Maggie Stiefvater's Reviews > Atonement

As a thought exercise, a puzzle-in-narrative-form, I liked it very, very much. I see what you did, McEwan, and you did it very well.

As a novel, I didn't like it very much at all.

Your mileage may vary.

(I did not see the film, but I assume it's more lush and romantic, as it surely must rely less on the clever trick of the prose-version and more on the narrated events, which are very overwrought and passionate when taken at face value).