Talk:Atonement (novel)

message: I haven't read the book, but I checked out the entry to get some idea of what the movie might be about.  The description of the plot is pretty poorly written and makes the novel sound like a big pile of crap.  Phrases like "confused as to its meaning" and "why he upsets her so."  Just come off rather clunkily and the article makes it seem like Cecilia realizes she "loves" Robbie because he wrote her a dirty letter.    —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.218.221.152 (talk) 04:58, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Maybe and Odd Criticism

message: I do not believe this is an appropriate category for this book. Shoehorn 07:52, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: it's not Barbara Osgood 23:55, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Category: Novels with a pedophile theme? 

message: The 2002 Vintage paperback edition (and possible other editions as well) incorrectly states that the book opens in 1934. Here is some proof to the contrary:
- In part one, when Briony sits down in her room attempting to write about what she has seen at the fountain, shortly before Lola comes in (p. 41 in the Vintage edition):
"Six decades later she would describe how at the age of thirteen she had written her way through a whole history of literature, beginning with stories derived from the European tradition of folk tales, through drama with simple moral intent, to arrive at an impartial psychological realism which she had discovered for herself, one special morning during a heat wave in 1935."
- In part four, during Briony's birthday party (p. 369 in the Vintage edition):
"Competing with a wailing baby at the back of the room, I tried to evoke that hot summer of nineteen thirty-five, when the cousins came down from the north."
Carmencantora 15:33, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wrong date on backside of cover 

message: The article previously stated that 
"The hospital is also the place where Briony writes the first draft of her book (a novella about the fountain scene)." The novel states quite unambiguously that Briony is staying with relatives when she writes the book, so I've removed this.
Solyolyo 18:56, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed incorrect text 

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BetacommandBot (talk) 18:56, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Atonement (novel).jpg

message: The objects/places section is not well written.  It is basically a jumbled collection of arbitrary opinions.
:I think this part should be deleted. And so should the social background section.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reveree (talk • contribs) 15:22, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Objects and Places

message: In the actual novel written by Ian McEwan, the reader knows that in fact the two lovers died tragically and were never reunited, and that Briony was haunted all her life by having irreversibly deprived them of their chance for happiness. However, in the universe of the novel-within-a-novel where Briony is the author, the novel which readers would see would end at with part 3 - a happy ending, where the two survive the war and embark on a happy life together. Only the most curious, who would dig into the novel's autobiographical background, would discover that in reality the writer's sister and the sister's lover were killed in the war.
According to this article, McEwan has only one sibling - his long-lost brother. Am I misreading the above paragraph or does it really imply that he had a sister as well? --DearPrudence (talk) 09:12, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: No, you're right as in that article is wrong (more slight ambiguity!).  "The writer" could not refer to Briony because the novel would not have what they write as an "autobiographical background".  It's wrong though. — Poe Joe (formerly Ian Lee) (Talk) 12:13, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

text: I'm not sure what Poe Joe means, but to answer DearPrudence's question, the line "in reality the writer's sister and the sister's lover were killed in the war" means the character Briony is "the writer" and not the author of the novel (Ian McEwan). In the novel, Briony is meant to be the author of atonement (and it is her sister and her sister's lover who are killed in the war), but in reality it is Ian McEwan.Gopez (talk) 23:47, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, thank you. That clears it up more. I'm going to fix up that sentence in the article to make it more obvious. --DearPrudence (talk) 05:02, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  McEwan had only a brother 

message: The summary for part 1 is severely lacking. If I were good at writing, I would. Alas, I don't, so I can't. 24.1.0.232 (talk) 01:43, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Part 1 Summary 

message: It's worth noting that Craig Raine is in the final acknowledgements. More relevant though would be A. E. Housman whose work is included in the story and probably should be mentioned in the literary references. I understand he might not be the most popular poet but his work certainly isn't obscure. -Mike  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.211.184.52 (talk) 14:31, 10 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  A. E. Housman and Craig Raine 

message: Best fictional I've seen.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.106.29.42 (talk) 09:20, 18 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Untitled section January 2015 

message: Is there a place in the novel text somewhere that explicitly states what actually happens? The text seems to be full of contradictory statements.  In the postscript, the narrator admits to having vascular dementia, and this seems to place even more doubt as to the veracity of anything she writes. The current version of the article seems to make the case that the narrator not knowing the purpose of writing something is equivalent to that something being an ultimate reality. There is nothing more concrete about the existence of Briony than there is for any particular skein the narrator's story might take. And even if the narrator did choose some or all of the ideas proposed about alternate paths, what effect would that have outside of her story? --Dromioofephesus (talk) 16:40, 19 October 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  But what really happened? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The plot description is ludicrous. It is extremely naive and completely loaded with the authors misunderstandings. Rikkilito (talk) 21:29, 14 January 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plot description