Atonement by Ian McEwan (2003, Paperback, Reprint)

Occasionally a writer puts together a descriptive passage just so, I don’t want to say “perfect”, but just so sensorially accurate that it makes me cringe in my inability to replicate it. This one is from Ian McEwan's "Atonement":

"Yes. Unable to push her tongue against the word, Briony could only nod, and felt as she did so a sulky thrill of self-annihilating compliance spreading across her skin and ballooning outward from it, darkening the room in throbs. She wanted to leave, she wanted to lie alone, facedown on her bed and savor the vile piquancy of the moment, and go back down the lines of branching consequences to the point before the destruction began. She needed to contemplate with eyes closed the full richness of what she had lost, what she had given away, and to anticipate the new regime."

The book is full of masterstrokes like this. Even if you don't care for the story, you will be blown away with the writing.

Atonement is such a good book, a little hard to understand in the beginning but quite a good book which led to a book movie too.

I bought this book because a Book Club recommended it for discussion. Having read it, I think it's rather obscure for discussion. Frankly I didn't care for the prose or the story and found it a chore to get through.

This was an OK book. Very hard to get started, but once I was able to get started it was average. I read this book for book-club and most of us felt the same way. I did read McEwan's "Saturday" and quite enjoyed that.

I ordered this book a couple of weeks ago. I ordered it and had a email the next day confirming that the book had been shipped. I was pleased with the condition and the book was delivered to me by the beginning of the next week. Overall I was pleased with the seller and the book.

Taderbug893

Couldn't put this one down til I was finished. Very unexpected ending. Make me wish I could reach into the book and smack Brionne right in the face. I really liked his style of writing. The same story, from all the different viewpoints was well done. Just as in real life, things aren't always as they appear. He developed all of his characters well, and you truly felt you knew them and you felt their heartbeak. Want to see the movie now just to compare.

It was a very well-written book that nevertheless let me down. Just when it started to get interesting, it was over. Also, it was very sexually explicit. Maybe you like that kind of thing, but had I not been required to read the book for a lit class, I would have put it aside in disgust.

A hard lesson in life is that our actions, for good or bad, have consequences and that even being truly sorry is not powerful enough to change the consequences. This is the lesson that 11 year old Briany learns as she takes vengeance on an older, good-looking servant in her father's home. Her "crush" on this young man is interfered with by her older sister, who actually falls in love.
Confused by the physical love she does not understand and the pull of her own jealousy, Briany reports what she makes herself believe is an attack on her older cousin. Like ripples in a pond, Briany watches as her lie changes the lives of not only this young man, but almost everyone she loves. As an adult, Briany struggles to make right for this act, to atone, but life, like a rushing stream, has swept her along. The question becomes, can she forgive herself?
McEwan’s characters are truly believable, his settings very descriptive, sometimes painfully so, and his insight into the human heart is delightful and make this story worth reading. There are slow chapters, but mush though it – the ending is worth the trip.

the product is totally new as they said in the description. the service is good. cannot really say anything bad about this seller based on this item - Atonment by Ian McEwan (2003).

I decided to buy this book because I had seen previews of the movie with Keira Knightly and I heard that it was a product of this book. I was very interested in the story and enjoy reading and felt it was a good opportunity to read it before I saw the movie. It has been a great read so far and can't wait to finish it up! I've only had it a few days and I'm almost done! I've had a great experience with eBay so far.

Eight of us read this book for our January book club. None of us would recommend it. We were terribly disappointed. Two of the readers didn't even read it to the end. I like a book that I can't put down. This one was hard to read to the finish.

This book is a story of a love that never gets a chance.

The story is quite simple. A fanciful little girl who witnesses some events on a hot summer day and has no understanding of what she is seeing. All these events come to a head when she accuses the housekeepers son of a horrible crime he did not commit. The son Robbie is in love with her older sister Cee. The little girl Briony walks in on them in the midst of a very delicate situation. The rest of the story is the aftermath of Briony's mistake and her "atonement".

I don't want to give to much away because if you don't read the book, see the movie. The move is just as good.

It is a story that will break your heart. After all, isn't that what good fiction is suppossed to do?