I read the book a few months ago, BJ, and I am in full agreement with you about the middle section. The first part held me in rapt attention, and I was swept away by McEwan's incisive characterizations and psychological insight -- I especially loved his handling of Briony and the preparations for the play.
Thewar scenes are eloquently written but for me they remained just descriptions of the horrors of war. I just wanted him to get on with it. And when he did he we meet a grown up Briony working as a nurse and her reunion with Ceceilia and Robbie the novel again had me in its grip.
And the denouement is both heartbreaking and yet oddly and unexpectedly uplifting. A beautiful novel.
As for the movie, well, James McEvoy just isn't my idea of Jamie and I'm glad I wasn't aware of the casting when I was reading it. Keira Knightley seems a bit of a lightweight for the emotional force of the material, but we'll see.
From reading the novel, it seems that the movie could be part of an ideal double bill with Joseph Losey's masterfl The Go-Between (of which McEwan was surely aware, if not the novel then certainly the film).
Edited By Damien on 1195698635
Book recommendations, please
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The Original BJ
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I was clearly late to the party around here, but I finally finished and loved Atonement. I found this to be a beautiful and powerful work, one that asks us to reflect upon the decisions and turning points in our own lives and how they have shaped us. (Though hopefully most of us don't have such a tragic event hanging over us the way Briony does.) For me, what makes the story so devastating is that Briony isn't entirely at fault for the reverberations of her actions -- she acts with neither malicious intent nor the maturity a rational-thinking adult would bring to her situation. Thus, through Robbie's fate the novel exposes the world as an inherently unjust place...yet one where great things like love and artistic creation can flourish even amidst all the horror. Atonement is both depressingly downbeat and full of hopeful optimism -- this ambiguity only contributes to the richness of the novel's ideas.
I think I liked the first section best. Perhaps it's because, having never read McEwan, I found this introduction more of a revelation than the later chapters, when I felt more familiar with his style. In particular, I love the way his writing dances around specifics (using euphemisms like "the worst word in the world," or merely stating that Robbie and Cecilia exchanged three words)...while the reader has little trouble inferring exactly what is being said. In Briony's playwrighting and thoughts about storytelling, the novel neatly establishes a vein of self-reflexivity that foreshadows the story's conclusion.
I rank the Robbie section as the weakest portion of the novel. This is not to say it isn't well-done -- in fact, while visualizing the horrifying and absurd images of war I started to realize the potential for a very striking film. Narratively though, it meanders the most, and ultimately, I think the story of the wronged man is less interesting than that of the guilt-stricken girl who does the wronging.
Which brings me to section three: while not the meatiest in terms of ideas (I think that's the opening), here the novel's resonance really starts to kick in, as Briony's various attempts to atone for what she did can never even remotely assuage the guilt that has plagued her and will continue to define her life. If anything, the hospital sequences are even more devastating than the images of war in Robbie's section. And then there's the conclusion to the chapter, which struck me as a little tonally off on the first reading...until I had read the final section and understood exactly why that last scene didn't seem to fit naturally.
AVOID THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE NOVEL'S ENDING...
...which kind of floored me. Once the story skipped ahead several decades, I started to think that things for Robbie and Cecilia may not have worked out so well. But to discover that they never even met as the last chapter had made us believe...well, I found this suddenly and simply quite wrenching. McEwan has managed to pull off a totally neat twist that feels all the more impressive because it seems to fit so perfectly (particularly given the aforementioned theme of self-reflexivity, as well as the slightly strange tone shift in the earlier Cecilia-Robbie-Briony scene). Here's the rare conclusion that's both incredibly surprising as well as wholly organic given what's come before.
NO MORE SPOILERS
Given that the film version is looming over the horizon, let me add a couple movie-related thoughts. On one hand, reading the book made me more excited for the film, because I had responded so positively to the story on the page. Yet I also have begun to have fears about how this novel will be translated (particularly after viewing the did-they-miss-the-point-of-the-book-entirely? adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera, which I had so loved as a novel.)
