read this as an assigned book for literature class, and it got me wondering if literature professors really like everything that they teach, or if they are just straight up lying to our faces.

i think if i haven't seen the movie i’d like it more, as the main intrigue was no longer an intrigue to me. by the way, the movie adaptation is very much accurate to the book, as well as much more vibrant, so better watch it. it also has James McAvoy in it and the book doesn't, so.

the style of the novel is very much postmodernist, as authors tended to write about modern topics with 19th century flow. too many details, thoughts and reasoning, some useless and not particularly relevant things. the book was very tiring, lulling and never once emotionally unloaded me.

1. 1935. the Tallis family estate
the author is trying his best to prove that this Briony just has a huge imagination, floating in the clouds of her own inventions. this is not an excuse for her actions at all. naturally, as an aspiring writer, she observes the people around her. the problem is that Briony not only watches, but also interferes. both openly and secretly. the reason why Briony commits slander is not self-interest or an attempt to attract attention, but rather another nasty motive: I decided that this is how it should be. a king and an executioner.

2. the period of World War II. Robbie at the front
the main plot here is the description of the survival of an individual in the meat grinder of war, and a losing war at that. the Nazi army captures France, the British, who came to the aid of the French, retreat en masse. including Robbie.

the events themselves are cruel and tragic, only it seemed somehow emotionless. horror, fear, anticipation of occupation are described in words, but for me it all remains words. it seems that the narrator himself has no idea what he is talking about. which is funny, considering the fact that postmodernist historiographers thought that authors should not write about history in a fictional way.

3. the period of World War II. Cecilia and Briony
the “sanest” part of the book. the main emphasis in this part is on Briony. she no longer seems to be an egoist or a scoundrel, however i still don't like her at all.

the suffering of soldiers dying from severe wounds is really tragic and disturbing to read. death in a hospital bed is perhaps the only thing that the author described more or less realistically. at least this is the only thing i believed in.

4. nowadays. Briony's 77th birthday
the old lady is celebrating her birthday, and at the same time she tells us that it turns out that we were reading not a Ian McEwan's book, but her debut novel! how sweet. she mumbles something about atoning for a childhood misdeed? mkay. and here i was utterly torn: not only is the novel boring, but also idiotic. Atonement, damn it. she's suffering, you know. turns out that she hasn't learned anything in her entire life: what she did in childhood, she does as a crusty old gooner—pretends to be a god. she was rubbish to me on the first pages and she remained so at 77 years old.

and the last, but not least—in addition to the stupid plot, the author's style was wildly irritating. sharp, abrupt sentences. lifelessness and emotionlessness of words. an attempt to make the reader believe the author's fantasy even when it contradicts his own perception of the situation and description. an incredibly drawn-out introduction.

“Kefaret” tipik bir Ian McEwan romanı, günümüzle geçmişi ustaca bağlayan, bunu çok zekice geçişler yaparak sağlayan, okuması kolay olduğundan sabun köpüğü gibi görünse de ciddi iz bırakan bir kurgu kullanan, tıpkı diğer eserleri gibi keyifle okunan bir roman. İkinci bölümde Dunkirk tahliyesini de içeren savaşlı yıllar oldukça etkileyici. Kafamı yormayan ama gerilimi belirli bir seviyede tutan McEwan romanlarını seviyorum.

I feel that perhaps I have sabotaged this book somewhat as I read it directly after finishing Love In the Time of Cholera, and perhaps in retrospect should have read a poetry book or some non-fiction in between. Clearly anything I would have read after finishing a Masterpiece would pale in comparison but I decided that the critical raves this book had received and high praise from people around me should be enough to encourage me to see it through to the end.

Here is why I found this book lacking without giving too much actual plot away to those who would want to read it themselves.

I found all of the characters completely devoid of any true personality or any reason I should care or feel connected to them. The details described in the book do a lot for physical surroundings but we know nothing of Cecila except she went to college and chain smokes, so I don't particularly care about anything that happens to her, besides the fact that much of her life is lived outside what information the book provides. Briony is a terrible child, a narcissistic teenager, and and at last a harmless grandmother who I don't especially care about at any of these three points in her life. The only character with the least bit of humanity seems to be Robbie who is still somewhat confined to his role as the "victim". All the lovely descriptions of ponds and hospital wards and French war-torn villages could not make up for the fact that none of these characters were the slightest bit interesting to me or seemed to connect to anything. They simply floated through long locational descriptions being powerless to the world around them and unfortunately for me I didn't need 350 pages to get that point. It could have easily been accomplished as a short story or novella. I just kept feeling that the book had all this great detail but didn't focus it on anything that it shoud have.

I know this may sound exceedingly harsh and once again I do chalk some of this up to reading Atonement directly after a much better novel it had no hope in eclipsing or even paralleling in its structure but I also know how quickly and easily I fall in love with characters. How quickly I can get pulled into a good story and I sincerely feel that although I wouldn't call this book a complete waste, that my time would have been much better spent elsewhere.