Atonement by Ian McEwan is a book that everyone must read at some point in their life. A love story that is set in the 1930's; where the imagination of a young girl that was obsessed with her own different perception of reality changes their lives. Ian McEwan's way of writing is very unique, it has its own individual rhythm that makes it very easy to read, but also a pleasure to read due to the rich descriptions of the surroundings and emotions of the characters are going through.
Set in the middle of summer 1937, the entire book is a mesmerising blur of color, emotions, personal opinions and viewpoints, enrapturing stories and a grand outrage that is the end of the first part of the book.
The beginning of the book is a little slow, filled with descriptions that set the mood, and make the reader imagine and actually walk through the setting along with the characters and the author. Although it starts off slow, the pace begins to quicken, and we are introduced into the childish and innocent imagination of Briony Tallis, a young girl of twelve that loves writing and recently finished writing her first play, "The Trials of Arabella". Briony's thoughts are organised in a confusing way, yet you can see that the author has created her in the way that a girl her age should be thinking and acting. Briony believes herself to be far more mature than all the children her age. As a reader you get the sense that Briony is trying to fill in the shoes of an adult; trying to fill it with un-lived experiences, stories and thoughts. She portrays herself as the hero and main character of her story, even though she lets herself be affected by all the things happening around her.
After being introduced to the youngest Tallis, we move to Cecilia Tallis, an educated young woman that studies in Cambridge and believes that she is completely responsible to keeping her family together; being the second mother-figure in the family while her mother is tending to one of her famous migraines that causes the mother to be bed-ridden for the day till she recovers. Cecilia is the complete opposite of young and organised Briony that organises her dolls in perfect order; Cecilia is a girl that, typical to her age, chooses to have her head in the clouds, respectively to her it is a constant cloud of smoke surrounding her from her ever present cigarettes. Cecilia is excited, like Briony for the very long awaited return of their brother to the wonderful Tallis home.
The arrival of the cousins of a family that has violently fallen apart starts the chain of events that will later lead to other worse things. The cousins are a self-centered bunch of kids, three kids, twin boys and a girl that finds herself the mandatory centre of attention almost constantly. The cousins are quite annoying, McEwan describes them in such an irritating way that you cannot help beginning to get annoyed with their actions throughout the chapters.
Later we return to Briony who is storming her authority upon the cousins, trying to organise them in such a way that they will be prepared for the play that Briony wrote for that specific night, the return of her brother to the home. Briony wanted to be recognised as the most impressive playwright and writer throughout the entire England, and the first to appreciate her work had to be her brother.
While this is happening, Cecilia is trying to take a bunch of wild flowers back to the house and arrange them in a not-so-orderly fashion in the room of Mr. Marshall that is joining the family along with her brother. Cecilia eventually wanders off with the a vase that has sentimental value to the father, all the while, she is thinking of Robbie that is outside in the garden, rolling a cigarette.
Here, the chain of events that crack the whip are begun. Cecilia and Robbie begin to connect, even though the event that passed is quite aggressive in the point of view of Cecilia, Robbie leaves with a completely different opinion.
I will cease to spoil the rest of the story, however, after the horrible events that happen at the Tallis Home, Robbie is arrested and he decides that instead of rotting in a jail he will go fight for Britain in the Second World War that has violently begun. We are transported to the mind of a man that once was very perfectly kept, his mind was tidy in a way that the reader could sift through it simply and predictably. Yet, as we are now deep in Robbie Turner's mind, we find that he honestly has no other reason to be living and fighting than Cecilia. He pushes himself, even if he is wounded, through the fields of craters, he pushes himself to live through what is going on around him, he will himself to reach Dunkirk and return to his beloved Cecilia. What causes the reader to feel horrible and begin hating a specific character more is when Robbie begins to share his violent feelings with the reader, when he begins to truly open up and display his feelings.
The book is absolutely amazing, and moving. I had not considered it important to read it, because the movies are quite cheesy in a cinematic way, and romances have never been of great interest to me. But this book truly caught my attention in a unique way, a way where you could ignore the way the romance was proceeding, but how the chain of events make you sigh at the end of the book, and you lose everything that you believed at the beginning of the story, you begin to see the crime through the criminal's eyes and you experience the regret that crosses through the characters. The ending, of course leaves quite the impression on the reader
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