Alias Grace

I absolutely, 100% loooved this book!

Alias Grace is based on the true story of Grace Marks with a fictional narrative. In 1842, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery were murdered. Grace Marks and James McDermott, servants of Kinnear, were convicted of the murder. Despite all this, Grace believes herself to be innocent. She doesn't remember the murder. And this novel reveals how, exactly, this came to be and how the murders were committed, as Grace tells her story, her memories, to psychiatrist Dr Jordan. [Not for reals, though, ya'll. This is a work of FICTION] Like Grace's quilt, her story has a pattern which slowly reveals itself to the reader.  It's a great book. Go check it out from your library. You'll love it. 

The Blind Assassin

"A fist is worth more than the sum of its fingers"

Set in present day Canada, we read the story of sisters Iris and Laura in flashbacks working their way to the present. It definitely resounds as a Margaret Atwood novel, but it mostly reminded my of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.  It's a story within a story, not only of the present and finding the secrets of the past, but another story, of science fiction that resembles reality. There is, as always, a gradual revelation to the truth. 

I found The Blind Assassin to be rather captivating, and while I could put it down, it took some persuasion. It's a puzzle of a novel, and I highly recommend it!

The Tent

The Tent  is set up like a book of short stories; Atwood prefers to call them "mini-fictions", but to me, they almost seem like brainstorming blurbs, spurts of inspiration, or trains of though. This is definitely the weirdest and least favorite of my Atwood reading so far. I did like the following: "Three Books I won't write soon", "Bring Back Mom", "Tree Baby", and "But it could still". I especially like that in "But it could still" it gives the message that despite everything, it could still turn out alright. "Tree Baby" was also very touching. 

These little redeeming gems, though, didn't overcome the rest of the drudgery that just didn't work for me. 

Cat's Eye

Of all of Margaret Atwood's novels, Cat's Eye is most close to The Robber Bride. It's got a similar setting and similar characters, but it's more of a coming-of-age story. To be honest, I kept expecting a Jodi Picoult-style twist, and it never came. Like The Robber Bride, Cat's Eye is mostly told in flashbacks, starting with WWII, as it approaches the present of the 1980s, and discusses many of the cultural changes at that time, especially feminism. 

I really liked Cat's Eye, but at the same time, I kept waiting for the twist, waiting for the "so what?" of the story. It was good, but not my favorite Atwood. It was the Atwood version of a mean girls story, and how one must work to overcome it, but I didn't really like or need the grown up point-of-view. I felt like it didn't add too much to the story, but at the same time, we couldn't see the growth and change without the difference of time. 

So, it didn't really live up to my expectations, but at the same time, I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it. I did enjoy it and I recommend it as a coming-of-age or coming-to-terms-with-life novel. 

Read on! 

The Robber Bride

The Robber Bride is a different sort of novel than what I was expecting from Margaret Atwood, but it was still a hard book to put down! The title references 
the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale: The Robber Bridegroom which I had never heard of before, but you can read here. 


Atwood is writing to her age group in this tale, which is an older deomgraphic than I usually read, but it was still intrinsically an Atwood novel.  The narrative rotates between three old friends, Tony, Charis, and Roz, as well as the past and the present.  The three women are tied together by one more woman, Zenia, and the university the four attended.  Zenia, the dead and the vil, ties these women together as she destroys their lives, betrays them completely, but she never gets a chance to tell her story (though I would have loved a Zenia point-of-view!). 


The women think they have moved past Zenia and the pain she has caused, until they see her while they're out to lunch, or at least, they think they do. Is Zenia still alive? And how can she hurt them now? 


As I already said, I could hardly put this down.  This was a great novel. I loved it. Read it & read on!

The Year of the Flood

 "So, if you were making the world, you'd make it better?" I said. Better than God, was 

what I meant.  All of a sudden I was feeling pious, like Bernice.  Like a Gardener.  

"Yes," he said. "As a matter of fact, I would."

The Year of the Flood is slated as a sequel to Oryx and Crake; it's really more of a companion novel in my mind. It follows the forward-backward/past&present structure, as well as time frame, of Oryx and Crake with different characters. The Year of the Flood wraps up the cliffhanger of Oryx and Crake, which was very good. It's interesting, however, that when I read Oryx and Crake I wanted it to end one way, but with The Year of the Flood I wanted a different ending, luckily the one Margaret gave me!  

The characters of The Year of the Flood belong to a religious group, almost a cult, called "God's Gardeners." The story is told from multiple points of view of women from the gardeners. I found these characters much more relateable than Jimmy and Crake. Possibly because of their gender. Possibly because of the way it was written. Possibly because they are more relateable. However, the storyline was not as exciting as Oryx and Crake, (because I already knew what was coming?)  but I really like and recommend this novel!

Read on!

Oryx and Crake

In The Handmaid's Tale, society chose to embrace religion. In Oryx and Crake, science, technology, and evolution are the focus of society. Oryx and Crake begins with Snowman as the narrator and continues to unfold with Snowman in the present and flashbacks to Jimmy and Crake as they grow from young boys into men while science continues to take leaps and bounds developmentally. New animals are created. Society promotes extreme commercialization & sex and pornography are an easily accessible commodity. (reader beware!) 


Crake is perfect for this society. He's practically a scientific prodigy. Jimmy, on the other hand, is not. He is much better at art, and there's a little bit of the Science v Art conflict present in the novel. Crake is a manipulative, cunning, and calculating man with pure intentions. Jimmy is his loving, innocent minion.  


I really enjoyed reading Oryx and Crake. It's a definite page turner, waiting to see how the two stories meet. It's great! Read on!

The Handmaid's Tale

In the very same class where Feed was required reading, we were also introduced to The Handmaid's Tale. A post-apocalyptic novel of a newly formed utopia, which only brings misery and pain, serving as a dystopia, to many liberals of the 80s, including Offred, the handmaid in the title.  In a backlash of feminism, the Republic of Gilead is formed and is based on and governed by Old Testament manner and moral. Anyone who cannot conform to the new ways or lived differently in the past is subject to punishment, exile, or death. 


In this reformed government and society, Offred, and women like her, are separated from their families and made to serve as handmaids. They loose their entire person. Even their names are changed. Offred simply means she is of Fred. As in he is her master. She is handmaid to his wife. Handmaids as in the biblical sense. As in Sariah couldn't have a baby, so she offered her handmaiden to Abraham to produce an heir. Many of the women in the new Republic of Gilead are like Sariah and too old too have babies, and many of the babies made, even by the handmaids, are sickly. Offred's job is to make a baby for Fred and his wife. And this is Offred's story.


The Handmaid's Tale is a very interesting book to read. It's crazy to see how a society can take things too far while trying to to do good. I highly recommend this book to those of ya'll who like post-apocalyptic and utopia/dystopian-style.