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First, I will say this is overrated to be on TIME mag's list of the top 100 novels of all time. I feel like McEwan has better novels in him even, though I haven't read them. (Here's hoping Enduring Love is amazing when I get to it.)
It doesn't achieve liftoff so speedily, that's sure. The first third of the novel almost made me sick. As in, can these privileged offspring (chiefly Cecilia and Briony) whine any more? And can these young and old adults sit around in the summer heat and sip cocktails and complain any more in their so-horrible silver-spoon lives? Ugh. (Disclosure: I write this as I watch the Olympics in my air-conditioned apartment while sipping chilled red wine. Hypocritical much?)
Then the middle third revolving around Robbie Turner's wartime experiences happens. It's gripping, flooring WWII stuff. The British troops are about to lose France to the Nazis, and London's bracing for the Blitz. You nearly want to roll into a ball and sleep it away. Obviously McEwan did his research, as evidenced in the acknowledgments at back.
The romance between Robbie and Cecilia is convincing and heartrending. There is a consummation, a misunderstanding, a betrayal, a crime, a cover-up, and an apology. All these things don't necessary involve them, at least not directly. (Though it may seem confusing, that's one reason for the title, Atonement.)
There is not really a forgiveness to be found here. McEwan's behind-the-eyes depiction of 13-year-old sister Briony is sometimes astounding. Perhaps her life is most tragic among all the unfortunate persons and events here. The last third of the book about her wartime nursing occupation is likewise persuasive. (McEwan was accused a couple years ago of plagiarism for some phrases seemingly lifted from a WWII nurse's memoir - a memoir he acknowledged - but the majority of the literati stood up for him.)
The "present-day 1999" epilogue seems a bit tagged on and doesn't quite finish with a flourish. I wanted more, if not better, for and from these people and their stories. A certain point about the way this book was written, or the perspective it was written from, is revealed late in the book, and it makes one feel manipulated. The main source for that manipulation charge is that one crucial aspect of the story has been tilted on its side; I soured to this novel when that was revealed for what truly happened.
It doesn't achieve liftoff so speedily, that's sure. The first third of the novel almost made me sick. As in, can these privileged offspring (chiefly Cecilia and Briony) whine any more? And can these young and old adults sit around in the summer heat and sip cocktails and complain any more in their so-horrible silver-spoon lives? Ugh. (Disclosure: I write this as I watch the Olympics in my air-conditioned apartment while sipping chilled red wine. Hypocritical much?)
Then the middle third revolving around Robbie Turner's wartime experiences happens. It's gripping, flooring WWII stuff. The British troops are about to lose France to the Nazis, and London's bracing for the Blitz. You nearly want to roll into a ball and sleep it away. Obviously McEwan did his research, as evidenced in the acknowledgments at back.
The romance between Robbie and Cecilia is convincing and heartrending. There is a consummation, a misunderstanding, a betrayal, a crime, a cover-up, and an apology. All these things don't necessary involve them, at least not directly. (Though it may seem confusing, that's one reason for the title, Atonement.)
There is not really a forgiveness to be found here. McEwan's behind-the-eyes depiction of 13-year-old sister Briony is sometimes astounding. Perhaps her life is most tragic among all the unfortunate persons and events here. The last third of the book about her wartime nursing occupation is likewise persuasive. (McEwan was accused a couple years ago of plagiarism for some phrases seemingly lifted from a WWII nurse's memoir - a memoir he acknowledged - but the majority of the literati stood up for him.)
The "present-day 1999" epilogue seems a bit tagged on and doesn't quite finish with a flourish. I wanted more, if not better, for and from these people and their stories. A certain point about the way this book was written, or the perspective it was written from, is revealed late in the book, and it makes one feel manipulated. The main source for that manipulation charge is that one crucial aspect of the story has been tilted on its side; I soured to this novel when that was revealed for what truly happened.