First, I wonder how the novel's preoccupation with the theme of memory will manifest itself, particularly when the all-knowledgable narrator's comments about present, past, and future seem so integral to the meaning of the story. Then, there's the matter of that tricky ending -- I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how this creative team has pulled off that finale cinematically (if they have). Lastly, I have to express some reservations about the trailer, which seems to have altered the tone of the novel (I really hope the film doesn't terribly soften either the gruesome or sexual elements in search of award glory) as well as shifted its structure. What's advertised is primarily a love story, which is little more than the C-plot in the novel, important though it may be. Also, I question the web-focus on Keira Knightley as a set Best Actress nominee: Cecilia isn't all that major a character in the novel (on the page, she's clearly a supporting player). Unless the film has expanded her role (a possibility given the trailer), she could definitely face an uphill battle, even in a weak year. (Recall how Nicole Kidman's not-exactly-best-in-show role was also left on the sidelines, in another weak year.) Given the film's reviews, Atonement is clearly one to watch and I think a likely frontrunner. That being said, I think Sabin's doubts in the film's chances might not be so far-fetched. Might we be in for another Beloved -- a film I liked, but which, for all its merits, couldn't remotely approach on screen the formal mastery and depth of the novel on the page?
I think I liked the first section best. Perhaps it's because, having never read McEwan, I found this introduction more of a revelation than the later chapters, when I felt more familiar with his style. In particular, I love the way his writing dances around specifics (using euphemisms like "the worst word in the world," or merely stating that Robbie and Cecilia exchanged three words)...while the reader has little trouble inferring exactly what is being said. In Briony's playwrighting and thoughts about storytelling, the novel neatly establishes a vein of self-reflexivity that foreshadows the story's conclusion.
I rank the Robbie section as the weakest portion of the novel. This is not to say it isn't well-done -- in fact, while visualizing the horrifying and absurd images of war I started to realize the potential for a very striking film. Narratively though, it meanders the most, and ultimately, I think the story of the wronged man is less interesting than that of the guilt-stricken girl who does the wronging.
Which brings me to section three: while not the meatiest in terms of ideas (I think that's the opening), here the novel's resonance really starts to kick in, as Briony's various attempts to atone for what she did can never even remotely assuage the guilt that has plagued her and will continue to define her life. If anything, the hospital sequences are even more devastating than the images of war in Robbie's section. And then there's the conclusion to the chapter, which struck me as a little tonally off on the first reading...until I had read the final section and understood exactly why that last scene didn't seem to fit naturally.
AVOID THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE NOVEL'S ENDING...
...which kind of floored me. Once the story skipped ahead several decades, I started to think that things for Robbie and Cecilia may not have worked out so well. But to discover that they never even met as the last chapter had made us believe...well, I found this suddenly and simply quite wrenching. McEwan has managed to pull off a totally neat twist that feels all the more impressive because it seems to fit so perfectly (particularly given the aforementioned theme of self-reflexivity, as well as the slightly strange tone shift in the earlier Cecilia-Robbie-Briony scene). Here's the rare conclusion that's both incredibly surprising as well as wholly organic given what's come before.
NO MORE SPOILERS
Given that the film version is looming over the horizon, let me add a couple movie-related thoughts. On one hand, reading the book made me more excited for the film, because I had responded so positively to the story on the page. Yet I also have begun to have fears about how this novel will be translated (particularly after viewing the did-they-miss-the-point-of-the-book-entirely? adaptation of Love in the Time of Cholera, which I had so loved as a novel.)
