Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
emotional
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-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:
No
McEwan's writing in this book is pretentious and wordy. It takes him three pages to describe what someone may wear to dinner or how messy a room is. Perhaps some of that effort ought to have been put into character development. The characters are flat and one-dimensional, no back story, no real development, except for (perhaps) Briony recognizing the horror of her sin. The women in the novel are weak and reactive, unable to fight their own battles or break the chains that bind them. Cecily comes closest to this, yet she still comes across as a victim.
The ending is bleak and bitter, and brings us full circle back to the pretentiousness of the writing itself - you poor readers can't handle a sad ending, so I will pat you on the head with a happy(-ish) one.
To be fair, McEwan is excellent at describing the horrors of war and I am almost left wishing that had been the main purpose of the novel - at least then I may not feel like reading this was a colossal waste of time.
The ending is bleak and bitter, and brings us full circle back to the pretentiousness of the writing itself - you poor readers can't handle a sad ending, so I will pat you on the head with a happy(-ish) one.
To be fair, McEwan is excellent at describing the horrors of war and I am almost left wishing that had been the main purpose of the novel - at least then I may not feel like reading this was a colossal waste of time.
Low key, this was my dream book. Really, really good. And yes I’m feeling over sappy over a solid ending , but this is such a compelling read.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
the movie was better and not just because of Kiera Knightly and James McAvoy, although I am literally obsessed with them.