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. ( )

I stayed up till 2 am reading this book. I haven't done that forever! Margaret Atwood is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I really like that I don't know what to expect in terms of subject matter, but the writing is always superb. Alias Grace is a historical fiction. Atwood researched a famous murder mystery in the 1800s and then wrote it from the point of view of the charged murderer, Grace. I love books like this where I can learn so much about the time period. In this one Atwood went into great detail about the fascination with phsychological diseases and the different schools of thought on how to treat people. I also enjoyed the Canadian history, which I knew nothing about prior to reading this novel. ( )

I'm a huge Atwood fan. This was another great one by her. ( )

Beautifuly written, this is Atwood at the height of her powers. Moving, heartbreaking. A masterpiece. ( )

This was a brilliant book by Margaret Atwood. It amazed me how intricate the detailing in the book was and how engrossing the story was. I could not put this book down and just wanted to know more and more about the character, Grace Marks. I think what made the book spine tingling for me was the fact that it was based on factual events, which I think added an extra layer of intrigue to the book. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. ( )

This was the first Atwood novel I read and I love it (though it is not my favorite)-- but it is very different from her other works that I have read since. The layout of the story is inventive and the story itself psychologically interesting. I don't know much about the history of Grace or how accurate the novel is. I read it entirely as a work of fiction and enjoyed it immensely. Margaret Atwood is brilliant at creating moods with her writing. Alias Grace and Handmaid's Tale are perfect examples. ( )

Maybe I don't "get" Margret Atwood, but this book was not that great. Felt like it was 5 times longer than it needed to be, and was repetitive. ( )

This is a widely held book according to Library Thing, and has excellent reviews among its membership.

Reworking and fictionalization of a real historical event/person, about Grace Marks, an Irish immigrant maid who was convicted along with a male servant in the same household, of killing her master and the housekeeper, who was also the master’s paramour. This took place near Toronto, Canada in the mid-1800’s. Partly told about Grace, partly told about a psychiatrist interviewing Grace extensively many years after the fact. Interesting story, but I found it quite draggy and drawn-out in some places and found myself muttering, “get ON with it, already!” many times. Yet the story itself was interesting enough to keep me reading, and I’m not sorry I finished it. ( )

http://amiralace.blogspot.com/2008/12... ( )

I love Margaret Atwood and this book does not disappoint. I read this all in one night in a remote cabin in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and it scared the heck out of me (but in a really good way). One of my favorite Atwood books! ( )

Alias Grace may just be the book that makes me a Margaret Atwood fan. I read The Handmaid's Tale a few years ago and enjoyed it, but never felt compelled to pick up another Atwood. However, the grade 12 class that I am teaching during my teachers' college placement is reading Alias Grace, and so I dutifully read it - and I am SO glad I did.

Alias Grace is the story of Grace Marks, a woman who, at the age of sixteen, was convicted of the murders of her boss, Mr. Kinnear, and his housekeeper/mistress, Nancy Montgomery. Grace's story is true; she spent nearly thirty years in the Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario, and Susanna Moodie, a rather famous author of the mid-1800s, visited Grace in prison and wrote down her story. Atwood stumbled upon Grace while reading Moodie's Life in the Clearings, and decided to tell the story herself. To say that Atwood believes that Moodie took liberties with Grace's life would be a gross understatement; Grace's story is difficult to piece together using historical documents, as each source tells a different tale. Atwood sticks to the facts as much as possible, and where the facts are unclear, she invents her own.

Atwood is an incredibly skilled writer - her way with words is unbelievable. Alias Grace is told from about five different narrative viewpoints, as it moves from Grace's account of her life, to a third-person narrator, to a group of people writing letters to each other. Every character has his or her own tone and voice and Atwood very carefully crafts their personalities. This is a long book rich with detail - since the novel is set in Victorian times, Atwood writes in a way that mirrors Victorian life: slow, detailed, and intricate. The stories are woven together like a quilt, which is one of the overriding structural patterns in the novel.

Just an example of Atwood's writing, one that I found particularly effective:

"It's too theatrical, too tawdry, thinks Simon; it reeks of the small-town lecture halls of fifteen years ago, with the audiences of credulous store clerks and laconic farmers, and their drab wives, and the smooth-talking charlatans who used to dole out transcendental nonsense and quack medical advice to them as an excuse for picking their pockets. He's striving for derision; nevertheless, the back of his neck creeps" (p.476).

Alias Grace is full of such passages - rich in detail, historically accurate, and slyly satirical. This really was a masterful novel. After avoiding Margaret Atwood for years, Alias Grace came as a complete surprise, and I am eager to attempt another of her works. ( )

A really fascinating, intriguing novel—Atwood looks at history and memory and gender/female indentity through the lens of the notorious case of Grace Marks, an Irish immigrant to Canada in the 1840s who was convicted of the gruesome double murder of her employer and his mistress.

