Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
On a 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. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives and her precocious imagination bring about a crime that will change all their lives, a crime whose repercussions Atonement follows through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century.

Amazon.com:
Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-nominated Atonement is his first novel since Amsterdam took home the prize in 1998. But while Amsterdam was a slim, sleek piece, Atonement is a more sturdy, more ambitious work, allowing McEwan more room to play, think, and experiment.

We meet 13-year-old Briony Tallis in the summer of 1935, as she attempts to stage a production of her new drama "The Trials of Arabella" to welcome home her older, idolized brother Leon. But she soon discovers that her cousins, the glamorous Lola and the twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, aren't up to the task, and directorial ambitions are abandoned as more interesting prospects of preoccupation come onto the scene. The charlady's son, Robbie Turner, appears to be forcing Briony's sister Cecilia to strip in the fountain and sends her obscene letters; Leon has brought home a dim chocolate magnate keen for a war to promote his new "Army Ammo" chocolate bar; and upstairs, Briony's migraine-stricken mother Emily keeps tabs on the house from her bed. Soon, secrets emerge that change the lives of everyone present....

The interwar, upper-middle-class setting of the book's long, masterfully sustained opening section might recall Virginia Woolf or Henry Green, but as we move forward--eventually to the turn of the 21st century--the novel's central concerns emerge, and McEwan's voice becomes clear, even personal. For at heart, Atonement is about the pleasures, pains, and dangers of writing, and perhaps even more, about the challenge of controlling what readers make of your writing. McEwan shouldn't have any doubts about readers of Atonement: this is a thoughtful, provocative, and at times moving book that will have readers applauding. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk

Rating : - Sweeping, Epic, Sensational
First let me say, I truly loved the story of this book - which as you've probably recognized, was recently made into a film. Given that most readers at this point will be picking up Atonement because of the movie, I think it's fair to do a fair bit of comparison between the two. Both the book & the film play out in similar ways in that they both possess some shining, outstanding moments of brilliance and clarity, but for every four of those there was one moment that needed some polishing, hence my grade of 4/5 stars.

The story starts in the mid 1930's when a thirteen year old girl named Briony, known for being a bit fantastical and in her head, witnesses a series of events one day and misinterprets them to the entirely wrong, adolescent conclusion, and tells a lie that sets off a rapid chain of events that forever change the lives around her - most notably of her older sister Cecilia and her newfound love interest, their longtime childhood friend Robbie. The story follows the path of the lie and its far-reaching consequences through World War 2 up until the end of the 20th century.

Part of me wishes I hadn't seen the movie - given the very unique ending - but a bigger part of me is glad I had, as it made the book a lot easier to read than I suspect it would be for someone who hasn't seen the film. I was amazed at how good the film really was in its adaptation of the book, in terms of keeping in the majority of major dialogue sequences and accurately portraying the scenery as it is described in the book. Most importantly, it really did a great job of capturing what the book was about, the general feeling and sensations you got from the book were translated beautifully on screen.

The one main thing the book did better than the movie was the delivery of the story itself through Briony, especially her thought process as she witnesses the various events early on in the story. The prose itself is quite well written, although (like in the film) it tends to lag a bit and get off track from the core themes during the section set in the fields of WW2. There are excellent themes surrounding redemption and coming of age and lots of complicated moral questions that made the book more enjoyable to read than I had anticipated.

My final note would be that the film did a much better job at revealing its final twist than the book - it was acted in such an outstanding way that you felt the weight of the final revelation that much more, although it was strongly based on the excellent writing of McEwan in these final pages. Recommended for fans of books such as The Kite Runner.