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The Robber Bride

by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 18,007 ratings · 936 reviews

Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride is inspired by "The Robber Bridegroom," a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends, Tony, C...more

Paperback, 528 pages

Published January 20th 1998 by Anchor (first published 1993)

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Jan 06, 2009 Edan rated it 4 of 5 stars

My sister Lauren once said something both wise and ridiculous, and I think Atwood's beautiful, readable, and funny novel echoes the sentiment: "Women are crazy. Men are stupid." In The Robber Bride we get a peek into the lives of three women: petite academic Tony, new age, delicate Charis, and gregarious, fashionable Roz; the histories of their marriages, their childhoods, and their current day-to-day experiences in 1990s Toronto, are fascinating. All three of them have suffered at the hands of...more

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Dec 25, 2009 C. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Women! And men.

Shelves: own-or-access, to-be-re-read, to-read-again-in-twenty-years, fantasy, feminism, 2009

I'm in several minds about this book, because I am head-over-heels in love with Cat's Eye by same, and a lot of this reads like Cat's Eye shifted a couple of spaces to the left.

The reason I love Cat's Eye so unreasonably is, and it's time to stop pretending this isn't true, primarily because of some things that happened in my life sometime between (approx.) my sixth and seventh readings (though I use the term 'reading' loosely) of it, and so my love for it is all bound up rather painfully with a...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: things-you-can-t-unsee

Update: This review recently got a few likes, bringing it back to my attention. But, honestly? I'm ashamed of it. Because, I'm trying to pretend evil women don't exist. Zenia is obviously an exaggeration...but women and girls do awful things to each other. All the time.

Back in school, I was horribly bullied by girls. Horribly. They'd hit me, shove me against the wall, walk up behind me and pull my skirt up above my waist, trip me as I was getting off the bus. Why do I pretend those things didn't...more

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Dec 28, 2009 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, story-review

Well a hard headed woman,
a soft hearted man
been the cause of trouble
ever since the world began.
Oh yeah, ever since the world began

He listens to Elvis with half an ear as he finishes the last few pages. He'd felt worried when his wife told him he should read it. The Fay Weldon, last year... that had left him feeling disquieted. But this one was different. He wonders if Margaret is a lady or a woman or a babe. He guesses he'd better call her a woman. Privately, though, he's decided she's a ba...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Lavande rated it 2 of 5 stars

I like a number of Margaret Atwood's works but not this one. It was like a Lifetime movie without the benefit of Tori Spelling and a fun, melodramatic plotline. Oh, the plotline was melodramatic all right but it was far from fun or even insightful. Three friends (all of them stereotypes of the post-feminist era) have dramatic encounters with an almost mythic creature/woman named Zenia who embodies all of the "negative" qualities in a woman, namely ruthlessness, lust and wandering passion. This t...more

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Nov 07, 2008 Beth F. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Sarah B. - I'm mailing this one to you

Shelves: cheap-and-dirty-lot-from-ebay, 1001-books, canada, infidelity, fairy-tales-and-fables, 2008

Reading this book was like wading into a lake that has a predictable downward slope. Your ankles get wet and you take a few more steps because you feel like taking a leisurely soak. Pretty soon your knees are wet. And then your thighs, your hips, your waist, your—AHHHHH--!!!

And then all of a sudden you find you’ve just hit a major drop-off and half of a nanosecond later you are all the way in, whether you wanted to be or not. I started this book and thought it was just sort of okay. Atwood’s pro...more

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Jul 06, 2011 mark monday rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: these-fragile-lives

atwood's splendid deconstruction and then reconstruction of the ties that can exist between women is one of her more pleasurable novels. it is full of fascinating references to fairy tales; discovering the parallels to rapunzel, sleeping beauty, and cinderella (to name just three) is an ongoing delight and the title character herself is so mysteriously poisonous yet malleable in her many faces that she becomes almost mythic. just as enjoyable is the deftness and richness of the characterization....more

