Worthy of its Booker nomination

This is the second of McEwan's novels I have read, following "Enduring Love" and I am rapidly becoming a fan.

At first sight this book is very different to Enduring Love in that it is a period piece set in 1930s England featuring an adolescent narrator. However, the setting of the book is merely a vehicle for the author to delve into the motivations, desires and psychology of his characters in a satisfyingly complete and credible analysis.

I wont reveal the nature of the plot or the "atonement" of the title, however the story revolves around the family life of 13 year-old Briony and her relations, both immediate and removed at a period of England's history where politics, in the form of WW2 and social class play a central part in shaping destinies.

As the book unfolds first Briony, then her older sister Cecilia and her (Cecilia's) lover Robbie all take on the role of narrator thus we see the world through a range of perspectives.

McEwan explores the propriety and accompanying hypocrisy of the class system and gently reveals much of the social history of the pre-war and wartime context. This is no history book however as the narrative is always vividly described and the climactic events, when they come, are handled with an almost detached nonchalance. No sensationalism for this author, he weaves the various themes of his story tightly, moving as he does from childish individuality to the imposition of responsibility during wartime.

Indeed, even the war, which plays a big part in the development of the story, is almost a backdrop against which McEwan effortlessly orchestrates his psychological analysis. he does not succumb to the temptation to either serialise nor focus on the war, it is merely a factor in the development of his characters and story. He describes locations and events to the extent that they are required to illuminate his players, indeed he does not stray to areas which might be of relevance to historians but would not impact on the characters, such is his control of setting.

McEwan's writing can be exemplified by a passage that still remains with me, a few weeks after finishing the novel. It is a description of something as trivial as moving a finger, but in the space of a paragraph or two he allows his narrator to consider whether the impulse to move the finger really does precede the actual movement or whether the movement attract's the brain's attention to the desire to have it moved. Clearly, he puts it much more elegantly than I ever could, but it is typical of the style of the writing that the curious, questioning teenage Briony should dwell on such philosophical quandries as her older colleagues appear to go about their mundane adult lives.

There are no real shocks beyond the coincidence which sparks off the train of events described in the book in the first place. In this way, at least, McEwan takes after Hardy at his most fateful in showing the potentially crucial implications of seemingly random events. The narration is, however, less contrived than Hardy and the use of symbolism considerably more muted.

The ending of the book smacked slightly of unnecessary sentimentalism and disappointed me, given the care McEwan had taken to paint his study of 3 interconnected lives, nevertheless it was brief enough to wash over me and not spoil the overall effect of the insightful writing.