Atonement

I can see how someone would see this as boring. It is the epitome of all things English. Everything is very subtle and you have to really think about what is happening. The pacing of the book is very even and you will be rewarded if you make through, but it is definitely not a page turner, with action on every page. It is nice book about on society and worth a read.

I thought this novel was incredibly intelligent and well-written. I was still thinking about this book months after I had read it. This novel will make you think about how your actions affect other people and how one mistake can change lives forever. I really loved this book and have since read all of Ian McEwan's other books (and enjoyed them all!).

McEwan is very wordy using peculiar descriptions and annoyingly many adjectives.

I am not going to get into plot details of this remarkable novel. Interested readers can easily find them from other sources. I will say that it is a beautifully written multi-layered book beginning in 1935 in a huge English country house when Britain no so incidentally ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen moves on to the military catastrophe of Dunkirk and ends in the last dsys of the 20th century. Though the plotting is intricate, the characters seemed so alive and the writing so perfect that I, for one, did not lose for a moment. I believe Atonement is a rare masterpiece, and would encourage anyone who enjoys fine literature to read it.

There are many reviews already of this book, and I did wonder whether the world needed any more. But I disagree so strongly with some of the opinions expressed that I'm afraid I have to exercise my right to reply. Two things in particular stand out. Let me deal with the simpler one first. Some peopl......more

In World War II England, 13-year-old Briony Tallis misinterprets her older sister’s love affair with their family’s gardener to be something much worse than what it is. Her innocence and partial understanding of the world begins a chain of events that tears the family apart and alters the course of......more

That I can remember, I've never before disliked the start of a book so thoroughly, and by the end, gone on to think so much of it as a complete work. The last 2/3 of this novel are as good as contemporary fiction gets. The first 1/3 is like reading a Jane Austen plot trapped in amber. As the title ind......more

Atonement is a story of moral issues and the story is sad… Here she was, offering a possibility of absolution. But it was not for him. He had done nothing wrong. It was for herself, for her own crime which her conscience could no longer bear. Was he supposed to feel grateful? And yes, of course, she......more

Ian McEwan - image from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette - photo credit: Joost van den Broek I was bored with this until half way through, but then it got interesting. It touches on imagination versus reality, fiction versus fact, in addition to the story content. A portrait of an upper middle class Engl......more