Atonement

2.5 stars (audiobook version)

It's difficult to rate this.

Plot summary: young girl has a crush on the local boy. Local boy loves her sister, not her. Young girl witnesses a crime. In her frustration/anger she blames her crush. Their lives are forever altered.

Positives:
- I enjoyed the writing and thought it was well done. The descriptions were marvelous and really set the tone.
- the POV of a teenage girl. I was surprised how well done this was. Especially considering it was written by a man
- the moral: Our actions carry great consequences. Jealousy and lies have the opportunity to destroy entire lives.

Negatives:
-Timelines. Having seen the movie first, I knew what was going to happen. Even so, I found some parts confusing as the timeline jumped around.
-Length. The book drags. Entire paragraphs devoted to things of little importance. More than once I thought “ok, where is this going?” and nothing would become of it.


Neutral:
- “The book is much better than the movie!”- Was it? I picked up this book because I expected there to be vast changes that didn't make the film. I didn't see much difference at all. In fact, I felt like the movie followed the book to a T. Yes, in the book the reader can get inside Bryony's head, but the film had some wonderful visuals and music to accompany the story.