First, I wonder how the novel's preoccupation with the theme of memory will manifest itself, particularly when the all-knowledgable narrator's comments about present, past, and future seem so integral to the meaning of the story. Then, there's the matter of that tricky ending -- I'm actually really looking forward to seeing how this creative team has pulled off that finale cinematically (if they have). Lastly, I have to express some reservations about the trailer, which seems to have altered the tone of the novel (I really hope the film doesn't terribly soften either the gruesome or sexual elements in search of award glory) as well as shifted its structure. What's advertised is primarily a love story, which is little more than the C-plot in the novel, important though it may be. Also, I question the web-focus on Keira Knightley as a set Best Actress nominee: Cecilia isn't all that major a character in the novel (on the page, she's clearly a supporting player). Unless the film has expanded her role (a possibility given the trailer), she could definitely face an uphill battle, even in a weak year. (Recall how Nicole Kidman's not-exactly-best-in-show role was also left on the sidelines, in another weak year.) Given the film's reviews, Atonement is clearly one to watch and I think a likely frontrunner. That being said, I think Sabin's doubts in the film's chances might not be so far-fetched. Might we be in for another Beloved -- a film I liked, but which, for all its merits, couldn't remotely approach on screen the formal mastery and depth of the novel on the page?
The time is now if you are planning on reading The Diving Bell And The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby before the film gets released in December.
I picked it up at the library last week - no waiting (try that a month from now). It is very slim, 130+ pages (a long book in reality when you take into account that Jean-Do had to blink his eye for every letter in every word on every page).
A beautiful little book of recollections and thoughts that will convince you, like me, that the books adaptation, by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist, Being Julia) deserves a nomination.
I picked it up at the library last week - no waiting (try that a month from now). It is very slim, 130+ pages (a long book in reality when you take into account that Jean-Do had to blink his eye for every letter in every word on every page).
A beautiful little book of recollections and thoughts that will convince you, like me, that the books adaptation, by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist, Being Julia) deserves a nomination.
I have to read it every couple of years just because of the main character (I'm almost done with my fourth go-around in ten years), but Wally Lamb's Baby Boomer odyssey, She's Come Undone, is an absolutely wonderful novel. Dolores Price is a character well worth rooting for, warts and all. It's hilarious, tragic, compelling, with a story that's easily familiar to anyone who's ever been on the fringe of society. This book desperately needs to be adapted to the big screen, IMO. If I were a screenwriter and not someone whose métier is short fiction, I'd do it myself. I see casting of an unknown as Dolores essential to the project.
Lamb's sophomore effort, I Know This Much Is True, is an audacious, moving follow-up.
Now if he would just hurry up and finish his third novel already. I've been waiting for years now!
Edited By flipp525 on 1194715963
Lamb's sophomore effort, I Know This Much Is True, is an audacious, moving follow-up.
Now if he would just hurry up and finish his third novel already. I've been waiting for years now!
Edited By flipp525 on 1194715963
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
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99-1100896887
Please read Divisidero by Michael Ondaatje. It is a sprawling story placed in California in 1970 then Europe, and the story follows three characters and their lives from children. Very romantic, although in a different way to The English Patient. I am not sure what kind of film would be made from this book; it would of necessity be in parts or sections--the story is not lineal. I enjoyed this very much.
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FilmFan720
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The Original BJ
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Finished A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I generally found this to be one of the more challenging books I've ever read, and it took me a while to get through, but overall, I found it very rewarding. As a testament to artistic inspiration, it's pretty beautiful stuff, and if certain portions initially seem stagnant, collectively the novel's chapters build toward a finale I found very powerful.
On to Atonement, which I want to get through before the movie. I'm 50 or so pages in, and loving it. (A positive side effect to reading Joyce is that most everything else is an easier read -- plowing through McEwan now feels effortless!)
Kaytodd, you're not the first person to recommend The Circus in Winter, and it seems like something I would like a lot. I hope to pick it up in the bookstore soon.
On to Atonement, which I want to get through before the movie. I'm 50 or so pages in, and loving it. (A positive side effect to reading Joyce is that most everything else is an easier read -- plowing through McEwan now feels effortless!)
Kaytodd, you're not the first person to recommend The Circus in Winter, and it seems like something I would like a lot. I hope to pick it up in the bookstore soon.
