Atonement by Ian McEwan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I struggled with this book, almost laying it to rest on at least a couple of occasions. The prose was so bloated in the first one hundred pages, paragraphs of nothingness spanning multiple pages, that it became a chore to read. Several friends suggested I persist, and I did, making it to the end where like a marathon, the satisfaction of crossing the finishing line was stronger than the joy of the experience. It was a tough read, a battle to get to the end, and I do feel ignorant for not liking it more than I did, especially given the critical praise the book has received.
Yep, some sections I enjoyed, such as the French chapter, and yep, the characters were strongly defined, they were all believable, but I’d struggle to recommend this book to others.