Atonement

A person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn and not easily mended.
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Title: Atonement
Author: Ian McEwan
First Published: 2001
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars (average rating on Goodreads: 3.80)

I would recommend this book to: Readers who appreciate excellent writing and unforgettable stories.

The Beginning: The play – for which Briony had designed the posters, programmes and tickets, constructed the sales booth out of a folding screen tipped on its side, and lined the collection box in red crêpe paper – was written by her in a two-day tempest of composition, causing her to miss a breakfast and a lunch.

This book is very special. I find it hard to describe it and what it was that made it so amazing. I think it was clever beyond my ability to either explain or understand. A true masterpiece.

It is quite impossible these days to assume anything about people’s educational level from the way they talk or dress or from their taste in music. Safest to treat everyone you meet as a distinguished intellectual.

First of all, the plot is brilliantly thought out. 13 year-old Briony witnesses a scene between her older sister and her childhood friend. Being very imaginative, she misunderstands the situation and, later, makes an accusation that will change the lives of all the characters.

Ian McEwan really knows how to write characters, making them seem so real. In this book, I felt I’d known them for years, known their dark sides and annoying little habits, after just a few pages. McEwan is the master of creating characters like these and he keeps amazing me.

Cecilia wondered, as she sometimes did when she met a man for the first time, if this was the one she was going to marry, and whether it was this particular moment she would remember for the rest of her life – with gratitude, or profound and particular regret.

Last, but definitely not least, we have the writing. Beautiful and very descriptive. He can use pages describing something, but it never gets dull! He does it to make the readers see the nuances, and it is served to us beautifully. I already long for my next Ian McEwan book – so much that I dreamed last night that I started reading one!

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4 thoughts on “Atonement

  1. “Atonement” er en af mine yndlingsbøger, jeg forsvandt fuldstændig ind i McEwans univers, da jeg læste den for nogle år siden, den er simpelthen intet mindre end fantastisk. Jeg er også helt vild med hans karakterer, han er virkelig dygtig!

  2. Det er sådan en god bog! Jeg er glad for, at du nød den så meget. Det er svært at sætte en finger på, hvad det er som gør, at den er så god. Måske er det dens tema og kærlighedshistorie, der så fint flettes sammen til et ubrydeligt net? Jeg ved det ikke, men god er den i hvert fald, og lige så er din anmeldelse.

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