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Jun 29, 2009 Madeline rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-list

"The story of Zenia ought to begin where Zenia began. It must have been someplace long ago and distant in space, thinks Tony; someplace bruised, and very tangled. A European print, hand-tinted, ochre-colored, with dusty sunglight and a lot of bushes in it - bushes with thick leaves and ancient twisted roots, behind which, out of sight in the undergrowth and hinted at only by a boot protruding, or a slack hand, something ordinary but horrifying is taking place.
Or this is the impression Tony has b...more "The story of Zenia ought to begin where Zenia began. It must have been someplace long ago and distant in space, thinks Tony; someplace bruised, and very tangled. A European print, hand-tinted, ochre-colored, with dusty sunglight and a lot of bushes in it - bushes with thick leaves and ancient twisted roots, behind which, out of sight in the undergrowth and hinted at only by a boot protruding, or a slack hand, something ordinary but horrifying is taking place.
Or this is the impression Tony has been left with. But so much has been erased, so much has been bandaged over, so much deliberately snarled, that Tony isn't sure any longer which of Zenia's accounts of herself was true. She can hardly ask now, and even if she could, Zenia wouldn't answer. Or she would lie. She would lie earnestly, with a catch in her voice, a quaver of suppressed grief, or she would lie haltingly, as if confessing, or she would lie with a cool, defiant anger, and Tony would believe her. She has before."

The story of three women - Tony, Roz, and Charis - who are friends thanks to their separate involvements with a woman they all knew at college. Zenia is beautiful, intelligent, and incredibly, unbelievably evil. At the beginning of the story it's established that she has died, but five years later the three friends go to lunch together and spot Zenia, very obviously alive. Shit proceeds to hit the fan in a very Atwood-like way, and it is amazing and terrifying.

This book is the evidence I will produce if people ask me why I love Margaret Atwood so much. Unlike other female writers, whose books are usually along the lines of Men Ruin Everything For Us (I'm looking at you, Joyce Carol Oates), Atwood takes a different tactic. Her male characters are, at best, naive and easily manipulated - more children than men. At worst, they are still children, but more like playground bullies trying to prove their own superiority. None of them are ever aware that behind their backs the women are moving in their own separate world, wounding and betraying each other and generally being terrifying bitches. Even the nice women have secret mean streaks that are guaranteed to rear their heads at some point in the story.

So in a nutshell, here's my point: Joyce Carol Oates frequently uses men as the reason for womens' problems (*coughBlondecough*) and clearly thinks they are naturally evil. Margaret Atwood, on the other hand, knows that women are a million times crueler than men can ever hope to be. To put it simply: Oates is a Lifetime Original Movie; Atwood is Mean Girls. (less)

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Jamie I should have said 'villainess' rather than 'evil,' which I believe is actually what Atwood commented (from an essay in her collection 'Writing with I...more
Dec 19, 2009 04:21pm

C. I don't feel like I know enough about Zenia to pronounce her evil (still haven't finished the book yet, though). Her ambiguity is what, to me, makes h...more
Dec 19, 2009 05:16pm

Nov 05, 2007 Jessica Donaghy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: hall-of-fame, fiction

This book has become comfort reading me -- there's no telling how many times I've read it. Atwood has a remarkable skill for revealing how her characters think, which is a separate facet of characterization, so different from describing a character's personality or way of life. Of all the fascinating women in this book, Tony is my favorite. I identify not with her personality, but with the way she thinks.

