Atonement

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Jill Tanner

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Critics Circle, Fiction, 2003

In Atonement, three children lose their innocence, as the sweltering summer heat bears down on the hottest day in 1935, and their lives are changed forever. Cecilia Tallis is of England's priviledged class; Robbie Turner is the housekeeper's son. In their moment of intimate surrender, they are interrupted by Cecilia's hyperimaginative and scheming 13-year-old sister, Briony. And as chaos consumes the family, Briony commits a crime, the guilt of which she shall carry throughout her life.

©2001 Ian McEwan (P)2003 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award Finalist, Adult Fiction, 2003

"A tour de force. Every bit as affecting as it is gripping." (The New York Times)
"Enthralling...With psychological insight and a command of sensual and historical detail, Mr. McEwan creates an absorbing fictional world." (The Wall Street Journal)
"A beautiful and majestic fictional panorama." (The New Yorker)

Slow start, stick with it.

I found the beginning confusing and it helped me to write down characters names and roles.
The storyline evolved slowly and I found the narrator's voice initially grating.
if this is you too, please stick with this beautifully crafted story, that unfolds and flows lyrically to a telling conclusion.
I felt a sadness for the lost opportunities suffered matched only by my sadness of reaching the end of the narrative.
This is one book I will listen to again for the nuances.

Wonderful

I’ll admit this is one of my favorite movies. I delayed reading the book. But now I am so glad that I did. It helps clarify the movie and honestly the book made me cry too. Masterfully written and presented.

Wonderful

Great read the writer takes you and let’s you feel the characters sad or happy. Livable

Worth the trouble in the end...

Any additional comments?

I am a frequent audiobook reader and rarely do I find I just can't take the tedium any more and put it down. This book was assigned to my high school senior's literature class and I like to read the same books so we can intelligently discuss them. I put this book away twice in the first ten chapters before I finally mustered the drive to press on.

Chapter 10 is about when things start to happen. In the first part of this book you literally listen for hours and NOTHING happens. We get a description of a 10 year old's daydream, a description of the wallpaper, what the landscape vista looks like, etc. Patience pays off however, and by the time part II starts you start to really care about the characters.

This is basically a 3 part book with an epilogue. The second part gives a vivid description of the early British army in WWII, and part 3 the life of a young nurse in London just before the Dunkirk evacuation. I found the descriptions in these parts to be fascinating. It was almost as if the reader was there.

The epilogue brings it home with the big picture of the whole story. Different reviewers take away different ideas but my thought was how much our lives and the guilt we carry forward our whole lives can rest on the poor decisions made in childhood and our youth. It's a great theme for young people to consider. We never know how even the smallest decision in youth can have a profound effect on our whole lives.

The reader had just the right cadence and accent. Overall, I would recommend this one only for those who don't mind a slowly developing plot and big ideas to consider in the end.

The best book ever!

For me its like Margaret Mitchell, Jane Austen and Ian McEwan all got together to write this awsome tale. I was mesmerized. I can't wait to see the movie and although the review for it are good, I cannot see how they could encompass all the book into a 2 hour movie. I'm glad I LISTENED to the book instead of reading it as I probably would've skipped the WWII parts which are so essential to the story. Beautifully written and beautifully read.

very good story, well told w/ excellent narrater

I love the writing style and the characters were very believable. I also read Ian MCEwan's novel Saturday and enjoyed it very much.

A dazzling book and a dazzling performane

Is there such a thing as a perfect novel? This one proves the answer Yes! Narrator keeps up the pace and doesn't overly dramatize .

A grim story filled with grey

this book was something that left me feeling conflicted, it has some excellent descriptive language and character development, but the story itself is quite grim and bittersweet and shows the kind of misery that can be caused by a seemingly careless act taken out of ignorance. A good read, but not an uplifting one

Unbelievably Good

Deserving of every good review and word of praise. The narrator is pleasant to listen to and adds even more humanity to the story.

Loved it!

My favorite narration so far since joining Audible in October. The story is beautiful and tragic. For someone who's not that interested in details of war, I was still able to keep up during Robbies bits. The narrator is brilliant; never annoying, or overacting, just brilliant clear rhythmic speech. I want to read the book and then come back to this and listen again. I recommend if you like romance, history, and mysterious melodrama.