I bought this book in the Aberdeen airport on the way back from the recent golfing extravaganza. I was trying to rid myself of Scottish pounds.

 

The main reason I bought it was because of the author - Ian McEwan. I felt like I remembered reading good things about him in an issue of “The Atlantic”.

 

The book took less than a week to read. It is a story about three people whose destinies are tragically changed by the perceptions and decisions of an imaginative 13 year old who had to spend the rest of her life atoning for her mistake.

 

The setting is England before, during, and after WWII. A good portion of the book is spent describing one soldier’s experience of the retreat at Dunkirk. I considered that part good war writing and was comfortably reminded to be thankful that we haven’t had calamities like that in my lifetime.

 

Large parts of the book are hard to distinguish from what I imagine those grocery store novels for housewives must be like. I’ve never actually read such a book so I can’t be sure. In any case, McEwan’s use of  words and metaphors kept me turning the pages.

 

In one section I liked particularly well, McEwan had one of the main characters, Briony, think her way through some of the most difficult philosophical problems that have occupied thinkers for millennia. Just two pages of plain, accessible English served to summarize pretty much all of what I’ve learned through many years of reading philosophy. That’s a sign of good art.

 

McEwan used a technique I’ve never encountered before. It seems so obvious, however, that someone must have thought of it a long time ago. Many of the scenes were described from the three points of view of the protagonists. It was very effective and illuminated well why there are so many misunderstandings in the world.

 

I liked it and will probably by another McEwan book in the future.