'Atonement' - new and improved!

Ok so Ian McEwan's 'Atonement' was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize. But 'The House at Riverton' by Kate Morton was the winner of Richard & Judy's 2007 summer read! No contest if you ask me!



I read the Atonement last year when I joined the book club at my previous workplace. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if we didn't have to read it - seemed a bit too much of a period drama yawn fest for me. And it was. Until I got to the second part of the novel. This is when it really picked up speed and I found myself really getting drawn in. Like a good movie, when I read a good book I seem to get emotionally attached to the characters. I feel what they feel, I cry, I laugh - I become a bit of a wreck and can't stop reading. Sometimes I even feel a twinge of disappointment when I reach my final stop on the tube. Yes, I really am THAT BAD.

So yeah, I experienced 'all the feelings' when reading Atonement. I was sad when it was over and surprised by the ending, all in all, a 'pretty good book' - *yawn*. Actually, a few people that I've spoken to couldn't finish the book cos the first half is just so boring. Apart from the 'C' word which slaps you in the face a few chapters in. Oh and the sex scene. But apart from that, feeling the wow factor I am not.

The House at Riverton is oh so similar to Atonement. Set in the early 1900s. Grand old family live in a grand old house. There's an older brother and two younger sisters. The older brother is especially close to the eldest sister. The sisters have a thing for the same man. Said man loves older sister. Little sister is a pain in the ass and messes everything up. Oh yeah, and the war - the backdrop for both books which serves to ruin everything. (Pretty grim I know).

I guess that sums up Atonement in a nutshell - and basically The House at Riverton also. Except that The House at Riverton is all that and so much more!! I think it's everything that Atonement could have been, but just didn't quite make it. It's laced with secrets and love and pain - and the ending is just so heart-wrenchingly unexpected. I grew familiar with the characters in the Atonement - but I was attached to Emmeline, Hannah and Grace in Riverton, I was so upset when the book was over!! I wanted it to carry on. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time.

If you haven't already, read it!