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Jun 12, 2008 Trevor rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

Everybody in this novel has a motive for killing Zenia – and that is the point, or at least, one of the points. Zenia is a dark, malevolent force – one of those people we desire in the dark, middle of the forest nightmare spaces in the black pits of our souls. She is the one who knows our secret desires and who uses them against us to bring about our own undoing. At least, we would like to believe it is our undoing she seeks and that she is the agent that brings it about. But that is the thing a...more

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Jun 06, 2007 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars

How is it possible for a mere mortal like me to describe a work of Margaret Atwood? Her prose is superb and she can craft a story, but her brilliance to me is her ability to include feminist themes and ideas in thought-provoking ways. The Robber Bride is the story of three middle-aged female friends whose common bond is past experience with a hateful and destructive woman, Zenia, who lied to, stole from, and cheated each of them. When Zenia reappears after a number of years, each character recou...more

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Aug 11, 2007 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Someone wanting to indulge little spite

Recommended to Rachel by: College Course

Shelves: 3-liked-it

Margaret Atwood, like Toni Morrison, never ceases to amaze me in her talent for purely beautiful writing. The Robber Bride is a very entertaining read, telling the story of love, jealousy, anger, spite, revenge and friendship. The novel follows several women and delves into their twisted past regarding the love-to-hate definition of a bi-atch, Zenia. (Sorry, but no other word will suffice.) The story is so enthralling that you can't help but find yourself dying to dive in every chance you get.

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May 29, 2012 Lucille rated it 5 of 5 stars

I feel like I'm going to get shot for saying this, but when I first started reading, I couldn't help thinking of the Pretty Little Liars series- the mysterious, manipulative and gorgeous friend who ruined their lives, then died, then shows back up in their lives to cause more mayhem. Obviously, this book had a lot more content to it than Pretty Little Liars, but that was my first impression.
Zenia is the embodiment of a femme fatale. She lies as easily as breathing and she knows how to get to pe...more I feel like I'm going to get shot for saying this, but when I first started reading, I couldn't help thinking of the Pretty Little Liars series- the mysterious, manipulative and gorgeous friend who ruined their lives, then died, then shows back up in their lives to cause more mayhem. Obviously, this book had a lot more content to it than Pretty Little Liars, but that was my first impression.
Zenia is the embodiment of a femme fatale. She lies as easily as breathing and she knows how to get to people. She knows what lies will work, and what angles to play off of. With stunning good looks and a cunning imagination to match it, Zenia works herself into the lives of Tony, Charis and Roz, methodically planting herself into their daily routine and then destroying their relationships with the men in their lives. Her motives are unclear, perhaps just the thrill of the game and the enjoyment of watching the other women suffer. She gives a different backstory to each person that she meets, although each story has her as a victim who rises above the oppressive and disasterous situations, giving herself a sympathetic persona that time after time, people fall for.
Most of this story is remembering the past and going through the backstories of Tony, Charis and Roz, from their lives as children and the hardships they faced to their eventual encounters with Zenia.
Tony was the first victim (that we know of... Knowing Zenia there were probably other women that she stole men from along the way, just for kicks). They meet during university through West, who Zenia is currently living with and Tony is falling for. Tony is a brilliant history student, but she is petite and withdrawn from the other girls in her hall. Zenia is her only friend and she exploits her status to get what she wants from Tony.
Later, Zenia nestles herself into Charis' life by playing off of Charis' generosity and charity. Charis is a hippy figure, a yoga instructor who sees auras and goes through life in a dream like state. Once upon a time she was Karen, but she changed herself to protect herself from difficult times as a child. She sees Zenia as wounded and fragile and is determined to make her better. Zenia is not the only one who leeches off of Charis' naive kindness- she is living with Billy, a draft dodger, who does nothing around the house but take up resources.
Roz is the last to encounter Zenia for herself, although she was there for Tony and Charis and knows what a destructive force she is. But Zenia is a brilliant deceiver and convinces Roz that the years have changed her. SHe finds her way into Roz's inner circle and eventually onto the board of her magazine.
Everywhere that Zenia goes, she digs her claws in deep to whatever other people care about. Tony, Charis and Roz attended her funeral five years ago. They thought that she was dead. But for a woman like Zenia, not even death can stop her from stirring up mayhem. (less)

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Apr 21, 2013 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: pathological liars and their prey

Shelves: canlit, 2013-gr-challenge

Atwood at her finest - and in some ways, meanest (I mean that in a good way). I ended up loving it, although found it started slowly, lacking her usual sly and almost remote perspective, sharp insights, biting black humour. It was almost too sincere and - gasp! - clichéd.