I just finished a delightful book called The Circus In Winter by Cathy Day. It is set in a fictional small town in Indiana in which a fictional circus spends its winter months when it is not travelling and performing around the country. The book is filled with touching stories about the people who work in the circus, their families and the people in this ordinary small American town that has these very odd people as their citizens for much of the year.
This is Ms. Day's first novel and I am looking forward to her future ones. I would not ordinarily enjoy a book like this but I enjoyed this one.
This is Ms. Day's first novel and I am looking forward to her future ones. I would not ordinarily enjoy a book like this but I enjoyed this one.
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Franz Ferdinand
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Iris Murdoch's body of work is like an ocean, who nows where to dive in?
I have just got back from a public reading with 1992 Nobel Literature laureate Derek Walcott, he was speaking at my alma mater. What a great evening! He is an articulate, witty and warm person who commanded attention from the moment he took to the stage and started reading in his distinctive voice. One poem in particular, an elegy to his friend the poet Joseph Brodsky, stood out as a fantastic piece of writing, I cannot recall the name, but after his reading you could feel the electricity in the air, it was just sublime.
I have just got back from a public reading with 1992 Nobel Literature laureate Derek Walcott, he was speaking at my alma mater. What a great evening! He is an articulate, witty and warm person who commanded attention from the moment he took to the stage and started reading in his distinctive voice. One poem in particular, an elegy to his friend the poet Joseph Brodsky, stood out as a fantastic piece of writing, I cannot recall the name, but after his reading you could feel the electricity in the air, it was just sublime.
I'm putting off finishing it because I'm enjoying it so much but Iris Murdoch's The Message to the Planet has moved into position as one of my all-time favorite novels. Filled with complex, fascinating characters and intimate detailing that escapes being dwarfed by the very big ideas that surround both, it's a novel that as one reviewer put, "thinks as deeply as it feels". For me, it also happens to be one of those books that feels like it was hand-picked for you to read at certain point in your life. I’m going through a personal situation that almost mirrors one in the novel and Murdoch's almost astoundingly precise and revelatory prose has perfectly captured the skittish permutations of that particular human condition. Highly recommended.
Edited By flipp525 on 1190775333
Edited By flipp525 on 1190775333
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
I didn't realize that The Line of Beauty could be considered the worst winner when Vernon God Little exists.
I haven't read the Barker novel (well, not more than twenty pages) but I really enjoyed the Clarke and Adichie works. That said, I should also state that I consider David Mitchell to be one of the finest working writers (I own all of his [4] books).
I'm rereading London Fields which might be one of the best novels from the 80's. Just brilliant.
I haven't read the Barker novel (well, not more than twenty pages) but I really enjoyed the Clarke and Adichie works. That said, I should also state that I consider David Mitchell to be one of the finest working writers (I own all of his [4] books).
I'm rereading London Fields which might be one of the best novels from the 80's. Just brilliant.
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Franz Ferdinand
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The 2004 shortlist was a minor miracle in modern fiction. I feel it was a lesser work from that list that won (in some circles it is regarded as the worst winner ever), though I will have to revisit it as I enjoyed reading it at the time. I may have been spouting hyperbole: "The Master" is a phenomenal work that I feel should have won, but so far "The Electric Michelangelo" is really vivid and engrossing writing. I have yet to read "Cloud Atlas" though it is nearly at the top of my ever-expanding list. Even "Bitter Fruit" would have been a worthy winner that year, and if Nicola Barker's "Clear: A Transparent Novel" had made the shortlist, it would have been the best possibly in the prize's history.
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Franz Ferdinand
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Two books I am reading right now are two that I must read slow and savor: Sarah Hall's "The Electric Michelangelo" (a 2004 Booker nominee, and damned if not the rightful winner that year!), and Indra Sinha's "Animal's People", a Booker nominee right now. Both are amazing reads, exquisite and sumptuous. Any time I alternate between the two, they become my favorite books of the past few years, and they are both highly recommended.