Upon release, the book was generally well-received among the British press.[5][6] The Guardian gave the novel an average rating of 7.4 out of 10 based on reviews from multiple British newspapers.[7] The Daily Mail gave it a five out of ten and critiqued the second half of the book calling the first half "far superior".[7] Sunday Telegraph praised the work and gave it an eight out of ten, highlighting its "blazing originality".[7] The book was also very well-received amongst American press. According to Bookmarks, the book received "rave" reviews based on 10 critic reviews with 9 being "rave" and 1 being "positive". The New Republic called it McEwan's "finest and most complex novel". The New Yorker praised the work calling the writing "conspicuously good", but also criticized the writing saying "this goodness turns out to be, eventually, a subject of criticism in a droll show of artistic self-reference".[8] In Literary Review, Martyn Bedford wrote: "The skill and compassion that McEwan invests in the unfolding of this tragic love story are exceptional."[9] Globally, the work was received generally well with Complete Review saying on the consensus "Only a few with a few reservations -- but most are very, very impressed".[10]
Atonement was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize for fiction. It was also shortlisted for the 2001 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 2001 Whitbread Novel Award. It won the 2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for fiction, the 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the 2002 WH Smith Literary Award, the 2002 Boeke Prize and the 2004 Santiago Prize for the European Novel.[11] In its 1000th issue, Entertainment Weekly named the novel #82 on its list of the 100 best books from 1983 to 2008. Additionally, Time named it the best fiction novel of the year and included it in its All-Time 100 Greatest Novels.[12] The Observer cites it as one of the 100 greatest novels ever written, calling it "a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction."[13] In 2019, the novel was ranked 41st on The Guardian's list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.[14] In 2022, The Telegraph included it on its list of the "100 greatest novels of all time", this time with the motivation "McEwan put the 'c' word in the classic English country-house novel."[15]
