Đọc lần 3: tháng 11/2023, lần đọc lại này mình lại ấn tượng với chương cuối nhất, nói về quan điểm nghệ thuật của Briony (hay của chính Ian McEwan) về cái khả năng chữa lành chuộc tội của văn chương và trí tưởng tượng, nhà văn có thể tạo ra cái thế giới câu chuyện của riêng mình mà trong đó họ có quyền định đoạt số phận của các nhân vật bất chấp thực tế như thế nào, và một khi tác phẩm sống lâu hơn nhà văn hoặc những nhân vật tạo cảm hứng cho cuốn sách đó thì điều thực sự diễn ra với mọi người lại chính là điều được viết trong sách, và từ đó nhà văn, cũng như Chúa trời, đã biến những điều bất khả thành có thể.
Bên cạnh đó thì nhiều người không thích cuốn này vì nhịp điệu chậm rãi, chi tiết quá thì mình ngược lại, mình rất thích cái không khí nhẩn nhơ mà nặng nề Ian McEwan tạo nên trong nửa đầu của cuốn sách, khi ông sắp xếp mọi thứ với sự điềm tĩnh đến mức khó chịu - đặc biệt với độc giả đọc lại như mình, nghĩa là đã biết trước điều gì sẽ diễn ra - nhưng lại có sự quyến rũ với cái không khi đặc quánh những tâm lý, suy nghĩ phức tạp không thể giải bày.

Đọc lần 2: tháng 6/2018, vẫn cảm giác buồn đến vỡ tim. Dẫu đã biết trước cái kết, dẫu những lời nói đã thốt ra thì sẽ không thể vãn hồi.
Cái nắm tay ngập ngừng nhưng đầy khao khát trong quán cà phê đông đúc, con ruồi bị mắc kẹt vo ve trên bậu cửa sổ giữa cái nắng thiêu đốt của mùa hè, cái chạm dịu dàng đầy thương mến vào mặt nước trước đây vừa mới xao động - những cảnh tượng ấy vẫn đủ sức ám ảnh, rút cạn tâm hồn và thiêu đốt tâm can mỗi khi nhớ lại.

A book that had me thinking about the story for days on end. Part One was very slow and I actually found it boring. The story begins in 1935 and focuses on a 13 year old girl, Briony who believes she witnesses something "sinister" between her older sister Cecilia and the housekeeper's son Robbie. The story continues with Briony's accusation and the ramifications it brings to Robbie's and Cecilia's lives and ultimately her own. I really enjoyed the second and third part of the novel when Robbie went off to war and Briony became a nurse. The ending was poignant yet fitting.

This is the first book I've read by this guy, and I really enjoyed it. You know who I'd recommend this book to, but I don't think it'd fit in that little box up there? Okay, you know how sometimes you're craving a certain kind of musical style, like sixties soul, say, or classic British punk, but you don't actually want to listen to old music, you want to listen to something that's, like, of the now? There're a few (okay, not many) bands out there that don't just do hollow retro imitations, but sort of take what they love from the classics, and somehow make that new and fresh and appropriate to our time. I'd say this book is like that: it's the perfect thing if you're after an exquisitely written modernist novel, only you don't actually want to get into the musty old canon, and would like something new. Honestly, I think this actually works better with fiction than with music.... In any case, this guy can sure put together a sentence, let me tell you! Beautiful, beautiful sentences. They made me a little ashamed of myself. Actually, they made me a lot ashamed, but I was enjoying it so much that I didn't feel bad.

I'm a little hesitant about putting this in my book report, because I really do recommend this book and I'd like you to read it, but I have to say that I did find the last chapter hugely disappointing. It did have one instant where it went a ways toward redeeming itself at the end, but on the whole it was kind of like.... I don't know. It didn't ruin the book or anything, but it made me feel like Ian McEwan might be something slightly less than the incredible, sublime sentence-crafting god I'd been picturing him as. I mean, I guess he looks pretty ordinary on the back photo, which should have been a tip-off. Isn't there some culture's artistic tradition that's like that, where they purposely don't finish or add imperfections in their statues, to remind humanity that nothing we make can all that great? Well, the little coda at the end of _Atonement_ kind of hit me like that. To be sure, the author is extremely talented... but he is mortal, like the rest of us.

Yeah, the ending is dumb alright.

Worse than dumb, it's poorly executed. I understand why he felt he needed it, and the impulse was a good one. However, its function should have been accomplished with the grace and style all previous chapters had, and in my opinion it wasn't. It was just off, to me: like a great restaurant with mediocre desserts.