Then, by about p 100, it kicked in. Cunning use of language and symbolism (the eggs!) - and most of all, a study in a particularly disturbing kind of psychopathology to which so many of us have been prey. Slices to the bone and...more Atwood at her finest - and in some ways, meanest (I mean that in a good way). I ended up loving it, although found it started slowly, lacking her usual sly and almost remote perspective, sharp insights, biting black humour. It was almost too sincere and - gasp! - clichéd.

Then, by about p 100, it kicked in. Cunning use of language and symbolism (the eggs!) - and most of all, a study in a particularly disturbing kind of psychopathology to which so many of us have been prey. Slices to the bone and hits close to home, for me.

I have known too many Zenias in my life, women and men. I like to think I've learned to spot and avoid them, but this book reminds me of how they do what they do: the predatory and unscrupulous behaviour of the pathological liar.

I love that Atwood focuses her laser-beam eye here on the three 'victims'. She forces you right into their heads, you get to see each one’s inner workings at a microscopic level, the way those CSI shows take you right into the orifices and organs to show you the source of the disease up close, magnified 1,000x. You see the arterial placque of their psyches, each vein of vulnerability.

Not that the ‘victims’ here are diseased – but more like their particular psychologies, pasts, experiences have left them exposed and lacking any immunity to the disease that Zenia/the liar carries.

That core vulnerability – the commonality between Tony, Roz and Charis – is their essential ‘goodness’: their natural, untainted proclivity to trust. Even as we watch them fall repeatedly into Zenia’s clutches because of it, motivated not just by their own willingness to trust but also by the equally natural and forgivable flaws and egocentricities and points of pride or pain or shame or lack of self-awareness that Zenia exploits, we root for them and we recognize ourselves in them.

I appreciated so much that Atwood chose to (view spoiler) Too often, the opposite happens - it's the most regrettable collateral damage that the pathological liar causes. I appreciated the maturity, authenticity and well-roundedness of their perceptions and understanding of each other. This level of hyper-psycho-realism is always high in Atwood; here, she's at her peak power. And she walked a bit of a tightrope, too: Zenia, in another author's hands, could have been seen as a particularly mean-spirited sexist attack; Tony, Roz and Charis as caricatures of specific types of feminity. Atwood deliberately manipulates these nuances and layers of meaning, and our interpretation of them, as part of the story. Zenia-like, really; story-tellers are weaving lies, too, right? Reading a story is sometimes like looking in a mirror - we see ourselves reflected there; another deliberate choice of symbolism that Atwood uses.

A lot of novels make me cry. Some make me clench my teeth in anger. Still fewer leave me on the edge of my seat as I wonder how the plot will resolve. Almost none make me feel all of this, and so profoundly as this one does.

It’s extraordinary.
(less)

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May 27, 2008 Kirsten rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kirsten by: Meghan

Shelves: read-in-2008, xx-chromosome

I wasn't completely thrilled with the narrative structure of this novel: the book is broken into sections with the three primary characters explored in sequence in each section. This approach began to seem a little lumbering to me, and also a bit repetitive. However, in the middle section, events really took off and I found myself engrossed, then distanced again in the final 60 or so pages as things were wrapped up.

At first my hackles were raised at the thought that the biggest trespass one woma...more

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Mar 19, 2008 Andrea rated it 2 of 5 stars

Interesting enough for me to finish in less than 24 hours, but lacking in anything that would provoke lasting thought or examination.

I found this book to be a great disappointment. It's basically all about how three incredibly amazing women, so smart and strong and capable within themselves, are brought down and nearly destroyed by a fourth woman, through her attack on their common weak spot: the men in their lives. The exotically, impossibly beautiful Zenia systematically targets each woman, im...more Interesting enough for me to finish in less than 24 hours, but lacking in anything that would provoke lasting thought or examination.

