Atonement

Published in 2001, this novel by Ian McEwan was selected for this Thursday, July 17th's Ladies' Night book club, which I am moderating. We're watching the 2007 movie version starting at 5:30, and then we'll be discussing both the book and the movie following. I won't ruin the discussion by revealing too much here, but I have now finished the book and watched the movie, and I must say I am haunted by this beautiful, tragic story. Briony Tallis is a thirteen-year-old girl who witnesses a bizarre series of events in the years prior to World War II. McEwan describes these events in great detail, then moves forward in time to show the events' repercussions. Both the book and the movie are slow to get started and very artful. Neither is the type of thing I would get immediately hooked on. But I'm so glad I continued both reading and watching, because the end result was that I was entranced. Even my husband ultimately liked the movie, after complaining for about an hour that nothing was happening!