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Atonement

Ian McEwan

Start date: April 1, 2014

Finish date: April 30, 2014

Discussion leader: Christine

Why we're reading this: "There is no disguise about the primary theme of Atonement-it’s there for us to see in bold in the title.…more
[close] "There is no disguise about the primary theme of Atonement-it’s there for us to see in bold in the title. This is a novel about guilt and forgiveness.
But it’s a tricky thing this process of
atonement and this novel looks at what creates the context for guilt in the
first place,how do we share this guilt
and how do we atone for it?

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What Members Thought

Jul 14, 2008 Cecily rated it really liked it

Shelves: memory-forgetting, historical-fict-20th-cent, unreliable-narrators, miscellaneous-fiction

A beautifully written and cleverly told story of relationships, growing up, guilt and, obviously, atonement and forgiveness. The essence of the story is how a childish mistake, made in good faith (more or less) can have consequences for many people, for many years.

Although it would be better to read this before watching the film, I’d heard that the book had been thought unfilmable and so was pretty different, which ensured I was alert to reading it with fresh eyes.

Part 1 is perhaps not quite a ...more

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Apr 19, 2009 Ryan rated it liked it

This ended up being a great book. McEwan uses amazing language to tell his story which was a nice change from my recent slumming into Jodi Picoult. I also enjoyed the story. It is amazing how much he could make the reader dislike Briony but still feel for her by the end of the novel. I watched the movie to this book as well and was surprised about how different the two were. I like the liberties taken with the screenplay but also enjoy the novel in its original form!

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Feb 07, 2008 Kim rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

I learned that everything doesn't always turn out right in the end. Some bad decisions cannot be fixed. Others can be hurt by our choices. And there is no fairy godmother that will fix everything in the end. ...more

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