I found this book to be a great disappointment. It's basically all about how three incredibly amazing women, so smart and strong and capable within themselves, are brought down and nearly destroyed by a fourth woman, through her attack on their common weak spot: the men in their lives. The exotically, impossibly beautiful Zenia systematically targets each woman, imposes upon her generosity for a time, then vamooses with her man and a great deal of money. Why? Her motive seems to be nothing more than greed and the fact that she can. Her beauty and craftiness are reason enough? I don't know.

But really, why is the book populated solely with weak men in need of a good spot of mothering? Why does Tony let Zenia lead her husband around by the dick and then, when Zenia's had done with him, allow him back into her home, never to broach the subject again? Why is the only character with a strong backbone and chipless shoulders an elderly farmer's widow who endures a solitary existence, shunned by the neighbors who fear she's a witch and by her toxic daughters who are ashamed of her?

I always like the idea of Margaret Atwood more than the reality and this book may be the final nail in my decision to never read another of her books. Why does feminist writing have to be about women being destroyed by other women and men being too brainless, incompetent, and unaware to contribute anything worthwhile? This book would have me be believe all women are untrustworthy—especially those posing as my friends—and that the only way to deal with men is to condescend to them, mother them, hide from them the true goings-on in my mind and the world.

The state of loneliness in which the main characters exist is unsettling, but I don't find it very believable. None of the members of the I Hate Zenia Club are respectful of their friends. They tune out or dismiss their supposed friends' opinions, friendly advice is more like an insult disguised as a compliment, and they meet up once a month for a lunch so they can sit around listening to themselves talk and hating on the woman they let walk all over them. None of them seem to have any other meaningful interactions with other humans: family members are looked at as curiosities or pets and co-workers or colleagues are avoided and disdained, treated like a trained monkey, or are just as self-absorbed and damaged as they and, therefore, equally incapable of real conversation.

Are we all really that hollow inside?(less)

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Jan 02, 2009 Peter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadiana

One of Margaret's nastier books. As often is the case the rumours that an Atwood book might actually be a thinly veiled take on the inner circles of Canlit...this one leads to endless speculation about the voracious man-thief, the insipid males and the various other characters. On the other hand it seems a relatively realistic portrayal of adultery in all its forms.

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Aug 21, 2008 Gay rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was one LONG book! It was also one of the most well-written books that I have ever read. Margaret Atwood's vocabulary, grasp of pop culture and idioms is phenomenal. On the other hand, it takes a long time for anything to happen and Zenia, who is the robber bride, is hard to believe. Can anyone be that devious, that amoral, that conniving, that evil, and that captivating? Perhaps. The story surrounds the influence that Zenia has on her three girlfriends from college and how, in each case, s...more

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Dec 15, 2008 Jill added it

Is it sick that I love books with female villains? The title character in this book - Zenia - lies pathologically to extract money, love, secrets and husbands from her three former friends who must hunt her down together and take revenge.

Zenia is as heartless as Milady de Winter in "The Three Musketeers" or "Rebecca" in the Hitchcock film. Maybe this entertains me so much, because I've always known that stereotypes of women as gentle and innocent were sexist lies. The heroes and the villains are...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not Atwood's best work... but even her lesser efforts are well worth the time. This one suffered from rather heavy-handed characterization: the good gals were a little too good (and certainly too naive), the evil too evil, and the men a little too closely akin to puppets. She also had some trouble tying up the plot: When the bad guy (gal) has died before the book opens, what do you do for an encore? Nonetheless, Atwood's command of language is just remarkable and her insights into the workings o...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Melody rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

As always, Atwood is compelling and disturbing, a master of wit matched by theoretical and narrative power. The Robber Bride tells the story of Roz, Tony, and Charis, three old friends whose encounter with the toxic and destructive Zenia, the robber bride of the title, causes each to remember her history. Though Zenia played a destructive part in each woman's young life, it is their encounter as mature women that foregrounds Atwood's prowess as a Jungian psychoanalytic writer and theorist of the...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Judi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-1998

As we begin this novel, we meet three college friends with a common nemesis - their classmate, the beautiful and evil Zenia, whom they believe is comfortingly dead. That is, until Zenia walks into the restaurant just as alive and beautiful as ever. How can this be? They went to her funeral just to make sure she was dead...

