#8 Atonement pt 2

Ok I finally finished Atonement  today. As I said before, I was slow to get into the story. I don't know if it's because I knew the story line from seeing the movie or maybe I just had too much going on that day. However once I was about 100 pages in I was able to really connect with the story and found myself trying to make more time to read it. I also found that despite knowing how it turns out in the end, it still broke my heart. Of course I felt awful for Robbie and Cecelia and the direction their lives and love took but I really connected with Briony. I've made mistakes and lived with the guilt that came from it but nothing to the magnitude of hers. Her guilt was all consuming and so immense, it was almost palpable, and she carried it for her entire life. The idea of living like that forever and never being able to make proper amends is really just unimaginable and it hurt my heart. All in all I truly enjoyed the book. I think it was a great place to start my journey, even if it made me depressed for the rest of the day.