Lady Oracle

I wasn't really sure I would love this book until the very last page. I mean, it's Atwood, and I've loved Atwood in the past, but it's been a while since I've read anything by her. Really, quite a while. Maybe college? But I'd had a flurry of love for her then, collecting several of her books and dutifully moving them from house to house as I moved on to other literary loves. But then, after Aurororama, I was looking for some new fiction to read. And I have a fiction problem. Have I told you? Jessa and I used to keep each other in balance. She would read mostly fiction and I read mostly non-fiction and we would recommend the gems we found along the way. Now she's on Berlin and we rarely chat and I don't know how to find new fiction on show more my own! So I was skulking about my bookcases, trying to find an antidote to my growing irritation with two-dimensional representations of women all around me and... of course. Atwood.

So, Lady Oracle it was. Atwood would be perfect for taking women seriously, only her character, Joan Foster, doesn't take herself terribly seriously. In fact, she is sometimes unrelatable, a few times nearly unlikeable, but there is a bit of a mystery, in that the book starts with Joan reminiscing on her faking her own death. The book is her examination of her life -- how did it come to this? Where could she possibly go from here? Her memories are juxtaposed with excerpts from her books -- Joan is a writer, primarily of bodice-rippers. In a strange way it suddenly reminds me of 1982, Janine, by Alasdair Gray, one of my favorite novels, in that both use fantasy to reveal character, and both fantasies begin to fall apart as the dreamers confront themselves and their need for the dreams.

Then in the end things fall apart so rapidly and completely that I am sure I was cringing as I read, envisioning no possibility for anything resembling a reasonable, let alone happy, ending. But, without saying how it ends, it somehow achieved a sudden clarity, and that last paragraph I could kiss Atwood for -- it is surely one of my favorite last lines of all time. show less

An irresistibly compelling storyline, with poignant flashbacks into the past - a girl growing up in a disturbing household, with a domineering mother and aloof father, making her turn to food for escape and all the nasty experiences that go with it - and then the unexpected and well-desired actual escape to a new life, first abroad, then back in Canada, a change of identity, dealing with weird acquaintances/partners, finding love (or resemblance of it), discovering a talent she didn't know she had, and then another, forced, escape... all this with a master touch of an accomplished author (even at the start of her novel writing!), a quality that makes you want to read on and on, enjoying the flow of the narration, with unexpected twists show more and turns, to the utmost. My only mini-grudge is with the ending, I wanted it more explicit. But otherwise, quite a read... and quite an imagination! show less

While Margaret Atwood of the middle period (1986-2000) is one of my favourite writers, her novels written in the 21st century have been very disappointing. Finally, I get to meet a younger Margaret, and here she appears quite distinct from the two incarnations I am familiar with.

In Lady Oracle the tone is much lighter than in her major works, irony and humour take the upper hand, the darkness is kind of present yet unimportant. What matters is a struggle of a girl/woman in a society, where her place is neatly assigned to her and where she fails to fit. Together with the author we laugh at that silly woman but laugh even more at the men around her, who always seem to know exactly what she represents and how to treat her, while in show more reality they have no clue.

It's a bit unfortunate that Margaret does not know yet where to take her story and her protagonist. But give her time - another ten years and she will have figured it out. show less

Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle tells the story of Joan Foster, an author who finds success rather unintentionally, by way of a book named Lady Oracle: she has been writing pulp Gothic romances under an assumed name, but hides this fact from everyone she knows.
The underlying theme of this novel, as far as I could tell, is identity. Joan is searching for hers, and ultimately rubs it out in order to survive. Then the other main characters too seem to have at least two identities, as Joan herself points out. She is a clumsy, somewhat endearing, humorous, childish woman whose one great motivation in life is ‘escape’.

The one grand success of Joan Foster’s life- her bestselling book- is unintentional, as are most of her life’s show more choices and consequences. Her ultimate choice to fake her own death seems childish, but wholely typical of her- even the ending suggests a familiarity, as though we are now so accustomed to Joan’s character that this ending seems fitting.

The novel provides some characteristically sharp and poignant insights into a woman’s self-image issues in terms of obesity. There is also a fraught and sharply-etched relationship with her mother and her girlhood companions.(The snowy ravine incident is almost identical to one from Atwood’s Cat’s Eye- hmmm.) The extremely vivid dream imagery and story-within-story method is also familiar because of Atwood’s other works. The writing is in itself excellent; none of the characters except Aunt Lou are particularly likeable, yet the layers of identity and the underlying humor, deceit, tenderness and need for validation kept me engaged.

