. What a delight.
Rating:
Summary: A terrible inevitability....
Review: There are so many comprehensive reviews on Atonement, that I will only add some impressions. Reading Atonement was a fairly wrenching experience. Once begun, I was driven to finish. The growing tension of the story made it impossible for me to stop reading until the advent of a new course of action and I was released me until the next time. In the innocence of childhood, precocious talents are encouraged, applauded. But by the next stage of development, adolescents are often capable of spite and revenge, and exhibit a certain primal sense of justice. Things are black and white, not mitigated, by circumstance and inside a clever young mind, a twisted labyrinth of perplexing ideation emerges. Simultaneously the ripe possibility of consequence is irresistible, hanging suspended, the flash of guillotine glinting above the prisoner's exposed, perhaps innocent, neck. When the blade descends, imagination prances about, dressed as truth and clearly believable. The young girl, Briony, is so perfectly realized that I recognized myself in her, caught in the consuming greed for notice, compelling the adults to admit the correctness of her new-found maturity, rather than the unstable perceptions of a child. All is contained in the moment, not the consequences, for Briony is immersed in her own self-importance. She is incapable of perceiving the degree to which lives are altered, incapable of such consideration. I can barely forgive her this hubris, no matter what her age. Two other characters are drastically affected, their lives irrevocably changed: Cecilia, Briony's older sister, and Robbie, grown son of a family retainer. Helpless to change the course of events, Cecilia bitterly carves out a life she can endure, unwilling to meet with her sister for years. Eventually, as Briony truly matures, she begins to fathom the nature of her misdeed and the moral burden she bears. In her guilty angst, Briony is humanized and made available as just another flawed human being. There is an indictment, through Briony, of the class-consciousness that enables accusation and judgment without the need of adequate proof. The lower classes of 1935 London are, in Briony's perception, simply incapable of the finer instincts of her class and therefore culpable by default. Social acceptance by virtue of birth or background creates a false sense of entitlement, eroding the society that gives it credence. By the end, I felt in need of redemption myself. But then, isn't that the point?
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