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Original poster

Can anyone explain the ending of Atonement to me?

34 replies

Boyswillbeboys · 12/10/2008 14:11

I've finally got round to reading the book, and haven't seen the film so not sure if it ends the same. I am a bit confused though ..
Did Briony tell her parents in the end? Did Robbie and Cecilia really survive the war? If they did, why didn't they come to her birthday party? And if she DID tell the truth, why was Pierrot there - surely he would have been loyal to Lola?

OP posts:
Anna8888 · 12/10/2008 20:32

The story about Robbie and Cecilia surviving the war is a literary device to prolong the story and tell it as it might have happened. The reader gets much more involved with the characters and is therefore all the more distressed when they die.

There wouldn't have been much of a novel if that bit hadn't been included.

Original poster
Boyswillbeboys · 12/10/2008 20:31

Do you mean they never even managed to meet up again at Cecilia's lodgings or did they both die after that? I definitely think it is unclear.

OP posts:
janeite · 12/10/2008 20:29

I thought it was a rubbish book but I didn't think that the ending was ambiguous - they were both dead.

Anna8888 · 12/10/2008 20:26

No ambiguity in either the book or the film - Robbie and Cecilia did not survive the war.

CorpseBrideOfJohnCusack · 12/10/2008 20:25

oh
I completely agree with KT14 but didn't think there was any ambiguity about it!

kt14 · 12/10/2008 19:53

I've only read the book, keep meaning to get the film out. I personally don't think they did survive the war, I think Briony was giving them a better ending by rewriting history in her account of what happened. We discussed it in our book group and everyone had a different opinion though, that's just mine!

Original poster
Boyswillbeboys · 12/10/2008 14:21

I loved the book but the ending was such a disappointment! I must see the film now .. I think Kiera Knightley is good casting for Cecilia, in terms of the description at least, I hope she lives up to my expectations on screen. I like to hope they did get together in the end but in real life it would be more likely that he died in the war and she could quite easily have died in the bombings.

OP posts:
MrsMattie · 12/10/2008 14:18

Thought it was a cop out

LIZS · 12/10/2008 14:14

It is deliberately ambiguous ! If you see the film you get a more categoric ending