My Rating: 4 stars
I know I'm majorly late to the party with this one, reading it 20+ years after it was published, but better late than never, right? I've actually had this one on my shelf for years, but never got around to reading it until recently, when one of my classes decided to choose this "modern classic" as one of the novels we would be studying. Since so many people have read this one and already know what it's about, I will forego mentioning anything about the plot and just focus on how I felt reading this.
My first reaction after finishing this one is that Ian McEwan is a masterful writer and magnificent storyteller. The summary on the back cover uses the word "symphonic" to describe this book, which I feel is perfect, as the way this was written indeed reminded me of a symphony or concert, with prose that was simultaneously lyrical and rhythmic, moving the story along slowly at first, then increasing in intensity until it reached its final crescendo. (I think the fact that I read this book essentially all in one sitting made it feel especially symphonic). From an emotional perspective, this was also a roller coaster ride where I experienced a range of emotions from frustration to anger to sadness to relief (and yes, outrage that made me want to throw the book across the room at one point). As it was for many others who read this book before me, the source of most of the anguish towards the story was of course Briony (as well as 2 other characters) and the "crime" that is brought about, which irrevocably changes everyone's lives. I will be honest in saying that I despised Briony from the beginning (a feeling that, unfortunately, doesn't change by the end of the story). I know some may dismiss what she did as being the "naive innocence" of a precocious thirteen-year-old child with a wild imagination who had been too sheltered and coddled to the point of not being able to separate fantasy from reality — a sentiment that, in a sense, is not untrue, but doesn't really fly in my book because 1) to me, 13 is still adolescence, but not THAT young in the sense of not being able to tell right from wrong (plus the way Briony's character was written, she came across as mature for her age) and 2) being "still a child" shouldn't be an excuse for destroying innocent people's lives. Personally, I also found it difficult to have much sympathy for her given her motives (while it's true that she didn't act with deliberate malicious intent, there was definitely jealousy at play, not to mention that I also found her smug, self-serving attitude quite disturbing)…and of course, the ending "sealed the deal" for me in this regard.
Speaking of the ending — I definitely fall into the camp that didn't like the ending, mostly because I found it deeply unsatisfying. For me, the accountability factor (i.e.: whether characters who do bad things get their comeuppance) is significant in a story like this one (after all, the title of the novel IS Atonement) and while I agree that not always having things resolved and tied up nicely in a bow is a reflection of how things work in real life (yes, I know life is often messy and unfair), I feel that with certain stories (especially tragic and heartbreaking ones that aren't historical in nature), I would rather have a satisfying ending than a realistic one. A question that came to mind as I was gathering my thoughts for this review was whether the "atonement" that took place was appropriate given the circumstances (I'm still debating this in my head).
Anyway, I definitely liked this one overall (though I didn't love it, which is why I didn't rate it 5 stars) and despite how I may feel about the characters as well as the ending, the masterful writing in and of itself made this a worthwhile read. Also, the other important thing for me is that not all the characters were horrible in that I did have characters I was able to root for (Robbie and Cecilia specifically), which is what sustained my interest through to the end (otherwise, I probably would've DNF'ed at part 3 given how much I disliked Briony — which, thinking about it now, I have to say that the way McEwan structured the book is actually quite brilliant). I know McEwan has an extensive backlist, which hopefully I'll get the chance to explore further at some point.
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