Where to begin? This book has so much to discuss, it has so many important aspects. It’s hard to know where to start ...

As the title suggests, the them of the book is atonement. It is about making amends for our actions, no matter how difficult that may be. It is also about how we can be plagued with regret over our actions for a lifetime when we hurt innocent people. But, it’s also about literature. This is the part that surprised me. The story is a manuscript that one of the (three) narrators has written. At the end, she leaves us wondering which parts were true, and which were down to artistic license. I’m not entirely convinced the novel needed this extra dimension.

With regards to the story, it is also told in three parts, with a kind of epilogue at the end. First, it is the lazy 1935 summer where innocence is lost and lives are destroyed. The middle section is from the point of view of the soldier Robbie as he tries to make his way to Dunkirk to escape from the Germans. In the third part, we see the horrific results of the war through Briony’s eyes as a nurse, I have to say, the latter two parts are completely absorbing. I think anyone who reads this will be affected to some degree. The writing is beautiful.

Just about everyone, I think. It’s not heavily plot-driven. It’s more about characters and what drives them and affects them. Again, I have to mention the prose. It’s fantastic.

How utterly lost I got in the horrors of war in France and in the hospital where the wounded spilled in.

Not sure about the end. It would have been nice to have a few concrete answers.

It’s a fabulous book! It’s educational. Children could learn a lot about the realities war from this.

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Created Jun 28, 2019 at 11:42am • Submit your own review...