The beauty of Alias Grace lies not within the plot, which is mysterious and based on a true story, nor within the voices of the characters, but within the artistry that Atwood has demonstrated as the true craft of a writer. The ability to take a story and turn it into something more, create a world based on ours, where the characters step from the page.

Atwood based Alias Grace on a true story. The celebrated murderess, young Grace Marks, was a real person in Canada in 1843. She was arrested, along with a man named James McDermott, accused of murdering their employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his pregnant housekeeper-mistress Nancy Montgomery. Grace told three different versions of the murder throughout the trial and was sentenced to life in prison, while McDermott hung. In the novel, Doctor Simon Jordan makes it his mission to lead Grace through her life leading up the day of the murders. The question remains: was Grace telling the truth in any of her questionable versions? Did she knowingly participate in the deaths of two innocents and one unborn child? Why can’t she seem to remember the events, but remember dressing in the dead woman’s clothing and escaping to the States?

Margaret Atwood’s novel is based on historical documentation and news articles which are prevalent throughout the book and serve to ground the novel, but they also uplift the story into a living tale. No one knew for certain if Grace was an innocent bystander, or a devilish accomplice. Petitions for her release are routinely submitted and rejected. The power of this novel is that I want Atwood’s version to be the real thing, but that means I question Grace’s motives; is she really as naive as she seems? I am still not sure what I want of her. I want her to be innocent, but I want her to be guilty. I want her to escape with Jeremiah the Peddler, but live happily ever after with a husband and normal life. I want Mary Whitney to live, but I want her to have never lived.

Alias Grace is a dark, intriguing, and haunting mystery which stays with us after the last page and for that I must give it 5 stars. I encourage you to read it, and formulate your own thoughts on Grace Marks. ( )

"Alias Grace" is my favorite kind of book. Based on a true incident, This is my favorite kind of book. A story based on a true incident with just enough historical evidence to create a great hanger for a fictional coat. The incidents of Grace's life and the general re-creation of 19th Century farm and Manor life read true to me. I could see how the adult Grace came out of those incidents and settings. I like that I still don't know who Grace really was. I changed back and forth between thinking of her as an innocent accomplice or a brazen killer.

The character of the young psychiatrist with the plan of opening his own asylum who interviews Grace for the leniency committee is also a wonderful invention. I liked how passive he was in his own life and yet how he assumed he could control Grace and break through her mental resistance. In fact, all the characters are fully developed and well written. Reading this book was like watching a play in which all the actors have been perfectly cast.

All in all a really satisfying read.

Margaret Atwood has a wonderful talent to write beautiful prose and make even the mundane and simplistic acts of every day life engaging and enthralling. Alias Grace is a testament both to that skill and the thematic thrill an accused murderess can have upon society no matter the time. The novel relays a fictionalized version of the true life of Grace Marks, a Canadian maid who was convicted of murder for the death of Thomas Kinnear, her employer. It's a well-paced narrative, sparked from presence of a medical professional trying to find the truth behind the crime. In the end, you are left with both a feeling of knowing and yet still without a definitive answer, much like those who picked a side when the sensational headlines spread across the country and abroad. ( )

Dark, brooding, vivid, memorable - not to be missed! She is an amazing author. ( )

This historical murder mystery, set in 19th century Canada, tells the story of Grace Marks, imprisoned for the double murder of her employer and his housekeeper (who was also his lover) in the household where she worked as a maid. Grace does not remember the events of the actual murder, and a group of churchgoers who believe she is innocent have engaged a psychiatrist to find out what really happened. The story must be pieced together from newspaper accounts, letters and the points of view of two unreliable narrators: Grace and her psychiatrist-confessor, who becomes obsessed with her. The reader is never left entirely satisfied as to what actually happened, but even so, the novel and Grace engage us through to the end. ( )