Atwood writes with a piquancy that comes from a doubtless razor-sharp mind, one that is unhesitating in drawing out the cruelties faced by women, and in Lady Oracle, overweight women in particular. It is also interesting to come across nuggets like ‘girls didn’t wear slacks to school in those days’ and comments about her cooking - these seem anachronistic on the surface but are essentially still true if one thinks through the layers.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as some of Atwood’s others, but it’s still a book worth reading. She is a writer of consequence, one that I admire for intellect and intensity. show less

This is not really a review - more a collection of thoughts about this beguiling and bewildering (at times) novel of identity, gender, and the manufacture of stories. I'm not sure I got everything there is to get out of this early Atwood work, but I did enjoy it.

Identity: Atwood plays with notions of identity and self. Some are hidden, others doubled, often misread and misunderstood. Joan Foster, the protagonist, doesn't seem to know herself for much of the book, but she knows that the person she sees reflected by the people around her is not who she is. "But hadn't my life always been double? There was always that shadowy twin, thin when I was fat, fat when I was thin, myself in silvery negative, with dark teeth and shining white show more pupils glowing in the black sunlight of that other world." (page 246)

Role of women: Joan "fails" in the traditional roles of women - daughter, mistress, wife. But what she fails at is to live up to the traditional notions of what these things are. She's ashamed of her secret role as the author of Gothic romances but she also feels like a fraud as a much-hailed author of feminist poetry. She wants a "normal" life and what is wrong with that? But, also, what IS a normal life?

Politics: This novel is quite funny, especially when Atwood pokes fun at radical politics and the people who espouse whatever radical philosophy is currently in vogue. Nationalism, communism, feminism, Fascism - it's all fair game when so much of it is empty rhetoric and blind allegiance.

Romance: Joan makes a living producing romance novels, the embodiment of traditional ideas of love stories and fairy tales. And she seems to yearn for this kind of dramatic, sweep-you-off-your-feet relationship and is willing to make all sorts of compromises to have even a hint of it ("...he had gone to a lot of trouble to find me. He'd walked at least three blocks in the rain: that meant dedication of a sort." (page 196)) She has a vivid imagination and loves the grand gesture, but also keeps these feelings hidden because they do not conform to the contemporary feminist ideal.

I don't know enough about feminist theory and gender politics to do much of this justice. Lady Oracle can be read quite easily and only as a novel about a woman searching for herself but there are also a lot of layers to be explored. I can see this work as being worthy of a re-read, as well as the spark to a lot of fascinating conversation.

"For a while I wanted to be an opera singer... Unfortunately I couldn't sing. But it always appealed to me: to be able to stand up there in front of everyone and shriek as loud as you could, about hatred and love and rage and despair, scream at the top of your lungs and have it come out music. That would be something." (page 78) show less

Published in 1976, this book is Margaret Atwood’s third novel. It follows Joan Foster, a woman who has fled to Italy, looking back on her life. She was born in Canada to an overbearing mother and absent father. Her beautiful perfectionistic mother is disappointed in her daughter, and constantly criticizes her. Joan copes by overeating, leading to body image issues and depression. Joan’s childhood difficulties are brought to bear on her romantic relationships. She looks for an escape and eventually finds an outlet by writing “costume romances.”

It reflects upon women’s issues, such as the role of women in society and the over-emphasis on beauty. Joan hides her dysfunctional past behind a layer of lies and elaborate deceptions, show more leading to deep unhappiness of her own making. Joan is a master of avoidance, refusing to admit the real cause of her problems. She ends up in a vicious cycle of denial and victimhood. The overall themes are being true to oneself and confronting childhood traumas, though these ideas lie between the lines.

Toward the end, Joan’s life becomes as outlandish as one of her costume romances. I preferred the first two-thirds. The last third contains quite a lot of satire, and the ending is over-the-top. But overall, I have to admire the creative and bold attempt to mirror Joan’s novels in her life. I did not quite figure this out until I was finished reading it. I think I would have appreciated it more if I had known ahead of time. Hence, I am including it in my review. show less

Lady Oracle is the title of the protagonist's book - the result of experimenting in Automatic Writing. The unintended success of a book written unconsciously is a pretty good description of Joan's life. She manages to bumble through a pudgy adolescence, romance, marriage, a career in costume Gothic novel-writing which she hides from her husband, an affair with a performance artist and a faked drowning. All of which, from her mother's perspective, should have ended in disaster but didn't.

The tone is very Candide-ish, with the ickiness of some of the subject matter (eating disorders, creepy blackmailers) belied by Joan's overall good humor. The pieces of the romance novel embedded in the book are pure comic genius. I wish Atwood had show more published the romance novel as a companion.

All the while Joan struggles with the eternal Atwoodian problems - relationships with her mother and husband, different parts of the self competing for expression, being reborn while still retaining the old self. I love all of Atwood's books, but this is the only one that leaves you laughing at the end, as well as thinking. show less