Atonement

A Novel

Paperback, 351 pages

English language

Published March 6, 2003 by Anchor Books.

OCLC Number:
892597350

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Ian McEwan’s symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the provocation we have come to expect from this master of English prose.

On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses the flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives and her precocious imagination bring about a crime that will change all their lives, a crime whose repercussions Atonement follows through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century.

(back cover)

68 editions

The Weight of a Single Moment

As those who follow this account know well, I'm a sucker for beautiful writing and willing to excuse almost anything else. This book has its moments, and it is a beautifully crafted story, but for my taste, it's just too slow and too quiet. I get what Ian McEwan was trying to do; still, I found it hard to maintain interest. What I did love was the introspection and how the characters are defined by a single pivotal moment and everything that follows. In hindsight, we all have moments like that - turning points that define how we understand our lives.

Subjects

  • Country life
  • Guilt
  • Teenage girls
  • Sisters
  • Ex-convicts
  • Fiction