Atonement by Ian McEwan

Well it has been over a year since my first and only post. The blog didn't go as well as planned, but I am giving myself another try.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very different read than the Harry Potter series I just finished. It wasn't that Atonement was difficult to read, but the sentences and storyline produced more thought than Harry Potter. Be assured I loved the Harry Potter series and loved that it would take me into a fantasy world; however, Atonement takes you into the real world. With Atonement I would often reread a sentence over because it was such a great simile or metaphor. The sentences and storyline would instigate trains of thoughts. It is a story filled with love, war, struggles and forgiveness and throughout the book you connect with the characters as they grow. Because the book talks of common elements (love, forgiveness) it leads to thoughts or memories of our own similar situations of love and forgiveness. I think one of my favorite sentences is in references to one of the characters reading a letter from a loved one over and over again, so much it becomes translucent. It immediately put a picture into my mind and I was better able to understand the emotion of the character. This letter is ultimately a lifeline while they are apart. The book actually has a bit of a sullen ending, but sometimes life has those endings.