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 enlarge | Author: Ian Mcewan
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.50
You Save: $7.49 (94%)
New (71) Used (98) from $0.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  757 reviews
Sales Rank: 2046
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0307388840
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780307388841
ASIN: 0307388840
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Loved it! August 23, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I almost gave this novel 4 stars, because there was a point at the near-end where I didn't like where the author was going. But in the last pages, he redeemed himself, and I see why it *had* to be told the way it was.
That being said, I loved Atonement. It is one of the best books I've read in years. Robbie and Cecilia's fiery love made me catch my breath, and I know this is a book that will leave me thinking for days.
 Contrived and predictable August 18, 2008
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
What an overrated piece of soap-operatic junk! I can't recall when I was so disappointed in a book. With all the accolades, I was expecting something really special (tho' I should know better by now, as commercial/popular success seems these days to be inversely related to quality). While the prose itself is nice, the entire book hangs on an event that occurs early on and is so contrived and unbelievable, with an outcome that is so predictable, that it was difficult for me to keep reading -- and the only reason I did keep reading was because I kept hoping it would get better, that an intelligent and complex structure would ultimately emerge to justify the contrivance and its predictability -- but alas, it never does. I can't get into specifics without giving away details that shouldn't be revealed to those who still want to read this trash, but if you're looking for an intelligent read with some substance and honesty, DON'T read this book!!
My favorite book... ever. August 9, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I first picked this book up about 6 or 7 years ago, read it over the course of 4 nights and immediately read it all over again. I laughed. I cried. I got excited/scared/happy/hopeful/devastated/etc. as the story went.
My favorite thing about Atonement is that the story is one I have never read before. It's so refreshing after reading hundreds of books I find that so many follow the same base plots, and while they can still be good, this book transcended any I had read before, and any I have read after.
My hands-down favorite. I've read it 4 times now as well as anything else by Ian McEwan I could find.
 So-So August 6, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
Yes, Ian McEwan writes beautifully. Yes, I actully liked the last section of the novel where as a reader, I understood more about Briony. But the novel felt sluggish, and the characters seemed shallow. I just never connected, which was a disappointment. It seemed on the surface to have all of the elements I usually enjoy.
A Writer Learns About Life August 3, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
There are so many reviews of this book already that I am loathe to add more redundant verbiage to the pile. So I'll just say that this is my third Ian McEwan novel (having read "On Chesil Beach" and "Saturday" before I read this one), and I must say that he is now one of my favorite writers. This book functions on so many levels and in the end is really as much about the craft of writing as anything else. We first meet Briony, who is really the protagonist, as a young adolescent, and we see into her young mind and heart, and understand, before she does, the disaster that her overactive imagination will cause in the lives of her friends and family. She is precocious and thoughtful, but she is young and fails to understand that she is wrong, in so many ways, about what she sees before her own eyes. Her emotions and her imagination get the better of her and although she ultimately realizes the mistake she made and seeks atonement for it, she has nonetheless changed forever the lives of her Cecilia, her sister, and of Robbie, the young man with a promising future whose mother works for the Tallis family. Ironically, though, it is her imagination that will serve her well as a novelist. The book flows through personal lives, society, as well as world history and moves from mid-20th century to the end of the century. A good deal of ground to cover, but McEwan does it well, I think. The characters are interesting and real and the story is compelling.
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