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Title: Wildly overrated
Review: Having heard that Atonement was a 'masterpiece' it is possible that I went in with expectations which were too high. Also, I'd recently read Jo Walton's Farthing which I can absolutely qualify as a masterpiece - engaging, chilling, compelling - and Atonement didn't compare at all favorably.It's a meandering tale which, by my lights, suffers from having the major plot point captured in the summary. You know Briony makes a terrible error in judgment and the book belabors it over, and over, and over. The 'twist' at the end was the only point at which the novel 'grabbed' me and by then it was too little, too late.I expect the novel will make a great film because you can hack out enormous chunks of it and not miss a thing.
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