Susanne Becker

Englisch LK Q1 Frster
Atonement Ian McEwan

After Ive watched the film a few years ago on DVD, I got curious about the book Im
actually more of a reader than a watcher and I know I have the German version
somewhere at home, but I never came to read it. So I decided to do it now after I did a
bit of research about Ian McEwan, I figured people praised Atonement as McEwans
best work, so I couldnt really make a bad choice, could I?

Atonement basically tells a story about a young girl who wants to become a writer.
One day, she made a terrible mistake and causes life-changing effects on many people
with that. In the course of the novel, the reader learns about the consequences about this
mistake, especially about the girl itself, who lives her life seeking atonement.

The novel is written in three major parts plus a final conclusion from the author.

Part One starts with the day and night in the summer of 1935 at the Tallis family
residence in London, England. It focuses on the thirteen-year old Bryony Tallis, who is
the youngest of her two siblings and whose dream it is to become a writer. Because of
her brother Leons homecoming, she writes a play called The Trials of Arabella which
she wants to be performed during the family dinner. She put her three cousins, which
are staying during summer at her familys estate because of their parents divorce, and
herself into it. But before the play can be rehearsed properly, she looks out of the
window and witnesses a scene between her sister Cecilia and the charladys son, Robbie
Turner. Although it was completely an act of innocence, it is misunderstood by Bryony:
Robbie broke a valuable vase of Cecilias, and one piece of it falls into the water of the
gardens fountain. Cecilia strips off her clothes to search for it in the water. This incident
sets off a series of events with utter consequences:

Later that day, Robbie asks Bryony to deliver a letter from him to Cecilia. Unfortunately,
he gave her a version of the letter he wanted to discard. Bryony reads the letter and is
horrified and disturbed by Robbies vulgar references. After that, she catches the couple
making love in the library and misinterprets the act as a rape and sees Robbie as a
maniac. She is now convinced that Robbie is out to harm her sister.

In the evening, Paul Marshall and Bryonys brother Leon attend the family dinner. But it
is discovered, that her twin cousins ran away. All dinner guests search for the children in
the dark. Bryony, however, searches alone and becomes a witness of her older cousin
Lola being raped; she is convinced she saw Robbie running away and succeeds to make
the rest of the dinner guests to believe her. Consequently, Robbie is taken to prison, with
his mother and Cecilia the only one believing he is not guilty.

Part Two takes place five years later. Following Robbie Turner, the reader learns that he
is now in France to fight as a soldier in the war. He got the opportunity to exonerate
himself from his attendance in prison as a criminal by serving for the army. With the
other corporals, Robbie got separated from his group and marches through the
countryside, trying to find the evacuation town of Dunkirk. From Robbies perspective,
the reader learns about the cruelty and inhumanity of the war, getting known to
Robbies thoughts about him being a criminal, soldier and victim because of Bryonys
false charge. Arriving in Dunkirk, the three men find a place full of chaos. Although he is
Susanne Becker
Englisch LK Q1 Frster
wounded, Robbie is resolved to make it home to Cecilia who is waiting for him all the
years.

Part Three switches to eighteen-year old Bryony, who is now working as a nurse in
London. With working in the hospital, she is determined to make herself useful, hoping
that she can repent for her crime as a girl still, after all those years she feels guilty
about it. But in one feature she did not change: Bryony is still writing. Although she
submitted one of her stories to one Londons journals, she is encouraged to develop her
story even further to make it better. As the injured soldiers return from Dunkirk, Bryony
is confronted with the atrocities of war. At the end of Part Three, Bryony is determined
to seek out for her sister, but before she does, she attends the wedding of Paul Marshall
whom she finally is sure that he is Lolas rapist - and Lola herself. Although she is
convinced to know the truth, she does not do anything to stop the marriage.

At the visit at her sisters house, Bryony happily discovers that Robbie returned alive
from the war. Nevertheless, she does not ask for forgiveness (the couple is not willing to
give it to her anyway) but she admits that she was guilty and asks for what she can do
now to make it better. Robbie and Cecilia give her a list of instructions for her to follow
and she agrees to fulfil each of them. After that, she returns to her work.

