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Atonement: A Novel
List Price: $14.95Our Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780385721790
ISBN: 038572179X
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: February 25, 2003
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: February 25, 2003
Studio: Anchor
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Editorial Review:
Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-nominated Atonement is his first novel since Amsterdam took home the prize in 1998. But while Amsterdam was a slim, sleek piece, Atonement is a more sturdy, more ambitious work, allowing McEwan more room to play, think, and experiment.
We meet 13-year-old Briony Tallis in the summer of 1935, as she attempts to stage a production of her new drama "The Trials of Arabella" to welcome home her older, idolized brother Leon. But she soon discovers that her cousins, the glamorous Lola and the twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, aren't up to the task, and directorial ambitions are abandoned as more interesting prospects of preoccupation come onto the scene. The charlady's son, Robbie Turner, appears to be forcing Briony's sister Cecilia to strip in the fountain and sends her obscene letters; Leon has brought home a dim chocolate magnate keen for a war to promote his new "Army Ammo" chocolate bar; and upstairs, Briony's migraine-stricken mother Emily keeps tabs on the house from her bed. Soon, secrets emerge that change the lives of everyone present....
The interwar, upper-middle-class setting of the book's long, masterfully sustained opening section might recall Virginia Woolf or Henry Green, but as we move forward--eventually to the turn of the 21st century--the novel's central concerns emerge, and McEwan's voice becomes clear, even personal. For at heart, Atonement is about the pleasures, pains, and dangers of writing, and perhaps even more, about the challenge of controlling what readers make of your writing. McEwan shouldn't have any doubts about readers of Atonement: this is a thoughtful, provocative, and at times moving book that will have readers applauding. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk
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 a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives–together with her precocious literary gifts–brings about a crime that will change all their lives. As it follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Stunning Historical Fiction
This book left me reeling in awe. Essentially three novellas tied together by the two main characters (lovers who come of age in pre-WWII England), it spans 70 years in an intricate manner that propels the plot forward.
A slow start will lead to a rich reward for those who have the patience. The movie Atonement (HD DVD and DVD Combo) [HD DVD] is a less-than-perfect adaptation and doesn't come close to capturing the majesty of the book.
Rating: - love, rape, lies, war, injury and redemption
All right, here are reasons to read, or not read, Atonement, depending on what your preferences are. The bad news first.
What you may not like:
1. While Ian McEwan does wonderful things with imagery (see below), it becomes a bit much at times, especially when he is detailing landscapes.
2. If you are not one who enjoys reading a novel that takes place on the battlefront, beware. About eighty pages center around a character's (who is a soldier) trek through France as it ... Read More
Rating:  - Atonement
One of THE most boring books I have ever read. Yes, the descriptions are lovely, yes the atmosphere is "lush." But there is virtually no action, and when something actually happens it is so stifled in pretentious adjectives that it is difficult to discern what has actually gone on.
A total waste of time. I hope the movie is better.
Rating: - works better as a movie
I have read many of Ian McEwan's books, and enjoyed them all. Amsterdam and Saturday are both riveting character studies. However, I was a bit disappointed in Atonement the book, although I truly enjoyed Atonement the movie. For instance, not much happens in the beginning of Atonement, which opens with a long description of a wealthy English home. But in the movie we see all of the things that are described in such detail in the book. Once the story gets started, though, the tale is even more moving ... Read More
Rating: - Which to experience first....
Should you read the book first or watch the movie?
Really, you could choose either. I read the book before seeing the movie, and it was one of the best reading experiences I've ever had. The prose is lush but not overdone, the characters finely drawn, and the plot leaves nothing to be desired. I'd never read a McEwan book before, and now I'm a bit skeptical that any of his other books could even come close to this brilliant work.
As for the film: it, too is lush and brilliant ... Read More
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