The Works of Margaret Atwood

[dwanollah]

As requested.

[laconicchick]

Aw, yay! I know it's cool to not like her, but I love her anyway. I haven't read her earlier and more famous works (well, I skimmed through a couple, but then they had to go back to the library), but I absolutely adore Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin. The Penelopiad and Oryx and Crake were okay, but I don't think I'd reread them. I reread the first two a couple of summers ago, and I think they might be due for another read. Loooove.

Do we have a thread for book recommendations or something? Because I would really like to read more books like Alias Grace (set in that era, mainly), and I'm not sure where to look.

[linared]

Why would anyone think it would be uncool to like Margaret Atwood? I think she is awesome. As for writers like her, I did a search on literature map and there aren't many writers that pop up. I think she is in a class by herself.

My favorite part of The Blind Assassin is when the main character says:
"My job was to open my legs and shut my mouth"

[Deleted]

laconicchick said:

Do we have a thread for book recommendations or something? Because I would really like to read more books like Alias Grace (set in that era, mainly), and I'm not sure where to look.

Not from Atwood, to the best of my recollection. I like The Handmaid's Tale (but I'm a huge fan of dystopian novels in general) and The Edible Woman.

One of my prized possessions? Autographed copy of Handmaid. (I also have signed copies of Edible Woman, Alias Grace andThe Blind Assassin.) Yep, I'm a big Atwood fangirl, even if it makes me an impossibly uncool Canadian.

[Sukie]

spordelia said:

laconicchick said:

Do we have a thread for book recommendations or something? Because I would really like to read more books like Alias Grace (set in that era, mainly), and I'm not sure where to look.

Not from Atwood, to the best of my recollection. I like The Handmaid's Tale (but I'm a huge fan of dystopian novels in general) and The Edible Woman.

One of my prized possessions? Autographed copy of Handmaid. (I also have signed copies of Edible Woman, Alias Grace andThe Blind Assassin.) Yep, I'm a big Atwood fangirl, even if it makes me an impossibly uncool Canadian.

spordelia, if my USA opinion counts, I think it's awesome!

I love Atwood. It may take me awhile to get into one of her novels but by the end I am completely sold. My favorites are The Edible Woman, Life Before Man, Cat's Eye, and The Blind Assassin. But I also adore Handmaid's Tale and Robber Bride too.

See, I am really Atwood's bitch.

Has anyone else read Ann-Marie MacDonald? Her novels remind me a lot of Atwood for some reason. Not sure if it's the Canadian setting, the tone, or the long, slow build up, but she reminds of her.

[Deleted]

I absolutely love The Blind Assassin, I normally hate it when authors do that story-within-a-story thing but in this case it worked beautifully. I read The Edible Woman in college and it freaked me out.

Anyone else like Bodily Harm? It doesn't get mentioned much in discussions and I wonder what other people think about it.

[Deleted]

Count me in as another Atwood fangirl.

The Handmaid's Tale touched me more than anything I've read in the last 5 years. I love dystopian novels too, but can remain sort of detached from them so that they don't freak me out too much. It was different with The Handmaid's Tale though, because that world is entirely within the realm of possibility.

I have to say that while I liked Oryx and Crake I was pretty meh on The Blind Assassin and The Penelopiad.

[sammybee]

I'm a HUGE Atwood fan. While I love Oryx and Crake, Alias Grace, Blind Assassin and The Handmaid's Tale, my favorite is Surfacing. It isn't discussed much but I think it's fantastic.

I read Edible Woman in high school, I liked it but I didn't "get it" completely. I re-read it shortly before getting married and it freaked. me. out!!

I've had The Penelopiad for a long time, but haven't read it yet. I know what I'm doing this weekend!

[marywebgirl]

I read The Handmaid's Tale when I was 15 or so and it changed my life (along with The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston when I was 16). I need to go back and reread some of the others because I read them so long ago I don't remember much now, but a lot of Robber Bride stuck with me and Oryx and Crake is just creepy as all hell. Her short stories are also very good.

[gemstone]

Thanks for starting the thread, Dwan!

Well, as I mentioned in the What Are You Reading Thread I just finished my first Atwood book, The Handmaid's Tale and it weighed very heavily on me. The whole mood of the book was so tense and desolate and it made me feel, well, tense and desolate, I guess. I wound up empathizing with Offred so much that some of the things that should have angered me made me happy like when she can finally talk to Ofglen, when she and the Commander start spending time in his study and, of course, the relationship with Nick. It should have made me angry because for those small allowances to so enhance Offred's outlook is outrageous but it made me happy for Offred--that she finally had some small measure of comfort. I also wound up really hoping she would conceive. I just hated the idea of her going to the Colonies and while she said having a child would spare her of that, who knows, maybe TPTP would have sent her there anyway. So, in a way, I became as brainwashed as Offred. Very powerful.

I know this book is studied for some classes, and I know that there are a lot of deeper things to be gleaned. I'm not an academic or deep thinker though so, unfortunately, I can't give anything truly new and unique to a discussion about this book. I can say that I didn't find this to be an anti-Christian book. Personally, I believe that there is a world of difference between "religion" and Christianity as a belief and way to live one's life. I guess that's why it confuses me that this book has been banned and argued over because of the perception of it being anti-Christian. I can only guess that the people that want/wanted it banned are the people we should be afraid of.

Anyway, I would up feeling sorry for almost everyone in the book including the Commander and his Wife. Although my hatred of the Aunts remained strong. I also, several times throughout the book, was reminded of how grateful I am that I live in a time when I'm "allowed" to read such a book. I'll definitely be getting more Atwood next time I go to the library.