July 17, 2011
I did not like this book because I couldn't stand the protagonist. She's rude, self-absorbed, and doesn't live in the real world. She believed that if she wrote Robbie and Cecilia a happy ending, then that would atone for her being a lying brat. I don't think she ever truly realized the extent of devastation that her lies created. Two innocent lovers died, never having the opportunity to live a loving and fulfilled life. She also let a pedophile get away with raping a child. She destroyed the relationship between the Tallis family and Miss Turner. In my eyes, she is a coward because she had multiple chances to come clean and apologize, but she never did. She waited until everyone involved was dead and buried before confessing. And even when she waited until everyone died, she still made excuses about why she had to wait to come clean. It's almost as if the author is trying to redeem her to the reader in her interaction with the soldier in part two. I wanted to believe she redeemed herself, but even then I didn't really feel confident that she had. Even though she was a child when she committed these sins, I don't think she really learned anything from any of it. As an adult, she knew right from wrong yet she continued to ignore her role in it by not making it right. Yes, she wrote Robbie and Cecilia a happy ending, but WE know, and Briony knows, that they never got that.
So why wrote a book in this style? What is the message to the reader? Why push this annoying self center BRATTY child into our faces? If we take Briony out of the story how does the story change? Is it better or worse?
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