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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It took me a long time to finish this book, but that didn’t lessen the impact of its treacherous ending.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An incredible look at the complex nature of existence and the pain and struggle to make amends for the mistakes of misunderstandings and youth. A tale which follows a rollercoaster of emotional growth, trauma, and guilt, all with the backdrop of the Second World War across it's most compelling moments. Then, once you've experienced this gripping struggle for the main character to clear their conscious, the author exposes the ultimate secret, the fact that atonement was truly impossible for the main character, and that she had to live with the guilt of her actions for the rest of her life.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book does so much and it does it all superbly. The first part has an introspection typical of literary fiction, while the second half has the real grit and bloodiness of World War Two novels. Not to mention it’s all absolutely devastating!!!! Also contains a phenomenal plot twist. This is also one of two books that has made me cry which is just a testament to how fabulous it is.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I HATE BRIONY TALLIS I HATE HER I HATE HER I HATE HER SHE REEKS. YES I KNOW THE REAL MESSAGE IS THAT SHE WAS A CHILD AND THAT SHE DIDNT KNOW BUT I DONT CARE!!! SHE STILL SUCKS IN THE END!!!! but anyway this was very entertaining and i got very mad multiple times reading it so i think the book did a good job of that!
I actually picked this up as an afterthought. I was heading out of my favourite Brisbane bookshop, happy with my purchases, when I spotted a rack of books outside that were 3 for $12. I quickly snapped up Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules and Eldest but was a little stumped for a third. Nothing really grabbed me and after some consideration I settled on Atonement as the best of the remaining bunch. I suppose I was a little hesitant to read it as I already knew the plot, having watched the film many years prior on a Media Studies field trip when I was 17.
I had hoped that with 13 years between me and the film I would have forgotten the salient plot details. Unfortunately I hadn’t but this impediment’s effects were short-lived as the plot gets off the ground pretty quick. One of the narrative techniques that McEwan employs is to refer to the crushing inevitability of the situation and its outcome. He will regularly speak in a voice that is looking back on these events from the future, cluing us in to how things play out before we have seen them fully executed.
As to what these events are, here goes: In 1935 thirteen-year-old Briony witnesses a strange event from her window. Her adult sister Cecilia stands before her childhood friend Robbie, strips off, jumps in a fountain, dresses and walks away; all while he watches. We know that he has accidentally broken a family heirloom, a piece of which has fallen into the fountain. She angrily jumps in to get it, disallowing his help. Without any of this context, Briony is mystified but feels she has witnessed Robbie exerting a strange power over her sister.
In the aftermath, Robbie is deeply affected by this scene. He realises that he has fallen in love and lust with his friend, and while typing up an apology note spontaneously ends it with a lustfully explicit flourish of what he wants to do to her. Of course he never plans to send this note, and of course this is the note that he accidentally puts in the envelope to be delivered to her. He then gives it to Briony to give to her sister, who of course reads it right away. Now convinced that he is a sexual maniac and deviant, she becomes convinced that he is out to do her sister harm. That evening she comes across them having sex in the library (the note went down VERY well with Cecilia) and thinks that he is raping her. Later when her cousin is sexually assaulted in the dark by another man, she convinces herself that it was Robbie, and testifies to that effect, essentially ruining his life and chance to be with Cecilia.
This action follows the characters through their lives into the next phases of the book. In part two Robbie is crossing French countryside to reach Dunkirk and be reunited to an ever-faithful Cecilia, and in part three Briony has come to terms with the mistake she made and its tragic ramifications. The true sadness of this book lies in the fact that Briony’s accusatory lie about Robbie is not malicious. She doesn’t understand these strange interactions between him and her sister, and believes she is protecting Cecilia. The very fact of her innocence in this realm is what will make her guilty of ruining their love and happiness. In the last part of the book we see how what we have read so far is from her own hand, written as an attempt to atone for her mistake.
For a book that I picked up somewhat reluctantly I was very moved by this book. There is such depth of feeling in this story and it is quite ingeniously executed. The fact of having seen the film did not do much to diminish my enjoyment in the end.
I had hoped that with 13 years between me and the film I would have forgotten the salient plot details. Unfortunately I hadn’t but this impediment’s effects were short-lived as the plot gets off the ground pretty quick. One of the narrative techniques that McEwan employs is to refer to the crushing inevitability of the situation and its outcome. He will regularly speak in a voice that is looking back on these events from the future, cluing us in to how things play out before we have seen them fully executed.
As to what these events are, here goes: In 1935 thirteen-year-old Briony witnesses a strange event from her window. Her adult sister Cecilia stands before her childhood friend Robbie, strips off, jumps in a fountain, dresses and walks away; all while he watches. We know that he has accidentally broken a family heirloom, a piece of which has fallen into the fountain. She angrily jumps in to get it, disallowing his help. Without any of this context, Briony is mystified but feels she has witnessed Robbie exerting a strange power over her sister.
In the aftermath, Robbie is deeply affected by this scene. He realises that he has fallen in love and lust with his friend, and while typing up an apology note spontaneously ends it with a lustfully explicit flourish of what he wants to do to her. Of course he never plans to send this note, and of course this is the note that he accidentally puts in the envelope to be delivered to her. He then gives it to Briony to give to her sister, who of course reads it right away. Now convinced that he is a sexual maniac and deviant, she becomes convinced that he is out to do her sister harm. That evening she comes across them having sex in the library (the note went down VERY well with Cecilia) and thinks that he is raping her. Later when her cousin is sexually assaulted in the dark by another man, she convinces herself that it was Robbie, and testifies to that effect, essentially ruining his life and chance to be with Cecilia.
This action follows the characters through their lives into the next phases of the book. In part two Robbie is crossing French countryside to reach Dunkirk and be reunited to an ever-faithful Cecilia, and in part three Briony has come to terms with the mistake she made and its tragic ramifications. The true sadness of this book lies in the fact that Briony’s accusatory lie about Robbie is not malicious. She doesn’t understand these strange interactions between him and her sister, and believes she is protecting Cecilia. The very fact of her innocence in this realm is what will make her guilty of ruining their love and happiness. In the last part of the book we see how what we have read so far is from her own hand, written as an attempt to atone for her mistake.
For a book that I picked up somewhat reluctantly I was very moved by this book. There is such depth of feeling in this story and it is quite ingeniously executed. The fact of having seen the film did not do much to diminish my enjoyment in the end.