Atonement
The movie adaptation of this book came out in high school, at a time when my friends and I were all obsessed with Keira Knightley. (Or at least one friend in particular was, and the rest of us got dragged into the obsession.) Naturally, we watched it, and then several friends read the book (possibly as an AP English assignment). Their consensus was that it left them feeling like they'd never be happy again. I was pretty entrenched in fantasy and fan-fiction at the time, so I never sought it out. Fast forward to last year when someone in my book club nominated it. We didn't end up choosing it, but it reminded me that I'd always half meant to read it. I liked the movie, and it seemed worth picking up the book. So even though my book club ultimately chose not to read it, I bought it at the next used book sale I went to. So maybe it's just that my expectations were too high. Or maybe I'm too stressed out at the moment to find enjoyment in what promises to be a deepl...