7.01k reviews for:

Atonement

Ian McEwan

3.92 AVERAGE

blacknessreads's review against another edition

5.0

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ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan is a British novel first published in 2001 and adapted into a movie in 2007.

The book is set in three time periods: 1935 England, the Second World War, and present-day England. It talks about Briony ( an upper-class girl) who made a mistake that ended up ruining the lives of the people around her ( mainly her sister Cicilia and the family housekeeper's son Robbie )

I don't want to spoil anything for you, but let me tell you that this book broke my heart into pieces. I saw the movie a long time ago, and I didn't have the opportunity to read the book, or the 9th. I realised how good the movie was in living up to the books. I have seen some book reviews on this book who found i a little bit slow paced at the beginning, but fortunately for me it was not the case.This might be an exception but I i recommend watching the movie before.

I gave this book five stars ,the writing style was soooooo good, so poetic. It was one of the few books that I wanted to highlight a lot of passages just because they felt like a song ( idk if that makes any sense, but yh that's how I felt)

I loved the characters ( not you, Briony, I hate you even though you were thirteen (insert the clip where Robbie shouts at her).
The main moral of this novel for me was " subjectivity may lead to misinterpretation, therefore it will prevent you from seeing the truth the way it is)

maya_gempler's review against another edition

2.0

emotional tense slow-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mishasw's review against another edition

4.0

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A very classic novel novel. No weird components, clean and elegant style. Great concept and really nice first and second third. Honestly my main gripe is that I'm not sure that Atonement was possible here, especially in the way that it happens. Sad. Middle third is similar to, but not nearly as good as, All for Nothing.

johannafrederieke's review against another edition

3.0

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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zwischen drin fesselnd, aber hat mich nicht so umgehauen, ist halt eine kleine schnulze 

unmas4's review against another edition

5.0

hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sheenabiscuitreads's review against another edition

4.75

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

angeliki_pa's review against another edition

4.5

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

skossen's review against another edition

3.0

medium-paced

freyabebe's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

alyssag26's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes