Atonement

Rating:
Summary: astonishing
Review: I've recommended this masterwork to several friends and colleages...A truly impressive piece of literature. Should be on everyone's top ten list. McEwan is officially one of our greatest living writers.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I started reading this book and wasn't to interested in what was happening to Briony. I put it down and a week later started where I had ended and read one more chapter. I was hooked. Ian McEwan understands the way an adolescent mind works and write masterfully. The book never lost my interest from that time forward. I felt a part of the story and had my own desires for the characters. This book is AMAZING!

Rating:
Summary: McEwan's magnum opus
Review: I chose to read all of Ian McEwan's other novels before starting on "Atonement", as I had seen from his other work that this was a very special writer. I wanted to enjoy the progression of his writing from his earliest works in the 1970's up to this highly recognized and intelligent novel. I am glad I waited, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of experiencing this book through the perspective of his other works. This takes on a weighty and important tone from the very beginning, and in it, McEwan is able to delve as deeply into the minds and motivations of his characters as he has in any of his other works. McEwan speaks in the reassuring voice and confident prose that is his hallmark, and I found this to be an emotionally moving and painful, yet important book.

There is true literary magic at work here. A writer looks back on a pivotal event in her early life, which she propagated, and which caused a gaping and irreparable wound within her family. The title is ambiguous, much like his "Enduring Love" was about nothing of the sort, and "The Comfort of Strangers" was really about the dangers of outsiders (stranger-danger?). McEwan writes here about epic themes - family estrangement, war, dislocation, emotional baggage and how that impacts one's life, unforgiveness and imagination. Whether the vital facts of the story within a story were true or the subject of Briony's (the girl at the center of the story) great imagination, much of this story is about her efforts to forgive herself and come to terms with ("atone for") her mistake and in doing so, find peace within herself. Taking place over more than sixty years, I felt like I had lived with the characters through their traumas.

Once again, McEwan creates unforgettable characters; once again he takes on grand themes and succeeds superbly; and again, he has created a story that must be read.

Rating:
Summary: Really Like It
Review: If you enjoyed Kaitlyn Stewarts "Nightmares Echo" and Jackson Tippet McCrae's "Bark of Dogwood" you should enjoy "Atonement." It is an excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Give it some time
Review: If you can get through the first 100 pages about the 13 year-old, you will love this book - don't give up.

McEwan spends way too much time establishing Briony's personality early on. Once Book 1 is over, the novel pics up and ends in a way that will touch you and keep you thinking for a long time.


Rating:
Summary: A prose poem
Review: This is an amazing read by a masterful writer. You get the sense that every line was crafted to perfection. It is poetry to the eyes and imagination.

Rating:
Summary: An entrancing, seductive novel
Review: Ian McEwan's "Atonement" works so well as a multi-perspective study in early 20th century English manners that you want it to remain there for the length of the novel. The narrative is as liquid as the fateful pond ambivalent Cecilia plunges into to spite future lover Robbie Turner, and just as refreshing. Psychological acuity, assured pacing, dry-as-toast wit; these are the building blocks McEwan uses to construct the first-half of "Atonement", and he reminds us of their importance and their potential to galvanize and provoke the reader.
Yet, like thirteen-year-old Briony, the novel cannot remain one thing forever. "Atonement" captures the no-man's-land between childhood and adolescence with intimate detail, something few writers are capable of. As she metamorphasises, so does the narrative. I was a bit dubious when McEwan jumped from the townhouse to the battleground. The transition felt a little too Masterpiece Theatre-ish at first. Shame on me. I should have known I was in masterful hands, as McEwan guides the reader through the private hell of a wronged, damaged man seeking salvation through far-off love.
Naturally, the final focus comes back to Briony, first as a eighteen-year-old nurse attempting to bury her guilt under grinding repetition, and finally in a completely different incarnation than expected. I won't reveal the devastating intellectual and emotional surprises that comprise the finale of this masterwork. I will say, however, that it secures McEwan's reputation as one of our great writers.
"Atonement" is about alot of things: the insanity of war, the confusion of childhood, the joy of first love, the ennui of middle age, the darkness of the human heart. However, it's mostly about the stories we tell ourselves and each other, and the way art is used to find forgiveness and peace. Few of us find the atonement we're looking for, McEwan sighs. Why would we need stories if we did?

Rating:
Summary: Masterful
Review: This novel is one of the best I have read in years. By the end, you will feel the love, passion, longing, pain, and agonizing regret of "if only" right along with the beautifully developed characters.