Is It Any Good?

Atonement: The life of Briony and the damage done

15 Jan 2008

Neil Walker writes:

The latest book promoted with the words so beloved by all publishers - ‘now a major motion picture’ - is Atonement by Ian McEwan.

A slow start may have readers wondering why they should persevere with a tale about precocious young 13-year-old budding writer Briony Tallis and her efforts to stage her self-written play for the entertainment of her upper class family. They may indeed wonder why this initially seemingly leaden novel was ever adapted for screen.

The answer is simple; Briony misinterprets actions between her sister Cecilia Tallis and family estate gardener Robbie Turner to such an extent that the lives of all three main protagonists are shattered forever. The events that follow are where Atonement really hits its stride.

Robbie is mistakenly accused of a terrible crime he did not commit by Briony and spends the next four years languishing in jail, separated from Cecilia, but accepts the chance to enlist during World War II when the only alternative is to remain in jail. The second part of the novel details Robbie’s tour of duty at the tail end of the Allied retreat across France to Dunkirk in 1940.

The British retreat from France is not described heroically. Rather, McEwan tells it like it was. An absolute shambles. A retreat in defeat with hardly a vestige of ‘the Dunkirk spirit’ in evidence. Historically and logistically, Dunkirk is regarded as a success but McEwan really slams home that it was every man for himself at the time as chaos reigned. Something in the British psyche at the time, at the lowest ebb of World War II for the Allies, turned defeat into a glorious victory in the retelling.

McEwan had access to Imperial War Museum unpublished letters and journals from soldiers serving in 1940 and uses this material to devastating effect to illustrate how inglorious the retreat actually was, with the Allies leaving the French and wounded colleagues at the mercy of the advancing German army. On the eve of his planned rescue Robbie Turner sits with fellow soldiers and inwardly muses, “All day we’ve witnessed each other’s crimes. You killed no one today? But how many did you leave to die? Down here in the cellar we’ll keep quiet about it.”

Now a nurse helping with the war effort, Briony realises how badly she misinterpreted events years earlier and sets out to find salvation for all by atoning for her ‘crime’ that led to lovers Robbie & Cecilia being cruelly separated. She approaches her long estranged sister Cecilia, now also a nurse in London, to attempt to explain her misguided actions and set things right.

Surprisingly the movie adaptation of Atonement excises most of the retreat from France by Robbie and his comrades and focuses on the first section of the book detailing the events leading to Briony’s understanding of the power she wielded as a young writer with a vivid imagination and now a much older, wiser author. Even more surprisingly this works well and as result it is one of the few examples where reading the book will not preclude enjoyment of the movie and vice versa.

Male readers should cast aside any pride they have in refusing to read what is essentially a love story. Female readers should cast aside any prejudice they hold against rail-thin Keira Knightley’s casting as Cecilia Tallis. She actually gives a career best performance in the movie adaptation. Atonement is that kind of book. The material transcends any possible miscasting. Story is all. Atonement is flat-out brilliant.

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