A Book With A Love Triangle

I'm not sure how Atonement got onto my list under this category, for it completely lacks said geometric shape. Instead, it is the tale of a consensual sexual encounter and a rape, told by the precocious, naive thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis who—rather unbelievably—witnesses both events within hours of each other and subsequently wrongfully accuses the man involved in the first act, Robbie Turner, as the perpetrator of the second. Turner winds up in prison on the strength of Briony's unwavering testimony that she "saw him" at the scene, a lie she spends the bulk of the novel determined to correct.

Atonement is the collision of too many coincidences and unfortunate circumstances for my taste, exacerbated by their proximity in time. Briony not only stumbles upon both sexual encounters, but she also witnesses the initial interaction which changes Robbie and her sister Cecilia's relationship from childhood friendship to the rendezvous in the library. Robbie mistakenly sends a sexually explicit letter to Cecilia rather than the anodyne version he intended. Compounding this error is his choice of messenger, none other than the mistrustful, overly inquisitive Briony.

Atonement is a well-written novel but its storyline feels a bit contrived. ( )

I've heard this was great.

Here's what I wrote in 2008 about this read: "Good story of love, amid a child's misunderstanding of truth with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences, including eventually amid war-torn Europe. Glad to have read the book vs. seen the movie (descriptions of movie suggest plot line changed in some significant ways). Recall the vivid description of those hot summer days in the Tallis' home in the English countryside." ( )

I can't stop crying.It's just so sad!


Well,Ian McEwan..you just made me sad..why did you do that.Well,I guess life happens.The books is just beautiful.It touched my heart with all its sadness and beauty and was just wonderful.Cecilia and Robbie's love is just exemplary,a stuff of the myths.I don't know how to explain my feelings towards Briony.I hated for doing what she did but later I didn't know how I feel about her.But I have to say,she is a spineless creature and she admitted that too.

She tried repenting but that was not enough.Overall the book was great but there were some parts that I hated.I didn't even read the second part.It was about war and to me,it was pretty boring.I skipped most of those parts but I had to say I loved the third part and read it with all my concentration.Characters like Luc Cornet,even though small,leaves a mark.I loved all the characters but I hated one,Paul Marshall,that man! and Briony should've opposed the wedding.But,I'm not Briony and I can't control what happens in the story.I just went with it.I was happy with the ending of the third part but then I realized it was a lie!
A LIE!

But Briony gave them their happiness or that is what she said.



Overall,the book was awesome and this review is inadequate and filled with adjectives that mean the same thing!I would recommend this to all the crazy romantics out there and anybody who has the book with them,it is a must read.I don't think I'm going to rad it again but I will cherish it forever.

( )

I read a lot of books in my third year of University. The combination of having very long reading lists, plus a real love for the topic, even though I was working towards a deadline, meant that I did a lot of reading for a lot of classes. One particular class, ‘Contemporary British Fiction’ involved a 60-book long reading list. We weren’t required to read every book on the list, but we were required to read at least 10 of them. I’ve written book reviews for most of the books I read on that list, but there are some left.

I had heard of this book before; a lot of my fellow classmates had read it before me, or had watched the movie. I hadn’t done either before this class, but I did already own the book. I dived into it in preparation for this class and was not disappointed.

Atonement is the story of Briony, a young girl with a talent for writing. Her older sister, Cecilia, and the ground keeper’s son, Robbie, have some kind of romance going on that escalates at the beginning of the novel. Briony, seeing their secret rendezvous, assumes that Robbie forced himself on her and gets him arrested and taken away. The story takes place over several years, following Robbie, Briony and Cecilia as they reconvene, reconcile, and try to make amends for everything that happened during the separation. All this, by the way, happens to the backdrop of World War Two.

The novel explores many different themes which is probably why I like it so much as a story. It looks at the idea of rape and compliance, of truth and reality, of memory and relationships, of war, of childhood innocence, and of accepting the past. As the book goes on, you realize that the story, at the end of the day, is all about Briony trying to come to terms with how she innocently, unknowingly, ruined the life of her sister and her sister’s lover.

What I liked about this novel, which is also what some people hate about this novel, is the ending. I won’t spoil anything, but the ending does change a lot about the story as you think of it. I would highly recommend reading this novel because of how the ending basically gives you a good idea of what storytelling – and atoning for your sins – is all about, which is really what the novel is centered around.

Final rating: 4/5. ( )