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Book Review of Atonement

Atonement
Atonement
Author: Ian McEwan
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
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The story is told of her life changing mistake as a young girl who dreams of being a writer in upper-middle-class interwar England, the effects on herself, family and friends, and her own effort to achieve atonement over the coming century, which leads to an exploration on the nature of writing itself.
The novel bears the name of its primary theme. Throughout the work, the reader can see the characters search for atonement. "I gave them happiness, but I was not so self-serving as to let them forgive me," Briony says at the end of the novel. Briony recognizes her sin (i.e., wrongfully accusing Robbie and ruining his and Cecilia's chance at a life together) and attempts to atone for it through writing her novel. She does not grant herself forgiveness; rather, she attempts to earn atonement through giving Robbie and Cecilia a life together in her writing...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonement_(novel)

The movie Atonement didn't follow the book exactly, but the book did detail all that really happened.