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&#... (show more)
Reviews (3,857)
I have not read such beautifully written sentences in ages! Ian McEwan writes stupendously about the reality of subjective perception and the inaccessibility of consciousness, all without sacrificing even the smallest crumb of style. Bad grammar and incomplete sentences are so ubiquitous they have become normative and I am as guilty as anybody, but this prose is a master wedding of form and function. The film is great but the book is much richer. Please read it for the textual grace and the incisive psychological exploration of twentieth-century minds.
Amazing how a parallax view can ruin lives ... I listened to this book on my commute -- and the tone and the feelings evoked stayed with me
This is a true testament of the power of words, and their impotence at the same time. The atonement Briony seeks for her act through words somehow never really comes, and yet the process of this atonement is so captivating. And, for once, a movie has done true justice to a novel.
I really enjoyed this book - although I know a lot of people think nothing happens. The film is also very beautiful
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