Anyway, it was still a great book. I'm curious if other people agree with me about this, or if I just sound cranky. I was just looking at other Bookster reviews, and everyone else seems to be like, "I didn't really take to this book until I got to the fabulous ending!" So obviously there's no accounting for (everyone else's) taste.

A masterpiece. Review to come.

1,5/5

Czułam, że to nie będzie książka dla mnie. Nie ze względu na fabułę, ale styl autora, który dla mnie jest niepotrzebnie dokładny i momentami chaotyczny.
Kilka minusów:
Beznamiętnie określenie relacji bohaterów i rozwinięcie osobowości tylko kilku z nich.
Niepotrzebne zabiegi cliffhangerowe, przez które nawet sama nie wiedziałam czy powinnam się domyślać tego co jest oczywiste, czy nie.
Nagły obrót sytuacji i przeniesienie nas w wojenny dokument, pełen opisów ran i zapachów tychże ran. Mam wrażenie, że to nie rozwinęło żadnej ścieżki i było po prostu wciśnięte na siłę
Najgorsze z tego wszystkiego było zakończenie, które dla mnie było pozbawione emocji. Aż się cieszyłam, że to był już koniec tego (krótkiego) audiobooka.
Styl autora nie dla mnie, bo pewnie gdybym poznała tę historię w inny sposób (chociażby oglądając wcześniej film) to podobałaby mi się nieco bardziej.
Przepraszam!

What Mr. McEwan gives us here is a story about love and war, yes, but much more than that it is a story about guilt, perception, and story-telling.

I will say that I felt as if this novel had a felling of dooming, damning taint from start to finish. There is an ominous foreboding that hangs over the beautifully orchestrated language. I half-wish there could have been some points to lighten the story, some glimmers of natural joy that wasn't sprung from malice or discomfort, but I guess that's just not that kind of story - in fact I suppose the end of naive, free felicity is somewhat how this story begins. This is a story that stems from the mistakes(?) we can make by being blindly sure of the truth of our perspectives and how a lifetime of guilt and a struggle for penance can follow. It is not a light book, but it is realistic in as far as it explores it's topics.

While the best of this book is built on internal struggles, I think there is also something of class, history, and the creative process that should be thought about. There is a layering of themes, feelings, thoughts, and yes, I am going to say it once more, perspectives, that is mesmerizing. It's a bitter, nuanced pill that as the reader you hate to swallow, but feel obligated to chew and digest all the same; and the aftertaste will linger long afterward.

As for an ending that some question, perhaps even dislike, I think it kind - the best thing an author might be able to do for their 'characters', the one last attempt at some form of atonement.

With this, completing 5 of 339 from The Rory Gilmore Reading List.

5/5 stars

Do you know when people say that you are one person before you began reading a book and a different person after you finished reading that book? Yeah, I felt that with  Atonement.

Once upon a time, there lived a thirteen-year-old girl named Briony Tallis who wished to be a writer someday. While she is working on The Trial of Arabella, she is sent as a messenger to hand over a letter to her sister. On her way, she opens and reads the letter which changes her life forever. THE END.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the book was written by  Ian McEwan. Need I say more? So, yes there is more to the story.  McEwan totally blew me with his splendid writing skills. My fondness for historical fiction is growing day by day. He did a commendable job in portraying how a thirteen-year-old girl's mind works. Briony is innocent. She thinks she knows the difference between right and wrong. As she grows up she slowly develops an understanding of her misinterpretations as a child.

n  'The problem these fifty-nine years has been this: how can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her. In her imagination she has set the limits and terms. No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all. 'n

Written from the third person's POV, there are three parts to the story. Part one dealt more with the detailed interior lives of the members of the family. Part two and three talked about the aftermath and involved more on the World War II side. I felt so emotionally connected to the MC. She is lamenting over her fault. It's so heartbreaking to see what guilt can do to a person.  McEwan gave an emotional experience of watching a character grow and develop.

The writing was flawless. The only issue I could notice was that it moved really slow for the first part. But, I guess that build-up was needed for the richness in the latter half of the story. I immediately went and watched the movie adaptation of Atonement and I must say I liked it. This is my first book by  McEwan and I'm sure I'll seek out others by him.  McEwan, you've got yourself a fan.

Review Posted : 03 Feb 2022.

Visit My Blog to read this and all my other reviews.

What a strange and powerful novel, one that begins its story with a quote from Jane Austen's Northanger Abby.

Why? Because Ms. Austen was the master of comparing the controlled, domestic world of the home with that of the chaotic, spontaneous world of the outside, the unknown.

