Atonement

Title: Atonement
Author: Ian McEwan
Published: 2001 originally, this ed. 2002 by Vintage.
Genre: Family drama
Pages: 372




I'd been wanting to see the movie made of this book for a good, long while, and then it just happened to be on the telly when I was visiting my parents last summer, and I finally did see it. And then I wanted to finally read it, as well. And I finally did. And I'm glad I did, both, as I really enjoyed. Both.


On the hottest day of the summer, 13-year old Briony, frustrated by her ailing play in the honor of her big brother, sees something she's still unable to understand between two adults, and draws her own conclusions. Aaand acts upon them, causing some shit.


Okay, I've started a new paragraph three times now and have become stumped. What to say about this book? For one, I really should have read it in longer bits. As it is, I read the first half or so at lunch breaks at work, which meant that just as I was getting into the book, I had to go back to work. A few train trips got me deeper into the story, and even though I'd seen the movie, which is a very faithful adaptation, as far as I can remember anyway, I was pretty hooked. And touched. The book takes the reader deep into the thoughts and actions of the main players, both during the initial incident and through its consequences. I'm trying not to give out any spoilers. But, for a good, depressing time, read the book or see the movie!




"Briony leaned back against a wall and stared unseeingly down the nursery's length. It was a temptation for her to be magical and dramatic, and to regard what she had witnessed as a tableau mounted for her alone, a special moral for her wrapped in a mystery. But she knew very well that if she had not stood when she did, the scene would still have happened, for it was not about her at all. Only chance had brought her to the window. This was not a fairy tale, this was the real, the adult world in which frogs did not address princesses, and the only messages were the ones that people sent."