Reviews tagging 'War'

Expiation by Ian McEwan

67 reviews

mezzoanddolce's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Three stars, the extra half star is for Robbie & Cecilia.

Gosh, I'm a mess. This book is so good. It honestly took me a while to get into it. The beginning is long and my dislike of Briony didn't help contribute to my liking it, but i cant help but think that this book is a masterpiece in some ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Medical content, and War

Moderate: Dementia and Death

_juju's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A lot of flourish language that makes the story hard to follow, in my opinion, even after being familiar with the story through the movie. really slow pace but split into three parts to make it easy to know what stage you were at. the first part was very unique and set the seen well. the ending and narrator reveal felt rushed.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

arifairy's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Blood

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

milele23's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Rape

Moderate: Violence, Cursing, War, and Death

Minor: Blood and Toxic relationship

It is a moderately good book for the study of English Literature, despite the bad language. It contains a lot of high level vocabulary and the narrative shifts often. It can be a bit long winded at times, but stick with it, see it through and decide the verdict for yourself.

milenasbooknook's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Cursing

sarah2438's review against another edition

4.0

I understand that Briony is a fictional character, but that's not gonna stop her from being public enemy #1.
I started this book knowing basically nothing about it except that a selfish little girl ruined everyone's lives and yeah, that's right. But as anticipated, this book is critically acclaimed for a reason. It took me a while to get into-- Briony is so damn pretentious as a child, the font is tiny, and unimportant details are dragged out for quite a while-- but I can absolutely see the merit and came to love/hate it as I binged it on this fine Saturday. I don't think I'm as critical of a reader as I maybe should be, so I'm sure there's all manner of analysis I should be doing, but I am simply a vibes reader.
I recommend, but be in the right headspace and know that this book probably won't give you an ounce of joy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Gore

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Rape and Dementia

vic_ct's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed this book even though I’ve seen some super valid criticism when reading reviews after finishing. I enjoyed the slow pace of the start of the novel and the going through a single day - it was a day that changed all of their lives and the deep detail made sense and I also thought the writing was very evocative! I had no idea of the plot going in but I knew something bad was going to happen so I was on edge waiting to see what it would be.  

Despite being called atonement, I’m not sure if any atoning was done. I think my biggest flag is the victim blaming following the rape and definitely a TW for rape and violence / gorey injuries.

In a way it was like reading two different books - one set on the first day and one set over a longer period of time during WWII and I don’t think I connected the characters together that well. But overall I really liked it and thought Briony and the look into upper class life in the pre war years were really interesting

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and War

stuckduck's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

sadiaa's review against another edition

emotional

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Classism, Terminal illness, War, Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Death, Gaslighting, and Dementia

laina_olive's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Animal death, and Death