I picked up Atonement because the ads for the movie look good, and I generally try to read the book before seeing the adaptation on screen. So there we were...
At first, I was totally disappointed, and didn't know how I was going to get through the entire thing. The book is written in three sections, and the first part is more or less the literary version of Godsford Park (though now that I think of it, I believe that was its own book). The story was pretty tedious -- Atonement is about a rich British family in the 40s, and their relationships and the falling apart of the clan. I didn't really identify with anyone: the mother, Emily, was cold; Cecilia (Keira Knightly's character) was a strange combination of supercilious and flighty; and the protagonist, Briony, was a spoiled little girl. I felt throughout the first section that it was taking way too long to get to the main event, the crime, the details of which we could more or less anticipate from the book jacket.
But then my feelings completely changed in the second part. Robbie, Cecilia's disgraced love, is packed off to fight in France from his jail cell. I don't know why I suddenly liked this part better, except perhaps that his trek to reach the beaches of Normandy, which is more or less what this section was about, was fascinating. He desperately wanted to reach the beach to get home, to get back to Cecilia, and it carried him -- and me -- along.
By the end, I was hooked, and I have to say, this is one of the saddest books I have ever read. It seems like things are about to reach a decently happy conclusion, and even though there are small signs that that's not how Atonement's really going to end, you want so much for it to. But you begin believe it, and it's even worse when it doesn't come to pass. I suppose it's also that the people who most deserve a happy ending don't get it, and the true criminal goes on to live a long and successful life -- as if there isn't any justice (or poetic justice) in the world. (Or karma, I'm a big believer in that one.) I wish I could pinpoint exactly what McEwan does here, because it's powerful.
So I'd give Atonement two thumbs up, and then some. I'd even give the book as someone to a gift, and my list of gift-books is a pretty short one.
Next up: Falling Out of Fashion, which I've already finished.
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