Through The Robber Bride we learn about these three friends and why they preferred the dead Zenia. As usual, Atwood develops some interesting characters with unique occupations...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Brunes-de-montlouet rated it 3 of 5 stars

NOT AS GREAT AS MANY MAKE IT SEEM BUT IT'S NOT AS BAD EITHER

I'm not trying to be a hater or one of those people that don't like a certain type of genre yet decide to browse around it just to highlight the negativity, right?

The plot caught my attention instantly and I really did get involved and Interested in all 3 main characters ( Roz,Tony and Charis ) However considering that all three of them revolved around the major bit** Zenia, it would have been nice of the author to include her life in t...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Liam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this bloated faux-fable has its charms; it sports a fluid writing style, meticulously planned structure, and a deliciously opportunistic antagonist, who is not as evil, imo, as the synopsis would have you think.

The protagonists are distinctive but lacking in basic wiles, but that's okay. Zenia makes up for that. As the novel progressed, I found it harder to empathize with Roz, Charis and Tony, and easier to empathize with Zenia. She is the diviner of ugly truths, rather than the bringer, and th...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Margaret Atwood is hit or miss for me. Overall, I love her writing style in whatever the book but sometimes I can't stand her plots. The Robber Bride is a book that I liked better than some others I've tried to read by her, but it's not as compelling as the Hand Maid's Tale.

I'm still not sure what to think about this book except that I think it's some sort of acidic commentary of women at a certain time period. Though it is a kind of affectionate commentary. It is obvious that Ms. Atwood cares...more Margaret Atwood is hit or miss for me. Overall, I love her writing style in whatever the book but sometimes I can't stand her plots. The Robber Bride is a book that I liked better than some others I've tried to read by her, but it's not as compelling as the Hand Maid's Tale.

I'm still not sure what to think about this book except that I think it's some sort of acidic commentary of women at a certain time period. Though it is a kind of affectionate commentary. It is obvious that Ms. Atwood cares for her characters and they are well developed. I loved Tony and Roz and Charis dearly and in many ways they all reminded me of me.

I think that this would be a lovely novel with a feminist bent--except that all the women's concerns revolve around men. Men are the chief worries in their lives and their biggest weak points. This is how Zenia consistently hits them. While the women themselves were accomplished and leaders for the most part, they were wrapped up in/concerned for their men. I have a problem with this in two parts.

First, of course, I think it takes away from the friendship of the women since they bond due to Zenia but it's sort of like a group therapy or AA meeting. It's all due to the men in their lives being taken by Zenia and used up.

Second, for the most part, the male characters are a huge disservice. They are seen as taken and used up but they do take themselves. Sure Zenia is manipulative but at the same time it's not entirely their faults- or at least the women perceive it as such. Granted, I don't think that this is something Ms. Atwood is saying, rather a reflection of the mindsets of these women but if men aren't represented as shapers of their own free will and as much at fault as anyone who was manipulated--then I feel it shoots the novel right in the foot. It just didn't work for me.

I did however enjoy West. Larry was kind of flat what little we saw of him but Boyce just seemed like a gay guy. What I mean was, that's his designation. He works for her and he's gay and flat. The quoting things quirk just got annoying after a time. Quoting things in and of itself is fine, but consistently saying who you are quoting? Even quoting from the Bible and saying 'God'? While I'm sure people like this exist-- he almost literally had nothing else to his character.

