This is the first time reading any McEwan for me. I thought I'd give it a go as I managed to pick this one up at a charity shop for 50p.
My first impressions, I must say, were not good. The first part of the book follows one character after another living a self-assured certainty of their own correct opinions. It was like I was being asked to feel nostalgic for a childish self-confidence that I couldn't really take as real. And while seeming unreal it also didn't tug any fantastical imagination because the events seemed quite dull and the commentary on them so insular to each character. The end of this first part presented the sin which was to be atoned, which certainly raised the stakes considerably but this was already halfway through the book. If the book was to be redeemed then it had work to do. But the work was done.
I'll quickly go over the plot here as that will help explain how. Part one of the book is mostly considered with introducing a privileged, lower-upper class, family in 1935 England. The youngest daughter is an aspiring author who analyses the adults around her as she believes she crosses in to the adult world from childhood. Among others there is also an older daughter, some young cousins present, and the talented son of the cleaner who has been somewhat adopted in to the family, supported in his academic endeavours by the father. Long story short, thre is a budding romance between the older daughter (Cecilia) and this cleaner's son (Robbie). The younger sister (Briony) misunderstands what is going on, however, and when a cousin is assaulted, and Briony stumbles on to the event, she assumes the perpetrator is Robbie and testifies to all as such, reinforcing her own unclear belief.
While part one changed it's narrator with each chapter, part two follows exclusively Robbie, released from prison in order to serve in WWII, as he tries to get to the evacuation point of Dunkirk in the allied retreat from France. Injured and beset by horrors, he is pushed on by his strong desire to get back to Cecilia to start their life together. Part three follows Briony as a now 18 year old nurse as she seeks to atone for her sin. A short chapter at the end follows Briony again as a point of reflection and casting doubt on any positive ending you might have assumed from parts two and three.
What I originally disliked about the book, the completely misplaced self-confidence of privilege, became the necessary set-up for what would turn out to be an impressively written damnation of such self-confidence. I am all the more impressed that the shaky start must have been a deliberate choice, and a pretty brave one for an author. I almost put the book down as 'just not for me', and I'm sure some did, but I'm glad I didn't. I knew McEwan has a reputation as being a good read and it was definitely worth my trying him out. I'm not sure I have the room for a long series of detective novels which he's most well known for, but I'll probably pick up another of his at some point.
Finished reading - 11/03/26