This was my sixth Atwood, and my last book for 2009 – a great one to end on. See my review, with commentary and links about similarities and differences between Canadian and Australian literature at http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/200... ( )

one of my absolute favorite margaret atwood novels... i can relate to so many aspects of the main character's life, as well as to many of the other characters. touching and real. ( )

While I am a fan of her more speculative fiction, I’m finding that Margaret Atwood can write about almost anything and make it fascinating. This long mainstream novel is a character study of Elaine, a female artist growing up in Toronto who finds herself riding the wave of early feminism. The narrative moves back and forth from the present, when Elaine has returned to her native city for a showing, to her past, from her early childhood through her first marriage and divorce.

Clearly, the most formative time in Elaine’s life is when as a pre-adolescent girl, she was bullied mercilessly by her friends in the torturous ways that only girls can seem to devise. Ironically, she can’t even remember these events, having blocked the abuse completely, until she is going through her dying mother’s things and discovers some meaningful items from her childhood that bring the memories flooding back. I think all women can relate to what Elaine experienced, and I even found myself cheering out loud when she finally stands up to her tormentors. Still, she never quite gets over it, and that incident will shape her life and her art, even when she doesn’t remember it.

Atwood tells a wonderful coming-of-age story here, while aptly weaving in the history of the feminist movement, especially in art, and drawing parallels between the young bullies and the militant feminists Elaine will later encounter. ( )

While I typically love Atwood, I did not enjoy this book. I gave it more of a shot than I normally do books that do not initially grab me. I did finish it, but it was a chore to do so. I must prefer Atwood's futuristic work more than her tales taking place in more contemporary times and locations. I did not ever really connect with the main character. At first I pitied her, and then found myself just not caring for her as an adult at all. The story skipped back and forth in time, which added a bit of interest, but it was not enough for me. ( )

I liked this book & it really affected me emotionally while I was reading it. Its main theme- and this I think is the theme 'done' most successfully in the book- is bullying, and in particular, girls bullying other girls. Someone said it's like 'the lord of the flies' but with girls; well that's right. Anyone (especially us women) who has had similar experiences, of being tormented in childhood by other girls- those who supposedly are 'best friends- will be also deeply affected by this book & probably deeply saddened.

It is a very sad book, to be honest. Elaine Risley, the Canadian painter who is the narrator of the book & the main character, never quite gets over the childhood bullying. She doesn't turn into a lifelong victim; rather, she turns into a sort of bully herself, pretty heartless at different times in her life. I found it- at times- hard to relate to the adult Elaine. But maybe it's easier to identify with a pure 'victim' (like the child Elaine was) than the much more complex, multifaceted victim / bully adult person who has emerged out of such a harrowing experience. This book teaches a lesson to all of us, one that we should try to hear, about the cruelties that children (who we often idealize) are capable of inflicting on each other.

(As a side note, and as another reviewer wrote, I too am grateful I have a boy! Girls just seem so much scarier...which is one of the main points in this novel, actually).

The other question the novel poses- and actually it's a question that Elaine herself has to deal with when preparing for her retrospective- is whether Margaret Atwood is a 'feminist author'. I think, in an essential way, she is. That is, she discusses very intelligently the life of women & girls. In this way, yes, she is a feminist author. But in a more black & white kind of way, one that would be recognizable by the vast majority of feminists, no she's not since she depicts the 'sisterhood' in a very dark, sinister way (that is though very true to life).

The novel has another very good point about it. It doesn't show Elaine triumphantly rise out of her tortuous childhhood into a mature, happy adulthood. Rather, her life is never quite happy. In fact, one thing that struck me is how distant she is (as an adult) from her parents & brother. I wonder why that was? They literally disperse in different directions once the children are adults & seem to meet very rarely. I wonder if that is something characteristic of American & Canadian life (not so common in Europe) or is it the particular family that is depicted to be distant from each other? Anyway, just something to think about... ( )