In the final section of the novel, London 1999, it is revealed that Bryony is the actual
author of the preceding parts. It is also revealed that she is dying of vascular dementia.
She tells the reader the truth of her story: In reality, Cecilia and Robbie are not reunited
after the war. Robbie may have died of septicaemia in Dunkirk, while Cecilia may have
been killed by a bomb that destroyed the gas and water mains of Balham Underground
station. This means they may have never seen each other ever again. However, the fact
that Bryony attended Paul Marshalls and Lolas wedding, she never visited her sister to
conciliate with her.

Bryony explains why she made up the ending of the story. She did not see the point in
giving her readers a pitiless ending, because they would not get any satisfaction in it; but
primarily, she wanted to give Cecilia and Robbie their happiness by being together,
because in reality they did not have the chance to spend their lives together because of
Bryony. She decided to give it to them at least in her novel: Their lasting love printed on
the pages of her book will be her final atonement to her crime.

Personally, it was hard to get into the book. Ian McEwan introduces the reader to his
novel by describing the summer day of 1935 in different perspectives. So it was quite
hard to be patient in the beginning, since the action in the book was pushed to the end of
Part One. Nevertheless, McEwans writing style is, in my opinion, vivid and detailed. I
immediately got an impression of a hot day at the Tallis residence, but above I learned
all about the societys circumstances: Peoples attitudes and morals are clearly
described, such as the thoughts about Nazi Germany and Hitlers rising powers overseas.

McEwans writing style seems to be deterrent during Part Two of the novel, where
Robbie describes the cruelty of the war and the reader sees it through his eyes. It was
like I was there myself of course only as an observer, but I could kind of taste it when
Robbie drank the water which tasted metallic. Again, McEwan created a vivid
atmosphere.

Susanne Becker
Englisch LK Q1 Frster
Although I prefer direct introductions of stories, McEwan made it possible to get to
know to his characters before the reader is pulled into the main plot. Bryonys point of
view is reasonable and makes her likeable. Especially for me it was quite interesting
because I want to become a writer as well as Bryony does.

Concerning the content and the story itself, I liked it a lot. To be honest, it is one of the
most moving stories I was able to read so far. First of all, after all those history lessons
about Nazi Germany in Germany itself, I was curious about the reaction to World War II
in England. I like stories setting place in the past. Second, the movie made me curious as
well and the novel did not disappoint me. It was quite touching, pulling me deeper into
the story beginning with Part Two. I especially can remember now a scene in Part Three
where Bryony talks with a French soldier called Luc. In this scene, he mistakes her for
his English fiance. Just before his death, he asks her if she loved him. Bryony answers
with yes, not only because no other answer was possible but also for the moment,
she did. He was a lovely boy far away from his family and about to die. This part was
incredibly touching, because on the one hand, Bryony imagined her life with him after he
died, and how she so far wasted her youth on feeling guilty of a mistake she did when
she was younger and that she also once was in love with Robbie and seemingly did not
fall in love again after that. On the other hand, it made me sad that Luc was probably
almost the same age as her, losing his life so early because of the war. So many people
lost their lives, lost their friends and lovers to it. It made me think about the war itself,
about its consequences, which stopped me from continuing reading the book further at
first, because I needed to sort out my thoughts about it.

Another touching part of the book was the ending: I gave them happiness, but I was not
so self-serving as to let them forgive me. It points out that Bryony does not give herself
forgiveness, but at least tries to get atonement by giving Robbie and Cecilia their
deserved happiness. I realized, after I finished my book, that this was such a selfless
action of Bryony. She regrets what she did, and yet she cannot get over it, since she is
guilty for other peoples unhappiness. That made me very emotional, sad and happy at
the same time. Because of her mistake as a thirteen-year old, she loses touch with her
sister, wastes her chance to study at Cambridge and has to live with these experiences
all her life. At first I pitied her, but then I appreciated her decision to last Cecilias and
Robbies love in her book.

To sum up, I can say that I recommend Atonement to anyone who likes of course
love stories not in the usual way, but also in a kind of tragic and sad way. Although the
lovers find their happiness together at the end, the joyful feeling of the reader
immediately fades away by the authors explanation about the truth of the story. The
thing I liked the most about the book was: It made me think. Not only of the main plot
Bryony seeking atonement because she destroyed two peoples life by her simple
imagination but also you learn about the war and the Englands society in the 1930s. It
is more of a nice feature, but it helps you to guide yourself through the main plot and
to understand it better.