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| Atonement | 
 enlarge | List Price: £7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 32 reviews)
Sales Rank: 467
Category: Book
Author: Ian Mcewan
Publisher: Vintage
Studio: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Label: Vintage
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0099507382
EAN: 9780099507383
ASIN: 0099507382
Publication Date: August 9, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 boring... May 14, 2008
I bought the translated version of the book (greek) and thought of it as being a boring , poor in content book. It was slow, confusing and in the end I had no idea what had really happened. The movie-dvd version of the story is a lot better.....
Slow, Slow and Slow May 12, 2008
There is no doubting that this book is well written but the author is just TOO descriptive, too many pages are wasted on describing unimportant objects, scenes etc. I had to force myself to read the book until about 200 pages in where it actually became enjoyable. Probably not a book id recommend to a friend.
 Get past the first 20 pages April 24, 2008
It was a bit of a struggle at first, but lacking any other new books I persisted and was so glad I did.
I haven't seen the film although I will now - the clips do look good and I love the cast. The book is certainly an interesting read, not the best book ever but it intrigued me the rest of the way through.
A slow burner, but undoubtedly worth preserving with... April 15, 2008
This was my first experience of Ian McEwan. I'd been lent the DVD and wanted to read the book first. Having heard mixed reviews I was intrigued. However, I was not disappointed.
Split into four parts (well, 3 and a short epilogue) this book, for me at least, seems to really have only two distinct halves - pre-war and wartime. However, this is a crude description and does not do the book justice. The first half smoulders with a slow burning intensity. It describes the events of a stiflingly hot summer's day, set against the backdrop of a stately home in Surrey. The oppressive heat is felt through the descriptions of everything from the clothes to the house - suffocating, cloying, clinging, engulfing. McEwan uses the English language exquisitely, taking the reader and placing them right in the book, in the very scene being read. I've read other reviews with interest. The excessive descriptiveness is not loved by those who prefer more plot driven novels. However, for a lover of prose this book is a treat, albeit a slow going one.
The theme of the first half is an awakening, the awakening of emotions of the 3 main protagonists. With Briony Tallis, it is the exposure to adult emotions she is ill equipped to comprehend and the end of her childhood. To her sister Cecilia, it is the realisation of her feelings towards her childhood friend Robbie Turner; and to Robbie it is both the arousal of his feelings for Cecilia and his intense anticipation at the promising future spread out before him. It is this eager, youthful expectation which makes the "crime" committed by Briony all the more unjust.
The crime of which Briony spends the next half of her book, in fact her whole life, attempting to atone for is the culmination of the events of this sultry summer's day. Briony witnesses a scene between Cecilia which she misconstrues and her 13 year old imagination creates a monster in Robbie, a threat the family, compounded by an innocent mistake of Robbie's which sees an explicit letter, never meant to be sent, being read by Briony.
Without spoiling the plot, the crime is a case of mistaken identity, as a result of Briony's naivety. She convinces herself she has seen something which then goes onto destroy the lives of Robbie and Cecilia. She does a terrible thing, but as a reader you can understand who she reached her conclusion, even if you can't empathise with the character.
The second half of the book deftly describes the horrors and futility of war. Briony, no longer a precocious 13 year old, is an 18 year old probationary nurse at St Thomas' Hospital in London, where through nursing the war wounded she attempts to do penance for the crimes of her youth.
The question is - does she achieve the atonement she desires? Perhaps. But with a bittersweet edge to it. Again, not wanting to spoil the plot, she also receives suitable retribution through a disease which will ultimately ravage the very thing which both made her fortune as a novelist, but also damaged so many lives.
The book within the book is very clever, and the review within the review, where McEwan writes a critique of Briony's writing, is genius. Atonement is a beautifully written modern classic and I would highly recommend it.
Extremely hard going, but... April 6, 2008
My 13 year old daughters opinion on the book:
This book was very difficult to begin with- and its very slow. However, once you get to the 2nd part ( its divided into 4), IT GETS BRILLIANT. However, I must admit, I only read it because of the film. If I hadnt seen the film beforehand, then this book would have been tossed aside.
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