Mirroring this idea, the self-centered 13-year-old Briony Tallis wonders early in McEwan's story, "Was that really all there was in life, indoors or out?"

Yes, Briony, that's all there really is. Oh, except one more thing. . . the interiors and exteriors of people, too. The reality and the mask. The private and the public. Who we are, versus who people think we are.

Oops, and one more thing. . . "It wasn't only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you."

Okay, so let's get this straight. Life is about the world within and the world without, confusion regarding the perceived "safety" of home and the "threat" of the outside world, and the dangerous assumptions we can make about people and their potentially devastating outcomes.

And what's war? Well, you know that already. War is hell. But isn't it also the biggest metaphor for the "outside world" and all of its worries? Doesn't war also serve to remind you that you're not always safe in your home? Of course! It can threaten your domesticity, render you homeless, and cause you to desire, above all else, the safe return to home.

Ah, home sweet home. But what about that bad stuff that sometimes goes on upstairs with bad people that you thought were good? And how often are our perspectives aligned with the truth?

You won't have any better answers to these questions after reading this book, but you'll have thought a whole lot more about "a wild race of men from a terrible world."

Is it wrong to review a book based on your much more lucid rememberings of the film rather than the actual text itself?

Nah.

Things from the film which were good:
Keira Knightley has a nice green dress. I would like a nice green dress like that. Or to quote Jessi - someone has to get me one of those dresses stat!

James McAvoy looks better in this than he does as Mr Tumnus the faun in Narnia. In Narnia his big wet weepy faun eyes made me want to shoot myself until I got distracted by Tilda Swinton's Amazing Ice Queen costume which was FIERCE. Here he wears a nice neat uniform and probably has averagely hairy legs.

That Briony Tallis kid is the exact right level of annoying.

And now back to the book:
A childish act vengeance after the realisation that a childhood crush will never be fulfilled leads to a series of events which span decades and shape the course of one families existence. Split into four parts, Briony Tallis recounts the story with startling honesty and a clarity which only comes about with adulthood and a loss of innocence. This story is her Atonement.

Tragic, poetic and one of McEwan's books which spans a looser time period.
On Chesil Beach = a few hours
Saturday = 1 day
The Comfort of Strangers = a mini break.

I like books which pivot around a core event which is essentially the pin being pulled out of the handgrenade. One which is so heart stoppingly unchangeable that you know it will haunt the characters for ever. A similar method of "oh-my-god-if-you'd-only-not-done-that-then-we-wouldn't-have-arrived-at-this-tragically-remorseful-place-now" style writing is also employed to good effect in The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor. If you liked this then go and get yourself a copy of The Story of Lucy Gault.

Ho amato questo libro dal primo capitolo all'epilogo finale.
Ho amato lo stile di McEwan, sia per la sua maestria nel descrivere i pensieri di un uomo morente che le giustificazioni di una ragazzina che si nasconde dietro il pretesto di una sorella in pericolo per cercare di non rimanere esclusa dalla vita delle persone che più ama.
Briony, un personaggio così odiato che io ho trovato indiscutibilmente la migliore ragazzina egocentrica e piena di presunzione mai resa protagonista di un romanzo.

I hated this book, and after putting it down, I gained a decided aversion to all things Ian McEwan.

First of all, the writing. Yes, it's beautiful and such. But it's LONG. And BORING. Robbie spends an entire chapter in the bathtub. And nothing happens.

And then--aha! Things start to get rolling. Cecelia and Robbie disappear into the library, Briony walks in on them, Lola gets raped, Briony comes to the wrong conclusion because of her pre-existing fears of Robbie. And away goes Robbie, and the story begins.

My second issue with the story are the characters. Briony is cast as the villain. But shouldn't a twelve-year-old be legitimately creeped out by what Briony learns in the first part of the story? Aren't her suspicions (though not her conclusion) legitimate? I had a hard time feeling sorry for Cee and Robbie because I couldn't see them as victims, but as selfish idiots. And horny ones at that.

And my third, and greatest problem: What happened to Lola. Probably the main reason I had trouble feeling sorry for any of the main characters was because I was stuck on the rape of a young girl. How can I feel agony at Briony's predicament? She sees Lola raped and then spends the rest of her life trying to atone for Cee and Robbie's separation--without ever going back to set things right with her cousin, or to see that Marshall got what he deserved. Cee and Robbie don't seem to care either; they're too fixed on their own broken hearts. Lola gets raped and marries her attacker without knowing it, and the only thing the three main characters care about is that Cee and Robbie didn't finish their shag. Really?

