Alias Grace (original 1996; edition 1997)

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood delves into Canadian history for a long forgotten sensational murder case that she then proceeds to fill in, give flesh and bones to the characters, and without drawing any conclusions herself, leaves it up to the reader to decide whether Grace Marks was guilty.

Using witness accounts, newspaper excerpts, letters and poems, along with various characters points of view, she tells the story of house servant, Grace Marks who is accused of participating in the murders of the housekeeper and owner of the residence she was currently working in.

That Grace had an unfortunate life cannot be denied. As to her innocence, that I am not so sure of. Was she truly a clinical split personality, was she an amnesiac or was she simply a very clever woman who hid behind the mask of ignorance and insanity. Whatever the case, she paid with thirty years before finally being released and drifting in anonymity.

This was my first Margaret Atwood and I readily admit I was nervous of trying this Canadian icon. I was pleasantly surprised at how accessible the writing was, how it very much held my interest, and how involved I got into the story, given the ambiguity. I certainly won’t be hesitant to pick up this author again. ( )

Grace Marks is an actual historical figure who was convicted of murder in Toronto in 1843. Originally given the death sentence just like her co-defendant James McDermott, the judge acquiesces to local sentiment and reduces the sentence to life in prison. In her novel, Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood has scoured the historical documents and done what all truly great historical fiction writers (Hilary Mantel comes immediately to mind) do: filled in the gaps in the history of the story with a compelling narrative while, at the same time, staying true to the history that is already documented. The result had me furiously turning pages well into the night.

Much of the book is told by Grace herself with a great deal of the narrative taking place between herself and Dr. Simon Jordan who, in 1859, is working on behalf of a group that believes that she is innocent and should be set free. He is trying to use prevailing mental health methods to get Grace to remember her part during the murders of her former employer, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper/mistress Nancy Montgomery, which she seems to have blocked out of her memory.

Or has she? From page one up until the last page I suspected we were dealing with an unreliable narrator. And even now, after having finished the book I still can’t decide if Grace was truthful or not. This character, so finely crafted by a master crafter, had me guessing the whole time. And speaking of characterizations, it’s hard to beat this description of Dora, a housemaid:

"Dora is stout and pudding-faced, with a small downturned mouth like that of a disappointed baby. Her large black eyebrows meet over her nose, giving her a permanent scowl that expresses a sense of disapproving outrage. It’s obvious that she detests being a maid-of-all-work; he wonders if there is anything else she might prefer. He has tried imagining her as a prostitute…but he can’t picture any man actually paying for her services…Dora is a hefty creature, and could snap a man’s spine in two with her thighs, which Simon envisions as greyish, like boiled sausages, and stubbled like a singed turkey; and enormous, each one as large as a piglet.” (Page 57)

Atwood brilliantly constructs the narrative from numerous perspectives and an assortment of formats including letters, newspaper articles, legal records, poetry, third person accounts, first person accounts and Grace’s own flashbacks. In so doing, I somehow found myself questioning everything. What is the truth? Can we ever be absolutely sure?

If you like your endings tied up in a neat bow with all the loose ends accounted for, you will be disappointed. If you like a book that draws you in and leaves you questioning, well, everything, Atwood delivers in spades. I have decided that I need to reread some of her earlier books that I’m not sure I understood completely when I read them eons ago. And I will definitely reread Alias Grace because it’s the kind of book that almost demands a reread. ( )

Grace Marks was a real person, an Irish immigrant to Canada in the first half of the 19th century. By the time she was 16, she had been tried and convicted of the murder of her employer and his housekeeper. Public opinion was mixed, and there were enough influential people who believed that Grace was wrongly convicted to keep her from being hanged. Margaret Atwood developed Grace's story into a historical novel that raises as many questions as it answers. Atwood probes the lines between fantasy and reality, memory and illusion, truth and falsehood, sanity and insanity. There isn't much black and white here – only shades of (often very dark) gray. Grace doesn't reveal her secrets easily, and many readers will find themselves reading long past the point they intended to stop in the hope that Grace will reward them with some new detail that she's been keeping to herself. ( )

One of the best books I've ever read. Compelling, surprising and completely engaging. A classic. ( )

ebook version