Atwood's examination of these issues is as thoughtful and as thorough as you would expect from her. Each section of the novel is named for a different quilt pattern and is prefaced with a serious of epigraphs—court transcripts, poetry, historical documents—that both set up the events in the chapter to follow, and question their truthfulness. I adored the narrative voice she gave to Grace—at once crisp and observant while remaining gloriously commonsensical. I also appreciated the fact that Atwood did not fall into the cliches of the Irish immigrant experience; perhaps Grace's Protestantism mitigated against that to some extent.

The one serious problem I had with Alias Grace was its climax. I'm not sure if it was what happened itself so much as how Atwood approached it; it seemed almost as if she was not overly committed to it herself, and I just couldn't suspend my disbelief for those few pages ( )

As always, Margaret Atwood's skill awes me... her subtlety and control make her a joy to read, and the fact that this tale was drawn from real life characters and events combined with Atwood's delicate weaving of fact, speculation and pure storytelling, plus the genius of her use of literary "white space" - what is left unsaid - puts it over the top for me. Just brilliant.

I have to add that after finishing this, I happened to pick up Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" and found a remarkable similarity of voice and tone (at least from the first few pages I've read so far), which is just a serendipitous coincidence for me, and an item of interest that these two towering talents happen to share a certain kind of understated but powerful narrative skill. ( )

read this in school, want to own it ( )

Alias Grace is a haunting novel. It leaves you thinking about the truth behind the Kinnear-Montgomery murders. The sugguestion of what might have taken place back in 1843, stays in your mind well after you have finished reading the novel. The psychiatric knowledge included in the book is primative and crude. Its good to know psychiatry hasmoved away from suggesting people who have bumps or dents are cause for determining whether they are criminals or are insane. ( )

Brilliant, I loved this book. Based on the true story of Grace Marks, convicted with er supposed lover of murdering her employer and his mistress in the 1840's. Margaret Atwood brings characters alive as few other authors can, her people step of the page in 3D and talk in your company! ( )

Margaret Atwood is definitely one of the top on my list of favorite authors. The main reason for this is Handmaid's Tale, but I always find her books to be very compelling and enjoyable reads. In Alias Grace Atwood brings a story with no right answers, one that forces the reader to consider the role of women and servants in the 1800's.
The book takes place over decades, with the main story happening over one year. Grace is a "famous murderess" who has been in prison since her sentence was commuted from hanging to life in prison. But there are those who believe that she is innocent, that she was used by her accomplice, and took no part in the murders. It is at their urging that a doctor, a specialist in mental illness, comes to speak with her. Dr. Jordan's reasons for working with Grace are more selfish, as he hopes to publish a paper based on his findings of her case, and thereby increase his fame. So we learn Grace's story through her retelling of it to Dr. Jordan, as well as through various newspaper articles and books of the time. Grace herself does not know what her part in the murders was, although she seems to believe that she is innocent. But still she does not question too heavily her imprisonment.
Grace is a fascinating character, as we get to know her through the story of her life. She paints a vivid picture of what happens to girls who must work as servants to make their way in the world. One aspect that is especially interesting is the comparison between Grace's life and that of Nancy Montgomery, one of the murder victims. Nancy was the housekeeper of Thomas Kinnear, the other victim, but she was also his mistress. When Grace comes to work for them, it is clear that Nancy no longer thinks of herself as a servant, although that is still the position that society puts her in. It is unclear what Mr. Kinnear himself thinks of her position. The social intricacies make for an interesting read, in addition to the mystery of the murders. It is not certain how trustworthy Grace's own story is, but putting together the pieces is one of the best parts of the book. ( )

This is an almost perfect mystery story, and at the end of the book we are no wiser (much as the historical and fictional protagonists) as to Grace's innocence or guilt in the murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery. The dream sequences are so realistic that one feels Margaret Atwood has somehow been able to enter the minds of her characters. The spookiness, the weirdness and the ultimate unknowability of others is perfectly displayed. The conclusion is superb! ( )

Well-written as always, but this is the first time that I've felt the artifice show when reading an Atwood novel. Whether the cliffhangers are meant to seem quite as melodramatic as they do is unclear; it's possible that it's all intentionally in keeping with Victorian melodramatic style. It's a great evocation of class and culture in Victorian Canada and it keeps you reading, but I felt there was something ultimately unsatisfying about it. Not in comparison with novels on the whole, but in comparison to Atwood's other novels that I've read (which is most but not all of them.) ( )

Atwood tells the story of the real-life Grace Marks, a teenager charged with murder in the mid-19th century. Did she really do it? Was she framed? Was she innocent? Was she evil? Perhaps all of the above. Atwood keeps the reader in suspense right through to the end. I'll read this one again and again. ( )