<p>Oh my, beautiful and moving yet so very sad. The acting is stunning. I couldn’t finish the book after the false accusation yet loved the movie. Anyone else?</p>
<p>Adored the book. Pick it up again. I’m glad to hear you say that the movie was great, because I didn’t know how the style would play out on the screen, but I’m really looking forward to seeing it over the holidays - even knowing the ending.</p>
<p>Do you pronounce it ah - tone - ment
or
at - one - ment</p>
<p>Well, I just bypassed the book at Costco the other day. Should I buy?
Your post made me want to see the movie, but I quess it has not been nationally released yet.</p>
<p>Kelowna - Buy it. I got it, read it and wrapped it up for D for Christmas. Hope she doesn’t read this post . . . ;)</p>
<p>Off to Costco…</p>
<p>Loved the book – the first one I read by McEwan. I look forward to seeing the movie, but, as always, I’m glad I read the book first. I also read McEwan’s “Saturday” – better than I anticipated, but not as good as “Atonement” (Ah-tone-ment.) :)</p>
<p>You might also want to read Amsterdam and On Chesil Beach - both are excellent.</p>
<p>I didn’t like the only other book I’ve read of his (Saturday - not that it wasn’t well written, I just found the protagonist so dreary,) but I thought Atonement was one of the best books I’ve ever read.
Ah-tone-ment. Accent on the middle syllable. I’m looking forward to the movie - I think it would work very well as a movie.</p>
<p>I want to see the movie and read the book! my AP Lang teacher said the book was really good.</p>
<p>I read his novel Enduring Love. A big thumbs up!</p>
<p>Atonement is on my all time favorite books list. If we don’t have a major snowstorm, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie this weekend!</p>
<p>Bring tissues!</p>
<p>I loved the book until the end, which I felt as very disappointing.</p>
<p>roshke…i’ll be going only if we DO have a major snowstorm, haha—only then can I put off studying for my physics test =P</p>
<p>Warning possible SPOILER!</p>
<p>I liked the end, unlike The French Lieutenant’s Woman which also played with the idea of having it both ways, I thought this ending worked. You got both the end you wished were true, and the real one and the idea that in fiction you can create your own reality and make a kind of atonement. </p>
<p>The movie of The French Lieutenant’s Woman I thought fixed the problem of the book - by doing a similar trick, giving you different endings in two different media.</p>
<p>mathmom:</p>
<p>We still have to see the movie. But I thought the ending of the book was that no atonement is possible because writers cannot grant themselves absolution from their own crimes as they are both authors and “god.”
I will have to decide whether the vividness of cinema makes the imagined past more real than one that exists only on the page and in the imagination of the writer and reader.</p>
<p>Marite, Yes, you could read it that way too. Anyway, I liked the ambiguity of the ending. Put it that way.</p>
<p>I love all his books and especially this one. Have not seen the movie yet and am having trouble seeing the young Scottish actor in the lead male role. The audio version of the book is absolutely wonderful, as well. Listened to it while commuting after reading the book. The gorgeous language is especially striking when listened to. Did anyone see him interviewed last Sunday in the NY Times Magazine?</p>
<p>I watched the movie with my girlfriend (I read the book for a class last year–threw it across the room when I got to the ending.)…it was beautiful. The shots were just stunning to look at. Some of the scenes were a little rough to watch (as are all depictions of the effects of war), but on the whole it was gripping. I was really interested to see how the novel translated to film, and I think the film was very well done. And sad. Very sad.</p>