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75th out of 379 books
—
272 voters
Bodily Harm
by
Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)
A powerfully and brilliantly crafted novel, Bodily Harm is the story of Rennie Wilford, a young journalist whose life has begun to shatter around the edges.Rennie flies to the Caribbean to recuperate, and on the tiny island of St.Antoine she is confronted by a world where her rules for survival no longer apply.By turns comic, satiric, relentless, and terrifying, Margaret A...more
Paperback, 280 pages
Published
April 13th 1998
by Anchor
(first published 1981)
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I spent several weeks in France during the summer of 2003. I arrived at the start of a massive European heat wave that would continue weeks after I left in August, killing nearly 15,000 in France alone.
One Friday afternoon in late July I trained from Gaillac to Carcassonne, in the heart of the Languedoc. I’d reserved an inexpensive hotel recommended by my Lonely Planet Guide.
The hotel was a disaster. Dim, dreary, sweltering, grimy. I had to pay cash for my night’s stay before seeing the room. D...more
One Friday afternoon in late July I trained from Gaillac to Carcassonne, in the heart of the Languedoc. I’d reserved an inexpensive hotel recommended by my Lonely Planet Guide.
The hotel was a disaster. Dim, dreary, sweltering, grimy. I had to pay cash for my night’s stay before seeing the room. D...more
It surprises me that so few GoodReads members enjoyed this book. I think it's one of Atwood's best - and I love everything Atwood has written. Although I hesitate to say this, I think the problem is that a lot of people don't get this book. I don't want that comment to sound pretentious or holier-than-thou, because I am the last person to look to for all that erudite english-major crap. I just think people go into this book expecting one thing, find something completely different, and so declare...more
31 likes · like · see review
Margaret Atwood has been my most favorite writer since I was sixteen. There's maybe ten authors in second place, many of whom (especially Cortázar) regularly rear their heads in my imagination to try to supplant Atwood's place for first, but every time I go back to Margaret, I seriously fall in love again. More than anything, I love the way that her language shifts my actual thought patterns, or at least my constantly streaming internal monologue, until it sounds like she's the one inside my hea...more
5 likes · like · see review
Perhaps the most notable element in this book for me, though it may be strange to admit, is the use of different tenses. It's written mostly in the present tense and then switches to the past tense when the main character, Rennie, thinks back, and then to the past-perfect tense when there's a flashback within the 'past' sections. Perhaps I merely liked it because I felt justified over the times I've written that way and editors have told me it was confusing. Not that I consider myself a writer a...more
7 likes · like · see review
I am a *huge* fan of modern Atwood and feel a compulsive need to read all of her work. Bodily Harm may have changed my perspective. While in works such as The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx Crake, and The Blind Assassin Atwood seems unafraid to play and create literary techniques to heighten both plot and theme, in her earlier books, character studies comprise the bulk of her efforts. If written by anyone but a smattering of authors, I would have given Bodily Harm a single star; however, because writing...more
I love reading and I really try not to restrict myself to any one genre. Atwood is one of the authors I like because her work cannot be slotted into any one genre and try as you might, you cannot pin down one style on her. Maybe that's why I have fallen in love with her writing. This book meant a lot to me as I am struggling with picking up a technique for writing, I read the book and I was so happy. There are no rules and I really owe a big thank you to her for this.
The plot follows Rennie a j...more
The plot follows Rennie a j...more
Read review by Allie at Geeks Unleashed.Me
Bodily Harm was a fresh, unforeseeable novel that did not disappoint. To start with, the writing style is something unique and altogether beautiful. While a tiny bit confusing at first, the style quickly brings past and present together in a wonderful telling of events that left me captivated. I loved the way Atwood chose to tell Rennie’s story: her ways of writing gave the novel a reminiscent quality that was entirely new and original to me.
