Helpful Score: 4
Margaret Atwood always makes me look at the world of women with new eyes. This story focuses on girls and their ability to hurt one another so deeply that a lifetime later, the wounds are just beginning to heal.
Helpful Score: 4
Told from the point of view of a middle-aged Canadian painter as she waffles back and forth in time, digging up memories from her childhood and young adulthood in Toronto to present day when she has returned to the city for a showing of her paintings at a local gallery. A poignant and sometimes painful book about childhood and about life; about living and loving and loss, and how it is indeed possible to miss what never was. Atwood has a magical way with words and despite the childhood part of the book being set in post-WWII Canada, I could easily relate to much of what she described. Excellent read, highly recommended.
Helpful Score: 4
It's classic margaret Atwood at her best -- the story of a woman in her fifties coming to terms with being a woman, an artist, a wife, and a friend. It bounces back and forth between the story of her relationships with her childhood friends and her brother, and her later life as a grown woman with a husband and children of her own. Atwood as usual can really get into a woman's head.
Helpful Score: 3
This is an excellent book--well written. It's the story of a young girl, her experiences with her friends and family while growing up. I did't want the book to end.
Helpful Score: 3
Returning to the city of her youth for a retrospective of her art, controversial painter Elaine Risley is engulfed by vivid images of the past. Strongest of all is the figure of Cordelia, leader of the trio of girls who initiated her into the fierce politics of childhood and its secret world of friendship, longing, and betrayal. Elaine must come to terms with her own identity as a daughter, a lover, an artist, and a woman - but above all, she must seek release from Cordelia's haunting memory. Disturbing, hilarious, and compassionate, Cat's Eye is a breathtaking contemporary novel of a woman grappling with the tangled knot of her life.