Zenia was well done if a nasty piece of work. The truth of her is never known --or why she acts like that-- but I suppose that's all right, I suppose. Though I wished she'd been given more dimension. She is the quintessential Other Woman that everyone is afraid of but-- it makes the story more of how women divide among battle lines over men than come together.

Overall, I was entertained by the book and wanted to see the main characters get out of it because I cared for them even if I was annoyed by them. The ending felt a bit rushed and convenient, and the author seems to be trying to make a point that I don't get, but it's a great little character study of a novel even if I wanted to shake Charis and Roz and want them to wake up. Tony was a little easier to stomach but who knows what she would be if she didn't have her man.

Also I really thought Charis' metaphysical connection to things and how it was handled was cool. I love a little magic in every day life. (less)

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Nov 09, 2012 Avital rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian

When Zenia first meets her future female victims, she is their colleague at the university, a beautiful, smart student with foreign origins and a reputation of a feral girl. The university is seemingly the only common ground of Tony, Roz, and Charis before Zenia supplies them, one by one, each in a different century, with her evil schemes. The constant results of these schemes are a financial damage, a destruction of the women’s relationships with their male companions, loss of their self-confid...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Andrea Blythe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, fic-literary-mainstream

I found it slow going in the first couple of chapters, but before long I was enthralled by this tale of three very different women who share one thing in common — all three have had their lives and loves upheaved by Zenia.

The story begins by the three women sharing mutual relief when they learn of Zenia's death, only to have her rise from the dead and appear before them, ready for battle. Atwood lovingly describes each of the three women, dipping back into their pasts and forward into their pre...more

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Aug 26, 2012 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

I ate this book up. It is not a page turner in the traditional sense, but I kept wanting more. More of the characters, more of the story, more of Margaret Atwood. Her writing is so deep and warm and fulfilling to me. It is like a beach towel or a fluffy robe that I want to curl up in. Atwood has become an old friend; when I pick up another book of hers, I can’t wait to find out what she has been up to since I last talked to her.

The last two books of Atwood’s I read where Cat’s Eye and Wildernes...more I ate this book up. It is not a page turner in the traditional sense, but I kept wanting more. More of the characters, more of the story, more of Margaret Atwood. Her writing is so deep and warm and fulfilling to me. It is like a beach towel or a fluffy robe that I want to curl up in. Atwood has become an old friend; when I pick up another book of hers, I can’t wait to find out what she has been up to since I last talked to her.

The last two books of Atwood’s I read where Cat’s Eye and Wilderness Tales. I was not surprised Robber Bride was written just before those two, it carries on common themes that Atwood likes to explore. It is a tale of women interactions with each other, the good, yes, but more the dark side, the manipulation of women by other women. Unwritten, but screaming throughout the book is the question “Why?” Why do women do these things to each other? Why do humans do these hurtful, selfish, short-sighted, ugly things to each other?

Atwood continues to draw on settings from her own life. Life as a Canadian. Life as a World War Two child. Life as a woman in a man’s world. Despite Atwood’s frequent use of these items, they never get old for me. Each story of hers I read reveals new facets of these ideas. The themes become more understood to me, more defined and refined.

Atwood’s stories tend to have at least a sliver (or sometimes a whole log) of the mystical in them. I enjoy this, and I enjoy Atwood’s exploration of the things we can’t fully understand by science. Coincidences, déjà vu, premonitions, visions, Atwood includes it nonchalantly, but I seems like something she really struggles to place in her own world view, so she uses it in stories to explore.

Atwood is amazing at following actions through time, how events shape children into the people they become as adults. It makes me wonder, when she looks back, what does she see in her own past to make her who she became? Are there events and choices that are clear to her, as clear as they are in her novels? I can reflect on my past and see some links that led me to who I am in some areas. But others remain a complete mystery to me. Are they clearer to Atwood, or does she write wishing they were as clear in her own life as they are to her characters?