This is not...more
Bodily Harm was a fresh, unforeseeable novel that did not disappoint. To start with, the writing style is something unique and altogether beautiful. While a tiny bit confusing at first, the style quickly brings past and present together in a wonderful telling of events that left me captivated. I loved the way Atwood chose to tell Rennie’s story: her ways of writing gave the novel a reminiscent quality that was entirely new and original to me.
This is not...more
This is not my favorite Magaret Atwood book, but it is still somewhere between a 3.2 - 3.4 on my rating scale. In reflection, I feel that a large part of my disinterest in this book is that I could not relate to the main character in any way, shape, or form except for the fact that she's female.
Rennie, our 'heroine', is a post breast cancer patient, who dissociates from her own life entirely after coming close to losing it. She finds herself writing a travel article on a politically instable i...more
Rennie, our 'heroine', is a post breast cancer patient, who dissociates from her own life entirely after coming close to losing it. She finds herself writing a travel article on a politically instable i...more
OK, this is definitely not the type of book I would normally pick up even at a library where it's free. So how did I come to read this book, you ask? Well, we'd been digging around our place and found a hidden cache of books in the basement--gasp! Books I hadn't looked at in years or even remembered I had. Don't even remember how I obtained some of them, and I assume I had this because I had read "The Handmaid's Tale" and thought I'd read something else by Atwood. I've been cranky about figuring...more
If I was still in the business of writing entertaining and/or clever but largely superficial reviews on this site, right now I would be cogitating over how best to write a parody-homage type review in the Atwoodian style best exemplified by Cat's Eye. The review would probably centre around my total inability to escape the black hole-like suction-y power of Cat's Eye, a book so deeply imprinted on my subconscious that it informs every word I write. I would probably make a clumsy parallel between...more
Bodily Harm is a thriller unlike any I have ever read. Atwood places her heroine on a small Caribbean island on the verge of revolution, but this reads nothing like a mainstream thriller. The action comparable to a traditional thriller doesn't take place until the last quarter of the book; until that point, Atwood builds a quietly menacing mood by showing us how heroine Rennie has become detached from her body through cancer, surgery, sexual aversion and lust. It isn't until the revolution occur...more
I love Margaret Atwood but now I remember why I stopped reading her novels in the late 90's. They just are not good for my mental health, the whole dark aura of the book invades my life. This means the book is excellent & does its job. But it's painful.
I'm looking forward to reading some other people's reviews on Goodreads. Even though this book seems like a thriller, it's really about the main character's inner world and her relationship with her body. I'm not sure I comprehended some of t...more
I'm looking forward to reading some other people's reviews on Goodreads. Even though this book seems like a thriller, it's really about the main character's inner world and her relationship with her body. I'm not sure I comprehended some of t...more
Atwood is at her best again! It's not my favorite of her books but Atwood is really good at creating characters who are very disconnected from life and I'm just the opposite, if I was that disconnected I would commit suicide. This story explores breast cancer and sex and sexual feelings. I understand some of her feelings as I had some of them after my first operation, a simple hernia operation, but as I age with more operations I don't have the same feelings.
The reviewers say that this book is...more
The reviewers say that this book is...more
Anther stinker, I’m afraid. This book is about a Canadian freelance writer who goes to the Caribbean to do a ‘fluff’ travel piece after dealing with a partial mastectomy and a break up with her boyfriend. She gets mixed up with local politics and things go from bad to worse as the country slips into chaos after a coup. Although the premise sounds interesting, the book is dreadful – not a good read!
Skilfully written as we would expect from Margaret Atwood. We follow the story of Rennie "a sweet Canadian" who flies to a fictitious Caribbean Island. Rennie is a journalist, but not the hard hitting journalist she once dreamed of being, but a superficial lifestyle journalist. "Surfaces" Rennie observes wisely "in many cases, were preferable to depths." I enjoy reading writers whose protagonist is a writer.
