Helpful Score: 2
Great earlier Atwood at her most feminist.
Helpful Score: 1
I read this in a Women's Lit class. Incredible book, though can be a bit confusing, but well worth the time and effort.
Helpful Score: 1
I read this in a Women's Literature class. I would've enjoyed it less without the guidance of the class instructor, who inundated us with recent Canadian history and culture that better contextualized this story.
What most impressed me was the quiet tone and ordinary phrasing that almost masked the pain of the narrator. The prose just flows smoothly, but there are memories and deeper meanings enough to choke on occasionally.
What most impressed me was the quiet tone and ordinary phrasing that almost masked the pain of the narrator. The prose just flows smoothly, but there are memories and deeper meanings enough to choke on occasionally.
Helpful Score: 1
Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors, and this book was just as well-written and evocative as any of her others. To an extent, however, given the themes of this book, it worked to its discredit. The protagonist is disconnected--both in a literal sense (going to an island in the Canadian wilds where the closest town is majority French-Canadian leaving her at a loss for most communication when she *does* go in) and emotionally (not making ties with those around her).
And given that it was a first person narrative and the themes of this disconnect were SO well-done, I really found I didn't care. It was easy to put the book aside and just stop forgetting about this woman who so effectively separated herself from so many others.
It was important and thought provoking, but I didn't like it.
And given that it was a first person narrative and the themes of this disconnect were SO well-done, I really found I didn't care. It was easy to put the book aside and just stop forgetting about this woman who so effectively separated herself from so many others.
It was important and thought provoking, but I didn't like it.
Helpful Score: 1
A must read for any Atwood fan.
Helpful Score: 1
Margaret Atwood has millions of fans the world over. But it's true that she is a writer of a certain type. She is one of the most intelligent and talented writers of the twentieth century. Her books require thought, they cannot simply be forced upon a person. At the same time I have to say that this is a compelling tale that you will not be able to set aside, even for a good night's sleep.
Helpful Score: 1
I was made to read this book for a Can Lit class in 1981. I still haven't forgiven the teacher. This book is not for everyone, neither is Margaret Atwood. I can't stand any of her other stuff, either.
Helpful Score: 1
Magical tough close to the boarder of the twilight zone but more feral more gaia, her fiction slips you again past the veil.awonderful writer sort of a cross between fay weldon and anis ninn.
some of the most skillful and darkly evocative prose ever written.
Amazing. A stunning and powerful read of a woman's self discovery.
I have to admit it has been years since I read this for my women's lit class. I found it to be refreshing at the time.
I have read nearly all of Atwood's works, including her poetry, and this is my second favorite of her entire collection of works.
I enjoyed this book by Atwood a lot more than The Handmaid's Tale. The characters seemed very realistic to me and the plot had a lot of depth and leaves a lot for reflection. It also covered issues of environmental, political and national. I found it very entertaining but also very complex at the same time. I would classify it as a must read.
A commercial artist in her twenties is summoned from the city to search for her father who lives on a remote lake in Quebec. Cool, attractive and attuned to an urban culture she returns to the Canadian wilderness of her childhood accompanied by three friends. She views Joe, her lover, from the side as the buffalo on the side of the U.S. nickel. The driver is David, blunt, glib, and, though married, sees women as prey. His wife, Ann, seeks to preserve her place as a woman and David's wife.
Accompanied by the three, she seeks to uncover her father's life prior to his disappearance. The novel is threaded with her reactions and emotions of her childhood. At the same time her urban friends view the little cabin and wilderness as heaven. This reader understood her reactions as I, too, grew up in an environment unlike the one I have lived in most of my life. As the story unfolds I realized that the author was sharing both memories and grief over the loss of another life at another time while searching for her father. It's a touching read that I find myself mulling over.
Accompanied by the three, she seeks to uncover her father's life prior to his disappearance. The novel is threaded with her reactions and emotions of her childhood. At the same time her urban friends view the little cabin and wilderness as heaven. This reader understood her reactions as I, too, grew up in an environment unlike the one I have lived in most of my life. As the story unfolds I realized that the author was sharing both memories and grief over the loss of another life at another time while searching for her father. It's a touching read that I find myself mulling over.
This was not one of her best. I couldn't relate to or like any of the characters and thought it to be rather disjointed. I was looking for one of her books to present to my book club but wouldn't recommend although many of our members were "there" during this period of time.
This is a psychological thriller about a woman seraching for the meaning, love and creativity. There were several stories intermingled which made the book a bit confusing. I didn't feel like the book flowed as well as Atwood books usually do.
