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One reader's thoughts as she steps from book to book.
Books I've Finished
- "A Christmas Memory"
- by Truman Capote 12/8/12
- "Child's Christmas in Wales"
- by Dylan Thomas 12/7/12
- "One Christmas"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- "The Thanksgiving Visitor"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- Inside Mrs. B's Classroom
- by Leslie Baldacci 11/28/12
- The Bee Eater
- by Richard Whitmire 11/15/12
- There Are No Shortcuts
- by Rafe Esquith 10/28/12
- I'd Like to Apologize to
- Every Teacher I Ever Had
- by Tony Danza 10/21/12
- Corked
- by Kathryn Borel 10/15/12
- Year of Learning Dangerously
- by Quinn Cummings 9/30/12
- A Hologram for the King
- by Dave Eggers 8/23/12
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- by Harper Lee 7/18/12
About Me
- Christine
- I often have a few books with bookmarks in them at once. I enjoy classics more than contemporary works of fiction, often read historical fiction, and love to get glimpses into other people's lives by reading memoirs and biographies.
8 comments:
I went home sick yesterday, and finished the book as well. I was already toward the end. Cam told me that Mel finished it, in case she does not see the blog. Then I watched the movie.
Well, I've been waiting for you all to finish because I read it awhile ago, and the lasting impressions are all from the end. Briony in the hospital has stayed with me; the incredibly depressing/touching scene between her and the young man with the head wound. I don't have my copy to quote. When she carries in her first stretcher and can barely hold on, my fists were clenched! Then, of course, we must discuss Briony's self-edit of the original ending, what a gut punch. Sophia, did you think the movie captured the essence of the book?
Okay, first of all, Sophia alerted me to the fact that the twins were not the ones who roughed up Lola the day of the dinner party. I had totally accepted that they did. I didn't get that she was attacked earlier by the same man. I also missed that Paul Marshall had a scratch by his eye at dinner. Very close reading on my part. Duh.
I thought that Robbie should have been more upset/embarrassed when he realized that he had sent the crude note to Cecelia. I understand that a part of him was like, "Oh well, I guess I'll find out now how she feels about me," but I think a bigger part of him would have been like, "OH MY GOD" and that he would have been sick that she was going to be disgusted or furious or embarrasssed.
If she had flinched for a moment, I might agree. But she does not, does she/ She conveys immediately that it is alright, what he has done. Plus, she is bothered by Briony reading it. perhaps the terse behavior earlier, with the vase, was so unsettling - being that they are old friends and unexplainably at odds with each other - that the note comes as a relief - an explaination...and that the message behind it's crudeness overrides the mistake of the writing. Personally, I would have died of embarrassing shock on the spot.
The scene in the hospital with the french boy made me cry in the book, and reflect on Briony going through some personal passage in the movie - is it the first time a man speaks lovingly of her in her entire life? Coming from a dying dillusional soldier? She still allows his words to compliment her, even after recognizing her misunderstanding of his mental state - very moving.
I didn't cry once in the book. That kind of surprised me.
Part II, the explanation of Robbie's time in the war is well done and moved me more than anything else. It made me think of All Quiet on the Western Front, but I don't think I ever even read that. Maybe I saw some of the movie.
Part III is quite a jump. Briony is no longer a child and has the whole world come crashing down on her when the wounded and dying soldiers are brought to the hospital where she has been training. I just didn't know what to make of her meeting with Cecelia and Robbie. Too much has happened, too much time has gone by. I didn't feel like I knew or cared about the characters as much anymore. Who were they, anyway?
Then I felt further distanced by the novel-within-a-novel device. I don't like too much fancy fiction all up in my grill, let alone fiction within fiction. By the time I got to the part that takes place in 1999, I didn't feel much for anyone.
And as far as "atonement," there is no atonement. Briony seems satisfied with her confession, but it is too little too late.
I find that the fact that she has to create the moment with Cecelia and Robbie - that she has to go back and gloss an ending to the story - the one that she thinks the reader wants, provides some compensation for her soul. Her atonement is the hospital work, and the final telling of the true story, since she never confesses to the people who count the most - she never pulls it together to see her sister after his death - you think that would have helped a little. I was saying to Laura that I thought the movie did the book a few favors in editing the very end down to her interview, and not a long drawn out revisit to the house - I was a little tired by then, where the movie deals with it more economically. I think that the movie, by editing down the periods of time, loses some elegant moments that are in the book, but tells the story more easily. I did miss the descriptive passages of wartime, and the hospital.
That note. I'm not sure how I would have responded. I think a lot goes unsaid about their previous relationship. Robbie's sentiments in the note obviously coincided with Celia's own feelings, allowing her to accept it with little shock. She was more upset that Briony dared to read it than about how it would affect a child. Celia's ability to hold a grudge was impressive. I did cry during the scene with the dying soldier in the hospital. The compassion lacking in the child is now evident in the woman she's become. She's matured. As far as atonement, it's about her desire for it and her attempts to gain it. It's left up to us. Does she ever forgive herself? What about Paul and Lola, and their life of charity work. Do you think they were trying to atone for their actions? The missed years are not a problem for me. I don't know that I would want to follow Briony's emotional growth step by step. It's what the passage of time has NOT changed for the characters involved that interests me. Lastly, I loved the movie.
Nicely put, Laura. I was thinking about the political aspect of the domino effect Briony's confession would have in light of the fact that Paul is a powerful businessman - that must be taken into account, if not emotionally, then at least realistically. If Lola and Briony had confessed his true identity, it would have been a disaster for both families, as Paul's family would have taken it to court and fought bitterly. And what word is a child's? Against the groundskeeper's son with a unfortunate letter, something...against big business...hmmm. I like the idea/thought that the atonement is up for us to decide...because it's true that whereas she had many moments afterwards where she could have confessed, she did not...
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