Atonement
an easy story-line, where the major events occur at the tallis estate, just before the outbreak of the second world war. what sets it apart is the tautness of the narration which manages to capture the intense feelings of the main characters at that point in time- the two sisters- cecilia and briony, and robbie.
robbie is the little boy who grew up with the girls, who dreams of becoming a doctor and is the hired help's son....only he has been singled out by cecilia and briony's father for an excellent education.the younger sister-briony, with her ambition to be a writer and her naive view of the adult world, her ability to see only in black and white, her possessiveness to her sister as well as her barely understood hero-worship for robby; the older sister-cecilia, who is studying in Cambridge, but is unable to identify a proper outlet for her energies....there is their brother- leon, who has brought his friend- Paul. along with these protogonists are their cousins- lola, and the twins: jackson and pierrot- who are staying at the tallis' mansion, while their parents sort out their divorce.
the drama unfolds when robbie writes a note for cecilia, gives it to briony to hand it to cecilia. briony reads the note. it has an explicit sexual suggestion and was not the one robbie meant to give cecilia. the one he meant to give cecilia stays in his copy of gray's anatomy. the same evening, briony stumbles upon her sister and robbie in a passionate embrace, which only strengthens her misguided resolve to protect cecilia from robbie's attentions. cecilia meanwhile, is discovering her latent sexual feelings for robbie and perhaps her love for him.
post dinner, the twins go missing, lola is molested by paul and briony is an unwitting witness. only that briony identifies the perpetrator as robbie to her parents and the police. a lie which creates havoc in the lives of many and reverberates through out briony's long life. except for cecilia and robbie's mother, no one believes in his innocence.
these disruptive events are overshadowed by the second world war. cecilia cuts off all ties with her family and becomes a nurse. robbie, after a few years in prison, is released to enlist in the army. briony is older and wiser and is a trainee nurse. she now wants to make amends and meets her sister to do so. she find robbie also there, with her sister. she tells them that she now realises that lola was molested by paul and that her lie has ruined lives. and that paul was marrying lola. she promises to make amends and tell the truth to her parents.
but what briony promises does not come to pass. cecilia dies in a london bombing, robbie is killed in the war. briony's writing brings her fame and fortune and she eventually writes it as a story, making it a happy ending for cecilia and robbie.
an interesting tale, but not mcewan's best though it was made into a movie.
2 comments:
You know my favorite part of this book (I actually liked it a lot) - is the description of Briony's mother's oncoming migraine. The description of the lady of the house through er migraine and attempted afternoon nap having tentacles of consciousness that travel the house and know what's happening in every part was amazing... so much like the lady of the house that our mothers and grandmothers were - knowing all that was going on, and letting on only when they wanted to.
there's a stillness in the house and an underlying bustle which is effectively brought out as well as the anticipation of a dinner to be hosted....there were descriptions which i enjoyed too. but i really loved his 'saturday' and the drama of 'amsterdam'.
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