A review by iftheshoef1tz
Atonement by Ian McEwan

dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book got better as I went through; the really direct narrative style in the period during World War 2 was much more emotional and pointed than the earlier section. (Except for when McEwan was writing from Robbie’s point of view, less so Cecilia’s). I know that this shift is to match Briony’s age as she keeps trying to write this out to exorcise her biggest crime, but did the first bit have to be SO convoluted?? Also, the enormous, pages-long paragraphs were so tiring on top of the really long sentences. Should’ve chosen one or the other. I thought I would only need to reflect on the movie occasionally, but to be honest, in the first third, I relied on my memory more than the writing a lot, just to get through it. 

Tropes:
Very British ™️
Writing to escape your demons

Quotes:
She was weary of being outdoors, but she was not ready to go in. Was that all there was in life, indoors or out? Wasn’t there somewhere else for people to go? … She would simply wait on the bridge, calm and obstinate, until events, real events, not her own fantasies, rose to her challenge, and dispelled her insignificance. 

When the wounded were screaming, you dreamed of sharing a little house somewhere, of an ordinary life, a family line, connection. All around him men were walking silently with their thoughts, reforming their lives, making resolutions. If I ever get out of this lot…They could never be counted, the dream-up children, mentally conceived on the walk into Dunkirk, and later made flesh. … He would track down his father, or his dead father’s story - either way, he would become his father’s son.

Beyond a certain age, a journey across the city becomes uncomfortably reflective. The address of the dead pile up. 
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