There is an uprising on the island, Rennie meets some of the principal political players...more
There is an uprising on the island, Rennie meets some of the principal political players...more
This was the first author I fell in love with because of her feminist themes and her penchant for including the international themes in a personal and sometimes non-obvious manner. And my personal disclaimer: I am absolutely not a feminist. But her writing is so personal that end up very quickly transporting to the world of, in this story, Rennie, who is a talented career woman, but who has lost her boyfriend, her health and both of her breasts. She decides, a short time after the reader meets a...more
The novel is dark and violent with a few attempts at comic relief. Rennie’s nightmare vacation parallels her physical and emotional battles with cancer. Flashbacks are interspersed throughout the story, which occasionally made things confusing. It took awhile to catch on that the past is distinguished because of the lack of quotation marks and other punctuation.
Bodily Harm was slow going until about a third of the way through at page 100, when it finally picked up. Despite that, Atwood’s writin...more
Bodily Harm was slow going until about a third of the way through at page 100, when it finally picked up. Despite that, Atwood’s writin...more
Mar 18, 2013
Felicia Strouth
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
library-books
I wish I could've loved this book. I really do.
My problem is not Atwood, I think she's a wonderful author.
My problem is not that I don't "get" the novel. I get it.
My problem is not disinterest. This book held my attention. I tore through it in 2.5 days.
My problem is a six-letter C word: cancer.
I borrowed this book from my university's library for use in a paper I was going to write on Atwood. The back of the edition of this book I borrowed didn't mention the dreaded word.
And I don't read books a...more
My problem is not Atwood, I think she's a wonderful author.
My problem is not that I don't "get" the novel. I get it.
My problem is not disinterest. This book held my attention. I tore through it in 2.5 days.
My problem is a six-letter C word: cancer.
I borrowed this book from my university's library for use in a paper I was going to write on Atwood. The back of the edition of this book I borrowed didn't mention the dreaded word.
And I don't read books a...more
I think this is a good book, and I may have been a little hard on it because I had read Atwood's "Edible Woman" immediately prior, and found it to be a more engaging and entertaining read. I see that "Bodily Harm" takes some heat from some readers for being too confusing. I actually thought the author did a good job with that aspect of the book -- it's a plot device instrumental for the novel's outcome. I just didn't enjoy it enough to give it a higher rating, maybe partly because the writing ne...more
Jan 20, 2009
Carolanne
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
waste-of-time,
travel-adventure
Atwoods writing style is really the only thing that made this book half decent. The plot line was dull and I never felt any kind of connection to any of the characters. I guess I was so uninterested that by the end of the book, I was only half paying attention prior to the climax so I ended up being confused, but not really caring to go back and short out the mess so I just went with the flow.
I was extremely disappointed when I think that this author wrote Handmaid's tale and while not as good,...more
I was extremely disappointed when I think that this author wrote Handmaid's tale and while not as good,...more
1 like · like · see review
One of the 'lost' Margaret Atwood titles I somehow missed when I went through my Atwood stage back in my first year of uni. A very early novel, I was immediately surprised at how much her literary voice was already developed! This reads like something from a much more mature author - like something from a much later point in Atwood's career. Quite simply, brilliant! Highly recommended!
What is so wonderful about Atwood's writing is the way in which she encompasses the very human problems of the i...more
What is so wonderful about Atwood's writing is the way in which she encompasses the very human problems of the i...more
I am not a huge Margaret Atwood fan, but read this book because she wrote it based on knowledge and experience she gained while spending time on the island of Bequia in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Beguia is one of the Grenadine Islands, part of St. Vincent where I worked from 1982-1984. My understanding is that Margaret Atwood went to school with Pat Mitchell, wife of "Son" James Mitchell who was elected as Prime Minster of St. Vincent in 1984. Son Mitchell was born in Bequia.
For me reading this...more
For me reading this...more
It's odd when people make puns that don't work at all in the language they're making them in, but work just fine in another one. When that other language is one the punner speaks, it can be taken as cultured or arrogant or both, but when it isn't, it smells like plagiarism.
