I read this book after watching the movie by mistake. It wasn't until I loved the movie and looked more into it that I figured out it was a movie based on a book. I knew I had to read the book, and the next time I was in a bookstore, I purchased it and began to read.
McEwan has such an interesting writing style. This is my first book of his that I've read, and I'm encouraged to read more because I was captivated by his way with words. It's hard to describe exactly what gives me this feeling, but reading the book was a similar experience to watching the movie. In the way McEwan details scenes, characters, movement, emotions, dialogue, etc., feels like stage directions in a script. This makes me feel like by reading the book, I'm actually watching a movie that's been written out for me. I loved it. Usually I like the freedom to visualize scenery and characters myself, and when I started the book, I thought I was going to be disappointed when I was handed every description and the exact way I should visualize everything. However, as I kept reading and the scenes became more complex and characters really started developing, I appreciated the spoon-feeding of detail. I didn't have to guess what McEwan was aiming for; he gave it to me exactly as he wanted.
While this was like reading a movie, it was a completely different experience from watching the movie. Aside from the obvious differences of book v. movie, the way in which I viewed characters was altered. Because McEwan gave us so much of Briony, I was able to understand her actions a little bit more. He gave us her every thought and reasoning and showed us how she reached her conclusions and how she defended her decision. This made her not as despicable as I found her in the movie. What she did was most certainly deplorable but slightly more understandable.
However, just when I reached that conclusion of Briony, McEwan threw more against her with the scene with Robbie and Briony's attempted drowning to see if Robbie would save her. In this scene she also confesses her love for Robbie, leading readers to believe that is the main reason why she did what she did. The problem is that this comes from Robbie's perspective, and based on the rest of the novel, I can't decide whether or not to believe this happened. I'm conflicted.
I love the ending of the novel especially. Briony returning to the "scene of the crime" to celebrate a birthday, the acting out of her first play, which was to be put on that first night, and all of the thoughts we get from her to wrap up the whole story.
I ended the book with a full disgust for Briony. She did wrong, she waited five years to even attempt to atone for them, and even then, she waited 60+ years to actually begin the process of telling the truth, and then because of liability, she can't publish her work until the criminals are dead, and at that point, she admits, she too will be gone, thus avoiding all scandal and blame. And what she ends up with isn't even the full truth. She changes Robbie and Cecilia's story for what purpose? To make herself feel better? To make her seem less a villian? I can understand wanting them to be happy and writing a story in a way that ends with them happy, but I think it's unfair that their true story is never told. While Briony thinks she's atoned for what she did, I find that not to be the case. She'll get to die completely unjudged by everyone involved. At least she'll die with the guilt of the lives she ruined.
I love the passion this book makes me feel. As you might be able to tell, I'm so angry at Briony, and I appreciate any book that can do that for me. I definitely need to read more McEwan.
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