01 atonement
when i get excited about something, i tend to get a little rambly. so im going to stick to the essentials when praising atonement. it is without doubt one of the greatest books ive ever read, if not the greatest. considering i usually only read beat poetry & prose, novels by authors i adore on account of familiarity, & classics that are thus necessary in order to be a well-versed literary maven, atonement doesnt really fit my books-to-read criterion. it's written by a modern, questionably prolific british author, ian mcewan. im very hesitant to engage in the works of writers who can produce more than 10 books in 10 years, especially within the last 10 years. im wary of untidy writing. ian mcewan is either a bright exception in a bleak sea of crap or i have been naively prejudice towards modern writers.
he's wordy while narrowly avoiding to-a-fault; every single word is necessary & part of constructing a greater beauty. & it's readable, yr eager for all those words. it's really hard to sum up the plot as it's so expansive; it's about love, world wars, internal battles, self-forgiveness, fate. the catalyst for all of it is a dreamy little girl, briony, with a big imagination & big heart who confuses protecting her older sister with destroying her older sister's life. the mistake seems hard to make as the two objectives seem completely unrelated, but briony does it. the story itself is complete genius, im in awe that someone could come up with it. i think the book would have been just as good had another author written it with the same plot in his hand; ian mcewan's ability to stun with words is just a perk.
the movie that just came out is really good too. working with such a story guarantees a solid movie, & the seriously incredible cinematography replaces ian mcewan's writing that cant be apparent on screen. i thought that the movie was just as good as the book when i first saw it because of how flawlessly, elegantly it translated. im realizing now that the book's ending is unlike anything ive read before, is worth the endings of all the other books ive ever read. it's a 350 page novel & the ending isnt there until the final page, on which you become more touched than yr imagination should allow.
read this book ! it's responsible for reigniting my passion for reading, which has been on a sort of shameful hiatus.
love,
elizabeth
he's wordy while narrowly avoiding to-a-fault; every single word is necessary & part of constructing a greater beauty. & it's readable, yr eager for all those words. it's really hard to sum up the plot as it's so expansive; it's about love, world wars, internal battles, self-forgiveness, fate. the catalyst for all of it is a dreamy little girl, briony, with a big imagination & big heart who confuses protecting her older sister with destroying her older sister's life. the mistake seems hard to make as the two objectives seem completely unrelated, but briony does it. the story itself is complete genius, im in awe that someone could come up with it. i think the book would have been just as good had another author written it with the same plot in his hand; ian mcewan's ability to stun with words is just a perk.
the movie that just came out is really good too. working with such a story guarantees a solid movie, & the seriously incredible cinematography replaces ian mcewan's writing that cant be apparent on screen. i thought that the movie was just as good as the book when i first saw it because of how flawlessly, elegantly it translated. im realizing now that the book's ending is unlike anything ive read before, is worth the endings of all the other books ive ever read. it's a 350 page novel & the ending isnt there until the final page, on which you become more touched than yr imagination should allow.
read this book ! it's responsible for reigniting my passion for reading, which has been on a sort of shameful hiatus.
love,
elizabeth