Journal Entry 1 by mariocat from Silver Spring, Maryland USA on Sunday, September 05, 2010

This book was a shocker. I thought that the movie destroyed it. Please read the book to get the real flavor of atonement. It is the season for it! For those not familiar with the story, a young girl misinterprets what she sees in the distance and it affects the lives of so many, including her. But, atonement is the correct title as it is told as a memoir. 

Journal Entry 2 by melydia at Washington, District of Columbia USA on Monday, September 06, 2010

So it would seem that I really, really, really need to read this book. It's supposed to be absolutely amazing. I look forward to it - thanks for sharing, mariocat! 

Journal Entry 3 by melydia at Centreville, Virginia USA on Monday, November 01, 2010

I gave this to my mother to read and told her to go ahead and pass it along when she's done. However, I just took it out on audiobook from the library, so I'll still be reviewing it soon. Thanks! 

Journal Entry 4 by melydia at Centreville, Virginia USA on Tuesday, February 28, 2012

This book is no longer in my possession, and my mom hasn't mentioned if she's read it, but I finally read another copy and this is what I thought:

I wanted, so desperately, to like this novel. But the fact of the matter is that I found it tremendously tedious. Though the back cover blurb talks of young Briony’s mistaken accusation regarding her cousin’s sexual assault and its horrible consequences, this event does not actually happen until about halfway through the book. The plot is buried in page after page of literary navel-gazing, and the “twist” ending put me off so much that I wondered why I’d wasted all that time getting there. I suspect the movie is tidier, assuming it leaves out such thrilling passages as Briony pondering the possibility of her not being the star of everyone else’s life story while watching her finger bend back and forth. The writing itself was fine - the description quite vivid, the language very, er, literary - but I found the whole thing tiresome and I frankly can’t understand why so many rave about this lengthy piece of rambling blather.