Recent Reading: Ian McEwan's 'Atonement'

AltTulsa believes in the power of fiction, the ability of the literary imagination to locate human truths and to illuminate the moral dilemmas of contemporary life.

This brings us to Ian McEwan's novel Atonement. The book, published in 2003 (we're really slow readers), is serious literary fiction and McEwan is a gifted storyteller and master stylist. 

We were impressed with McEwan's ability to probe the complex inner life of his characters, spinning out their desires and fears in sparkling sentences of rare beauty.

Sometimes, McEwan is a tad too British in his language and manner, but this is a minor issue easily forgiven. We recommend Atonement for its deeply human insights and moral complexity, qualities that led to its adaptation as a film, which we haven't seen.

Speaking of McEwan, he turned up on NPR yesterday to talk about his new novel, Solar. The NPR link is here. Recommended listening for the literary types out there.