Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Atonement - Ian McEwan

This book has been described as "a symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness [which] provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the provocation we have come to expect from this master of English prose."

On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment's flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia's childhood friend. But Briony's incomplete grasp of adult motives - together with her precocious literary gifts - brings about a crime that will change all of their lives. Atonement follows that crime's repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century.

I can't wait to find out if this book lives up to its amazing hype. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 13 January. See you then!

4 comments:

katherine h said...

I thought that I had better get started, after last month's slack effort...but I did not realise it was an Ian McEwan novel...I am just not an Ian McEwan fan (sigh).

Naomi said...

After On Chesil Beach I thought that I wasn't either ... but I think maybe I'm coming around to Atonement.

I didn't like it the first time I read it, but now I know the ending I'm sort of interested in the beginning. Maybe the whole book should have been written as a flashback?

katherine h said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
katherine h said...

It started out a bit like a game of Cluedo, didn't it? I was wondering if I should be keeping track of who was in the library, the drawing room, the garden...then I skipped to the end, and now I have to go back and read the middle. Which is what happened in the last Ian McEwan novel I read. Perhaps he writes them in the wrong order??