Comments on: The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

By: Wrapping up 2009 « Jenny's Books

Wrapping up 2009 « Jenny's Books — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:12:56 +0000

[…] I did read several things I have been meaning to read for some time. Some were box-tick reads (The Handmaid’s Tale, Revolutionary Road, The Witch of Portobello, and some of Shakespeare’s early plays); some […]

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:07:46 +0000

Have you read anything else by her? I've got Alias Grace on my RIP reading list, and I'm so excited to read it.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:23:21 +0000

Thanks for the link. I really enjoyed this one too. Margaret Atwood’s way of describing things really entranced me. I love the quotes you highlighted.

By: Schatzi

Schatzi — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:27:13 +0000

In reply to Jenny. No, I think frivolous is a great way to describe it. They're so self-satisfied and smug, so complacent in their superiority. So ... ACADEMIC!

By: C

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:08:02 +0000

In reply to Jenny. YES! after I hit submit, I wasn't sure if 'frivolity' was the right word choice but you echo exactly what I was attempting to say: change of tone -> heightens the chilling effect

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:03:37 +0000

In reply to Care. Me too - I like the way the change of tone in the epilogue turns that entire agonizing, frightening book into an academic question. To me, that only heightens the effect of the rest of the novel. Chilling.

By: Care

Care — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:41:49 +0000

I love this review! I love your happy ending, too and your defense of ambiguous endings. I’m in the camp of loving the ending – I love the whole change in atmosphere and almost jolly frivolity of it.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:40:03 +0000

In reply to Schatzi.

Hate document, really? That’s not at all what I would have said about it. I wouldn’t have even said that religion played that large a role in the book (though it may be I was just noticing other themes more) – it’s just that the world is predicated on an idea of what might happen in a theocracy. Surely nobody in your class wanted a theocracy! (she said hopefully)

I loved the epilogue. I liked how it offered little clues to what happened after Gilead, and I just loved that the last line was “Are there any questions?” Fantastic, perfect last line to such a well-written & thought-provoking book! (That was gushy but I cannot help myself! It was a wonderful last line!)

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:34:21 +0000

In reply to Nymeth. You know, I remember her making with the snobby and irritating me therewith, now that you mention it. That's probably why I never bothered to pick up one of her books. Let that be a lesson to me! And this is excellent news about Alias Grace! I want to read more Margaret Atwood but I keep getting bogged down in Cat's Eye, the only one of her books I own.

By: Nymeth

Nymeth — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:18:28 +0000

This is one of the scariest books I have ever read. I can’t believe I read it the same summer as The Road and The Giver. It was actually a very good summer, which must be the reason why I was able to handle them all in such a short amount of time.

Anyway, the way she writes is lovely, isn’t it? Somehow I didn’t expect to like her as much as I now do – probably because she was once sort of mean to Neil Gaiman, and said those snobbish things about how her books are not sci-fi because sci-fi is about “squids in outer space”. Which has nothing to do with her writing ability, I know.

I’m currently about 2/3rds of the way into Alias Grace, and I’m absolutely loving it. I think you would too – lovely writing, and Victorian!