Atonement by Ian McEwan - A Book Review

Atonement by Ian McEwan - A Book Review

Claim to Fame: 

• Ian McEwan has written more than 12 -14 novels which have been nominated for various awards.
• His novel 'Amsterdam' has won the Man Booker prize in the year 1998
• 'Atonement' was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize 2001. It has now been converted into a major motion picture featuring Keira Knightley

How difficult is it to live with guilt, to survive and consume the hatred of dear ones you have wronged? Day in and day out! And how is it to live in exile for a crime you have not committed, to waste away precious years of your life?

‘Atonement’ is the saga of things going awry beyond measure due to the self-obsession of the 13 year old child Briony Tallis, who happens to be the main protagonist of the story. She aspires to be a great writer and lives and breathes in her realm of dreams. What she sees on a summer afternoon transpiring between her elder protective sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner, the son of a maid who has been brought up and educated on her fathers’ money; not only influences a new plot for a story in her mind, but also shakes her. The scene is so abrupt that she is easily coaxed by herself to believe the fact that Robbie is a villain out there to harm her sister. The fact that she was once madly in love with Robbie strengthens her belief. She now sees roles changing and feels it’s her prerogative to protect her sister.

Like a silent observer, she seems to be there at all the right place, or maybe wrong, but all she experiences only solidifies the imaginary character that she has built up for Robbie. One incident leads to another and when she is physically present at the site of the horrific abuse of her visiting cousin Lola, and as the assaulter is just leaving in the darkness, there is no doubt left in her mind that it had to be the maniac Robbie. She could have been blind and been able to recognize him. Only when Robbie has been indicted and the police drag him away, does she realize how much her sister Cecilia is in love with him but the fact still doesn’t seep into her that she has wronged; she still dons the hat of the protective sister for Cecilia who she thinks she has saved from the clutches of the cruel man.

By the time the realization dawns on Briony, lives have changed drastically. The waging war has consumed the life of all and no one is spared the agony. Cecilia’s love for Robbie has only strengthened by her sisters’ and her family’s framing of Robbie. Briony’s pursuit for atonement makes her work as a nurse as she flees away from home in search of Cecilia and Robbie. She finally meets the couple. But would she be forgiven, would her mere realization bring back Robbie and Cecilias’ lost years, their separation, would it materialize the dreams and aspirations they had sought individually and together in love? Would Briony feel any more comfortable and breathe easier if she was forgiven knowing that she had destroyed lives and annihilated subtle feelings? Did the truth matter anymore? Would the hatred be subdued? Could things be changed, corrected; even with the best of motives? Read the book!

The clarity with which Ian McEwan has depicted the main protagonist, Briony’s character is overwhelming. It couldn’t have been more naked than this.  Her cynical self-righteousness, her self created agony, her stolid quietness on realization paint and re-paint the same canvas with impressive strokes of the author. Ian McEwans depiction of the war too is ruthless. The author breaches a vulnerable subject with great subtlety and without any pretense, he celebrates the emotion of guilt and penitence with an undying characteristic.  A great delight to read!