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Loading... Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2008)by Margaret Atwood
None. Enjoyed the last chapter of this book, especially when a modern-day Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Earth Day Past, Present and Future. (  ) GlenyssT | May 18, 2013 |  I have been a fan of Margaret Atwood's since reading the Handmaid's Tale my freshman year in college. I can't say I've read everything, but a fair chunk of it has crossed my desk...This is the first non-fiction work I have read by her, so it is a bit different for me. I thought it was very good, I enjoyed both the history and theology lessons. Personally, I could have done without the parable at the end however, perhaps she just culdn't resist a bit of fiction... (  ) ScoutJ | Mar 31, 2013 | very enjoyable. atwood has a very stupid chuckle which is kind of endearing. i don't want to live with it but okay for a bit. i enjoyed the first 4 but the last put me off. i have very little time for dickens, especially scrooge and it was a modern arrangement of scrooge. ( ) mahallett | Jun 3, 2012 | If you can, get the audiobook. Atwood's dry humour is even better with her reading. (  ) whistlerclaire | Apr 29, 2011 | My Atwood in April turned into Atwood in April, May, June, July, and August. It was the Massey Lectures Series for 2008. A Canadian program that has been ongoing for some time now. Since 1961, I believe. Atwood shifted some things around for the book format but it still reads like a speech. There are some very interesting themes. Speeches work different than print so putting speeches into book form leaves a something a little off. Not bad, but noticeable. I probably should have just listened to the speeches. Then again, I'm not much of a speech listener. Her thoughts on debtors and creditors were intriguing though. (  ) VisibleGhost | Sep 3, 2010 |
 Atwood's project is to show how human thought has been deeply shaped by notions of debt. It will be objected that she is merely spinning out an extended metaphor suggesting analogies between debt and noneconomic phenomena that are only vaguely analogous. In fact she is advancing the contrary and more interesting claim that economic activities involving borrowing and lending are metaphorical extensions of an underlying human sense of indebtedness.  Payback broaches an urgent topic in a way that won't make your eyes glaze over. In short, Margaret Atwood’s deeply enjoyable contemplation of debt comes from the same stable as the classic Presbyterian sermon about the sinners burning in hell who call out, ‘Lord, lord, we didnae ken.’ To which God replies, ‘Ah weel, ye ken noo!’  Because Atwood constantly veers off in new directions she doesn't always give herself time to sink her claws deep into a topic. The result is that, although Payback is packed with information, it can seem oddly thin. Payback is a stimulating, learned and stylish read from an eminent author writing from a heartfelt perspective.
References to this work on external resources.
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