It isn't just the shallowness of the characters that leaves a bad taste in my mouth; it's the fact that McEwan presents that as okay. He doesn't care either. Maybe I could have stomached Atonement if that part of the plot had been different. As it was, Lola and Marshall affected me more than anyone else in the story, and I was never able to get over their subplot, or even bring myself to tolerate the rest of the characters.

Awful book, okay style, author I'll never touch again.

Ah, to be young and bookish and to hate your status as a child… To want to be part of the grown-ups' world, to want to understand their strange actions and their esoteric social codes, which seem so mysterious and sophisticated… As we get older we often realize that none of this is quite as glamorous as we had imagined, and the rear-view mirror of memory can give new meanings to events we thought we understood so well in our youth…

Briony is the youngest child of rather comfortable British family, between the two World Wars. One hot summer afternoon, when cousins and a friend of her older brother Leon's are visiting, a strange series of events will change Briony's life. She will witness a mysterious scene between her older sister Cecilia and their housekeeper's son, Robbie; her thirteen years old eyes will interpret their interaction and the following events very differently from what actually happened and by the end of that day, nothing will ever be the same… From there on, we follow Robbie and Cecilia's story, as they deal with the consequences of Briony's not-so-innocent mistake, and with the young girl's long and excruciating journey for forgiveness.

I am late on the band-wagon, as usual, and this is my first McEwan novel. And now I am kicking myself for not having checked this book out sooner. His prose is lush with gorgeous images and sensations - I found myself reading slower than usual to make the pleasure last a little bit longer. The characterization is amazing, as we get under every character's skin, explore their thoughts, what haunts and motivates them - and it is captivating! McEwan's mastery of language blew me away, as did his use of symbolism and clever narrative structure. A story about a mistake in judgement could never be told from a single point of view, it has to be explored from many angles, and he handled that with incredible skill.

What Briony does is a thoughtless act motivated by a whirlwind of immature feelings: jealousy, a need for attention, wanting to be taken seriously and feel "worldly", the budding fascination (and paradoxical repulsion) with sexuality that every young girl experiences... I've read many reviews that mention how much they hated her and how petty and selfish she was; have these readers ever met thirteen year old girls?! They are generally insufferable precisely because they are at that horribly awkward stage of growing up. Being a little girl doesn't work anymore, but no one treats them like adults either, so they are unpredictable and they act out. I am by no means excusing Briony's spiteful reaction; as the title of the book implies, she will spend the rest of her life paying for her mistake it in guilt and regret. What I am saying is how realistic I think she is; I didn't like her one bit, but I believed in her completely.

I am not a big love story fan, because I think most people can't write them up in any kind of honest and realistic way. Most people write about love-at-first sight or obsessive lust and neither of these things are love the way real people experience it, so I avoid books labeled as romances like the plague. I can count on the fingers of one hand the love stories I actually felt invested in, and Robbie and Cecilia's story is one of them. This is impressive given the fact that they are each other's first and only love, something I am usually very skeptical of. I was very moved by their devotion and how they give each other a reason to carry on in some of history's darkest days. I read the second half of this book with a lump in my throat, wondering what was wrong with me. In the end, I realized that nothing is wrong with me: McEwan is just fucking brilliant.

Cecilia is spoiled, but she turns out to have more character and inner strength than the rest of her family put together. Her faith in Robbie and her unwavering loyalty to him made her one of the greatest romantic heroines I've encountered in literature. As for Robbie, I couldn't help but admire his pride, his resilience and his fair-mindedness. For someone with such a bright and promising future to be disgraced and ruined the way he is would be tragic in and of itself, but the dignity with which he keeps moving and never gives up on his ultimate goal (to "live without shame": what a line!) made me root for him with my whole heart.

The ending made a lot of people angry, apparently, but I loved it. It made the heartbreaking parts of the story even more crushing and while we see that Briony can never really make peace with herself, she gave peace back to those she hurt the only way she could figure out how. I found that incredibly moving. Writing is a form of therapy to many writers: it's a way to talk about the things that linger on your mind without really talking about them exorcise demons, right wrongs and create a better world. This novel made me want to start writing again.

This was a wonderful and rewarding read, a rich mix of Austen, Forster, Waugh and Woolf, and I loved every word of it so much more than I could have anticipated. I saw the movie, and while I often can't stand the sight of Keira Knightley, I do think that she was a perfect Cecilia, and that the movie was a flawless adaptation that perfectly captured the tone of McEwan's writing. 5 very bright stars and a spot of my "favorites" shelf.