I found it very hard to decide how I felt about Brionny. Cecelia was just plain annoying, but you can't help but pity her, especially given the way she dies. And I defy anyone not to fall in love with Robbie (this is especially a risk when watching the film ). The tragedy of their romance, lives and deaths is almost too much to deal with. But Brionny??

Was it her fault?....well, yes, some of it was. She should have got her facts straight and it was blatantly obvious to anyone with half a functioning brain cell that she liked to make things up and fantasised about Robbie as being some kind of knight in shining armour. Old enough too, to know right from wrong but young enough to get her wires crossed about things she just doesn't (and shouldn't at that age) understand.
But the adults, well, surely they would do more than take a 13 year old girl's word for it. They really did an appalling job of investigating. Thank goodness we have a better legal system now!!

The parts that remain with me after reading are the war scenes, the painful imagery of Dunkirk and the horrible fate those men faced.

I had no idea that what I was reading was Briony's story, that she was the narrator. How sad to discover Robbie and Cecilia never met again. Like Nicnic, I was appalled at how easily Robbie was condemned, but am not surprised. Silly girl handing out Cecilia's letter (what a great letter - the doing and undoing of his union with Cecilia). His brilliant future in tatters - he deserved to succeed, yet look at the course of events his life took. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I feel that they never got to be together; that he never got to lick the indent in Cecilia's shoulder (or words to that effect). I could feel the passion he had for her burning from the pages Silly, silly Briony, she really annoyed me, yet I got to like her almost when she became a nurse.

There's a part of me that wasn't convinced at Cecilia's and Robbie's attraction at first, but I was as the book progressed. I imagine this'll come across better in the film. It'll be interesting to see how the book is translated to film. Can't wait.

The more I think about it, the more cheated I feel at discovering Briony Tallis is the author of the story. Cheated because she's an unreliable witness therefore an unreliable narrator? I think so. Now I'll never know exactly what happened to Robbie and Cecilia, and Briony was so vague at the end of the novel as to whether she and Cecilia ever met again.

It's not just Briony to blame for Cee and Robbie's separation. Amazing how you can be so sure of your future, yet events can conspire to dramatically change your life for the worse. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I want what happened in the novel to have happened, not just be Briony's imagined account. When we last see Robbie, I did wonder then if he was dying. So tragic.

McEwan's description is amazing, I felt. I couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding for the main characters by the way he described everything, mainly the house, as past its best, and in a state of decline. this book will stay with me for some time.

The scene in the flat when Robbie comes out of the bathroom feels slightly unreal, and it didn’t quite make sense that he was fit and well, when at the hospital those returning from France were in desperate need of medical attention (although that may now all be with the benefit of hindsight).
I really want to reread this one at some point, as I think it will be a different experience now that I know that Briony is the narrator (I had absolutely no idea all the way through the book that this was the case). I don’t tend to reread books anymore, as there are always so many good books out there waiting to be read, but I think that I will make a definite effort to reread this one, perhaps in the New Year.

Yes Mcalpindale, you're right about Robbie being too well when he walks from the bedroom. I expected him to turn up in one of the hospitals, but didn't question it when he appeared at Cecilia's place. Thinking about it, it makes sense he died of scepticaemia (sp). When Briony removes shrapnel from one of the patients' legs she explains they'll contaminate his bloodstream if they stay in. And we know Robbie had shrapnel embedded in his side (I could feel it) so maybe that's Ian McEwan's way of telling us he died? In reality we have no idea what happened to Robbie, whether he had shrapnel lodged in his body..

Like alot of others I found it slow at the beginning but was gripped by the end. I disliked Briony intensely at the beginning & saw her as a precocius little madam but I grew to like Briony as an adult & think the guilt she lived with was a punishment of sorts, but probably not enough. So wanted Cecilia & Robbie to get back together. For some reason I always knew she was the narrator. I'm still confused though by the part about her cousin Lola & the american (can't remember his name).
Even though they married eventually did he assault her that night or was it consensual?? She claimed the marks on her wrists & the scratches were from her brothers before the lake incident. This also makes her & the american guy as guilty as Briony. Just read through some other reviews on this book & only realised that the draft of a novel Briony sent to the publisher's & had a long rejection letter from was the novel she later wrote. An interesting book which I think I could reread one day so it's a keeper. Can't wait to see the film as it's meant to be quite faithful to the book. Not a huge fan of Keira K (she definitely needs feeding), but the guy playing Robbie's a bit of an alright!