Atonement

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Carole Boyd

Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY

Adapted into a major film starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan.

'A person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn and not easily mended'

On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house.

Watching her too is Robbie Turner who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge. By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have been changed for ever, as Briony commits a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

©2001 Ian McEwan (P)2014 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A magnificent novel." (Independent)

"A superb achievement." (New York Times)

"The best thing he has ever written." (Observer)

What a rich experience with excellent narration.

Pared back writing that is meaty . Ian McEwan plays with time and memory and meaning to sculpt a nutritious story.

Slow start but worth the wait

I found this book hard going to begin with, but once it starts the story is hard to put down. Beautifully written, capturing the emotions and feel of so many views of events. Characters develop so well and feel so real. Thoroughly enjoyed.

You want to read this book!

The book picks up very slowly, but once it does you will not put it down. So trust me when I say you should read it!
I don't want to say much cause then I'll just give you spoilers.

Great, once you get past part one

It doesn't often happen that I cannot WAIT to get past a part of a book. I knew the gist of the story - the lie in part one that leads to lives disrupted and destroyed forever. Part one centers on young Briony, as innocent as she is precocious. This is set - and played out to my mind - as something of a cross between Jane Austen and E.M. Forster. Rich family, in between the wars, sprawling mansion, first-world troubles keeping people mildly busy on a hot weekend when yes - things end in a momentous lie. But this first part of the book, while beautifully written and filled with insight about the various characters, just dragged on and on and on. And, as mentioned, it really was only about that lie that, in effect, is the inciting incident that BEGINS the story. You could have told me about that lie in one single paragraph and I'd have been happy.

The story then moves on and beautifully tells the stories of lives disrupted by the lie and by WWII - those parts are excellent ... there is a twist in a final part of the book that, while interesting from a literary point of view, I could have also done without. So basically, remove part one and the post script and you have something pretty awesome. Mind you, I very much enjoyed what Vanessa Redgrave did with that final part in the film adaptation.

Perfect walk in one's psyche

Came to this book with great expectations and they were fulfilled. not in the way I expected, so that's a wonderfull achievement.