The title of Atonement speaks volumes about what kind of story it wants to tell the reader. A mistake and its eventual repentance, of course. I paid little attention to the novel at first, thinking it would be another boring book I would be forced to slog through by my AP Lit teacher, but in due time I found myself enthralled. Atonement by author Ian McEwan tells the story of 13-year old Briony Tallis, as aspiring playwright growing up in the sleepy British countryside of 1935. After she witnesses her older sister and their family’s servant’s son flirting, she incorrectly makes an assumption that leads to a crime. Thus, our title Atonement. Atonement, at first glance, is a dull novel. The first seventy or so pages are little more than well-dressed prose, but I found myself interested by the end of the first part and frankly quite intrigued by the end of the second. If there’s a thing to complain about within the novel, it’s that our protagonist Briony is, well, thirteen. She’s annoying and self-absorbed, characteristics which contribute to the ‘crime’ she commits and the atonement she’ll hopefully realize. Atonement shifts focus to the Second World War midway through the novels, but continues to develop the characters as we know them, and despite Briony being quite a pest you come to understand and relate with her actions too. Atonement, as said earlier, has really great prose. It strikes an unconventionally strong balance between wordy and descriptive that I cannot properly speak my praise for. Even though the beginning is slow, McEwan’s ability to paint a scene and develop a character’s thoughts are unmatched. The plot supplements this towards the end, and the novel’s closure is bittersweet enough that you’ll probably be thinking about it days later. Atonement was an experience for me, and quite a good one at that. Despite the beginning being rather slow, I came to respect and enjoy it for a wide variety of other reasons. Atonement speaks about childhood, forgiveness, and love in a manner that I don’t think other books can reasonably mirror, and it’s probably my favorite book of this year so far too.
The title of Atonement speaks volumes about what kind of story it wants to tell the reader. A mistake and its eventual repentance, of course. I paid little attention to the novel at first, thinking it would be another boring book I would be forced to slog through by my AP Lit teacher, but in due time I found myself enthralled.
Atonement by author Ian McEwan tells the story of 13-year old Briony Tallis, as aspiring playwright growing up in the sleepy British countryside of 1935. After she witnesses her older sister and their family’s servant’s son flirting, she incorrectly makes an assumption that leads to a crime. Thus, our title Atonement. Atonement, at first glance, is a dull novel. The first seventy or so pages are little more than well-dressed prose, but I found myself interested by the end of the first part and frankly quite intrigued by the end of the second. If there’s a thing to complain about within the novel, it’s that our protagonist Briony is, well, thirteen. She’s annoying and self-absorbed, characteristics which contribute to the ‘crime’ she commits and the atonement she’ll hopefully realize. Atonement shifts focus to the Second World War midway through the novels, but continues to develop the characters as we know them, and despite Briony being quite a pest you come to understand and relate with her actions too.
Atonement, as said earlier, has really great prose. It strikes an unconventionally strong balance between wordy and descriptive that I cannot properly speak my praise for. Even though the beginning is slow, McEwan’s ability to paint a scene and develop a character’s thoughts are unmatched. The plot supplements this towards the end, and the novel’s closure is bittersweet enough that you’ll probably be thinking about it days later.
Atonement was an experience for me, and quite a good one at that. Despite the beginning being rather slow, I came to respect and enjoy it for a wide variety of other reasons. Atonement speaks about childhood, forgiveness, and love in a manner that I don’t think other books can reasonably mirror, and it’s probably my favorite book of this year so far too.