Anyway. This is a novel about a Canadian woman and her relationships with various largely abusive men. Yes, I too was surprised that Atwood would go so far outside of her comfort zone. If I really am going to read everything s...more
Anyway. This is a novel about a Canadian woman and her relationships with various largely abusive men. Yes, I too was surprised that Atwood would go so far outside of her comfort zone. If I really am going to read everything s...more
I am really not sure how I feel about this book. Do I love it? Do I hate it? There were times when I wanted to give up on it, and yet I couldn't. Somehow I kept finding myself still reading it. Maybe it was the fact that just like her main character, Rennie, I am trying to learn to live again.
As far as the plot goes. It was fairly simply and almost uneventful for the first half of the book. In the second part, the story makes a sudden turn and all hell breaks loose. I was, however, a little dis...more
As far as the plot goes. It was fairly simply and almost uneventful for the first half of the book. In the second part, the story makes a sudden turn and all hell breaks loose. I was, however, a little dis...more
I didn't necessarily enjoy this book, and yet it was powerful, exceptionally well-written, and one that is going to stick with me for a long time. To that end, I think it's one that I will enjoy more in retrospect than I did as I read it, and why it's deserving of five stars.
In the beginning, I felt the book dragged, and I was frustrated with how Atwood dangled things out and only explained pieces afterward--using a non-linear narrative to build suspense rather than laying it all out at once.
A...more
In the beginning, I felt the book dragged, and I was frustrated with how Atwood dangled things out and only explained pieces afterward--using a non-linear narrative to build suspense rather than laying it all out at once.
A...more
This one was not one of my favorites of Atwood's. It's about a woman who has breast cancer and the relational impact this has in her life. She is a reporter, and after having a mastectomy, she decides to go on a work-type vacation to a small island, which is in the midst of a political revolution. Here, she finds a renewed sense of freedom, but also becomes enslaved (literally) by the politics of the region, barely making it out alive.
I read this and then listened to as a book on tape as I was...more
I read this and then listened to as a book on tape as I was...more
I was very disappointed with this book. I kept expecting something exciting to happen or to get some insight into the characters but it never happened. The lead character could have had some insightful moments but no, and all the characters seemed very one-dimensional. I wouldn't have entirely minded this if there had been a storyline that connected and built but that didn't happen. The civil war wasn't well explained, there was no action to relieve the monotony and I felt very much in the dark...more
I have read a lot of Margaret's books and she's a favorite author of mine. This book didn't appeal to me like others. The main character's life or parts of it were alowly unveiled in each chapter so it would go from present day into when she was a child and then from one lover to another and just when you think something really important was about to happen you went into a comletely different part of her life. I found that not as appealing to read and never felt that i got a complete idea of wha...more
Maybe because I listened to rather than read this, but it never seemed to entirely hold together. An odd blend of Atwood's dry intellectualizing of mundane social life and overt political topics. The climax was very powerful, though, and Laura will stay with me for a long time.
Not my favorite Atwood—she's at her drier and more intellectual here—but I appreciated the Banana Republic politics and the apolitical narrator's political awakening, if not the quasi-feminism. The scenes in the prison we...more
Not my favorite Atwood—she's at her drier and more intellectual here—but I appreciated the Banana Republic politics and the apolitical narrator's political awakening, if not the quasi-feminism. The scenes in the prison we...more
My bookclub is currently reading all of Margaret Atwood's books in chronological order. A lot of these have been rereads for me, but I first read this one so long ago, around 1995 I think, that I remembered nothing past the opening scene, an that only upon beginning to read this time round. So far, this has been my favourite of Atwood's earlier books. The characters felt more specific and relatable, even if there were times when you wanted to give Rennie a smack in the face. Her bad decisions ma...more
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Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, childr...more
More about Margaret Atwood...
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, childr...more
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