Book Review: Atonement by IAN McEWAN

March 26, 2016

Book Review: Atonement

Characters: Briony- youngest daughter

Cecilia- the eldest daughter

Leon – the son

Mr. and Mrs. Tallis – the parents of the above characters

Robbie: main character and boyfriend of Cecilia

Genres: social novel, fiction, psychological, suspense, mystery.

 

This is the story of a family of five, two sisters, a brother and mom and dad. they are : Cecilia Tallis- eldest daughter, Briony Tallis -youngest daughter, and Leon Tallis the one and only son.

Briony the youngest loved writing stories, she also wrote a play.She wanted to stage the play, but was unable,as the characters she chose did not cooperate. I found her too bossy and at times I thought she should act her age and not try to interfere in the lives of her older siblings.

As far as credibility goes, I found Cecilia all right, Leon the brother did his own thing, the one character I thought was not worthy was Briony.

Among the main characters, Briony caused trouble in the family as a result they were split up. She also lied against Robbie and was responsible for sending him to prison.

I liked Robbie one of the main characters, he was helpful to the Tallis family. He was also grateful to Mr. Tallis who gave him financial help to continue  his education.

I like Cecilia too, but I did not like Briony at all, she was the reason the family broke up.

I liked the part where Briony admits her guilt and visits her sister Cecilia to tell her she was sorry for sending Robbie to prison by lying about him. This shows she has a conscience.

I couldn’t understand why the author decided to change it in the last chapter. Where he says through Briony that the book is not entirely truthful about Cecilia and Robbie that they were not reunited but died separately during the war.

I would recommend the book to the readers, I personally feel  there is a lot to learn from it.

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