The second part of the book is by the time of World War II. Cecilia becomes a nurse and cuts her contact with her family because of their accusation. Robbie is in jail for three years and the police gives him a choice to stay in jail or join the army. Robbie and Cecilia have only been in contact through letters. They have only seen each other once for a half an hour before Robbie left to France to fight on the war. At the meantime Briony is a young woman, she refuses to go to Cambridge and instead she is trained to be a nurse in London.
Characters
Main Characters:
Briony Tallis - in the beginning of the book she is a thirteen year old girl dreaming about becoming a writer, she is a dreamer living in her own little world. She accuses Robbie who is innocent and then regrets it during all her life. We can see her transformation from a young girl to a woman and finally to a old lady who is a famous novelist. In some parts of the book Briony is the narrator.
Cecilia Tallis - Briony’s older sister, she came from Cambridge to see her family during the summer, she is confused about her life and the feeling she has to Robbie Turner, after Robbie goes to jail she doesn’t want to see her family or her sister Briony, she leaves and becomes a nurse in London.
Robbie Turner - housekeeper’s son, works at the Tallis family, his studies in Cambridge were payed by Briony’s parents, he was suppose to become a doctor after finishing his studies, he is deeply in love with Cecilia, he is accused as being a rapist and needs to spend 3 years in jail and after goes to the army and fights in France.
The character I find the most interesting is Cecilia. She is a beautiful young woman that is not sure what to do with her life, she is also confused with her feelings to Robbie because of their difference in social groups. But she decides not to think about that, she follows her feelings and opens her heart to him. Although I never experienced Cecilia’s situation i can relate to her and understand her choices. I like her character because there are parts of her that are similar to mine. The author makes her character quite mysterious since we don’t know much about her, I like that way of writing because i can imagine the rest.
Comments on style
The book is divided into four chapters, in the beginning the author very slowly but very precisely describes the setting. There is many developed description about the place and time however less about the characters. Even though the author doesn’t tell us much about the physical look of the characters he writes a lot about their feelings and attitudes. The book contains a big amount of descriptions about the setting and not much dialogues.
The novel is wrote mainly in the third person yet not always since Briony also appears as a narrator in some parts of the book, therefore the book is also written in the first person. The author writes as Briony because he wants us readers, to be able to feel her guilty, this style of writing helps us understand what she had to go through.
The story that was invented by Ian McEvan is very original and good, although the book is written slowly because of the descriptions, it is very interesting. The way the story is mixed and we only find out about the real ending in the end of the book makes us want to read it till the end. The ending of the story is very unusual and unexpected. The forbidden love, pain and guilty are very well presented in this book, the descriptions allow us to understand the characters feelings and makes us be able to place us in their situations. The situations occurring and the end of the book is very sad to such extend that it made me cry as i read it.
My favourite moment of the book is when Robbie and Cecilia make love in the library. It is because it is written in a very different way then usually. The description in this part of the book is very detailed about the feelings the both character felt. The feeling of passion and love is described very deeply, when the characters don’t even take off their clothes. This part of the book is very awkward since Robbie and Cecilia know each other since they were very little and they were together in Cambridge for three years and didn’t say a word too each other. Now they were kissing and making love in the library because they realised they loved each other during this whole time. It is the most romantic moment of this story and probably one of the most romantic book extracts I ever read in my life.
We can figure out that the author compares himself with Briony who is the writer in the story just like him but in reality. We can assume that the author had a similar experience to what happened to the young girl. Possibly just like her made a mistake that had a impact on others people life, regretted it for all his life and then wrote this novel as his atonement.
The story of the novel and descriptions of the character’s feelings are very sad and while reading it I felt sorrowful. After finishing it, some parts of the book stayed in my head for a while, it made me think about how a innocent person can be accused to do something they did not and how it can change the rest of theirs life. How two people can be separated without a real reason and not be able to see each other. How a misunderstanding of a child could entirely change others life.
I recommend this book to everyone who likes sad, love stories. This book is very romantic and it shows how love can be very strong and painful when forbidden. It is a beautiful book with amazing descriptions of feelings and the setting. It takes the reader away, into a different place and times.