I have to admit I doubted Atwood early in this book. Not that I did not like the early story, it grabbed me right away. Rather I could not believe that Tony, Karis and Roz knew each other the way they did if they had known each other since college some 25+ years ago. It did not seem like any relationship between college friends I knew of. But my doubts were misplaced. In filling in the years between college and the present, I came to understand why Atwood nailed the relationships perfectly.

Minor spoilers in the next paragraph:

When I got done with Tony’s backstory, I thought it was certain to be my favorite. But then Charis’s was even better! Both of the backstories had a favorite scene for me. In Tony’s it was the party where she meets Zenia. It was so visceral and easy to picture. I felt like I was walking through the blackness with Tony. In Karis’s it was the chapters with her grandma. They were so touching they brought me to tears.

I struggled a little with the final third of the book. I did not find Roz’s backstory nearly as compelling as the other two. And I guess I didn’t fully believe Roz’s choices in her interactions with Zenia. I also struggled with the ending, but this is nothing new for me with Atwood’s books. Through Tony, Atwood lectures how stories rarely have as clean of a beginning or ending as we would like. And for me that is very true, I want a cleaner ending. I don’t know what I want differently, not things tied up in a bow, or more dramatic action. But I felt like I wanted something more. Maybe I just want to know where Tony, Karis and Roz’s lives go from here. Maybe I want that Deus ex machina which decides the fates of the characters from here on out, “happily ever after” for all three, please. Or maybe I am simply not ready to say goodbye to Tony, Karis & Roz. Or Zenia for that matter. They were so real to me.
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Jul 18, 2012 Mallory rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked, but didn't love this book, which is too bad because Atwood has a gorgeous voice and writes in such a way that you just want to live in her prose. I liked the idea of recasting a Grimm's story (which I was previously unfamiliar with but read for context) with women in all leading roles. I loved that in Zenia she creates a truly horrendous villain who is somehow both repulsive and enticing. Having been taken in by (not-nearly-as) manipulative "friends," I enjoyed the premise a great deal....more

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Jan 21, 2012 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Having previously read a novel by Margaret Atwood that fell firmly into the dystopian genre, I expected something along the same lines with The Robber Bride. It took me probably fifty pages to finally realize that is not the direction in which this one was headed and to get beyond constantly looking for a science fiction twist.
The Robber Bride weaves a rather tangled web anchored on the sides by three friends, Tony, Roz and Charis, in the middle of which rests...more The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Having previously read a novel by Margaret Atwood that fell firmly into the dystopian genre, I expected something along the same lines with The Robber Bride. It took me probably fifty pages to finally realize that is not the direction in which this one was headed and to get beyond constantly looking for a science fiction twist.
The Robber Bride weaves a rather tangled web anchored on the sides by three friends, Tony, Roz and Charis, in the middle of which rests the ultimate black widow, Zenia. Zenia works her way, one by one, through the men in each of these women’s lives, poisoning both sides of the relationship through her deceptively detailed lies and her lack of genuine emotion towards any other human being.
The novel, while taking place in present day Canada, spends a majority of its pages flashing back through the stories of how each woman’s love was lured away by Zenia and then how the women were left to pick up the pieces of their lives, their relationships and their memories. For one this mean welcoming back the husband that strayed, for one it meant remaking her husband’s suicide into an accident to protect her children and for one it meant never really knowing what happened to her boyfriend after she watched him sail away from their island home on the daily ferry. These jumps in time and place have the potential to confuse the story and the timeline, but Atwood is able to seamlessly make these transitions in a way that never leaves the reader wondering how they got from an aging island shack to an upscale corner office in Toronto.
Zenia is the epitome of a novel’s antagonist. She is a dark-haired, pale-skinned beauty who can calmly lie her way in and out of any situation. Her skills are perfected to a point where her character is almost unbelievable. Until her death, there is nary a flaw in her plans. She is able to walk all over every man she desires. While this makes for a smooth flowing story, it does not necessarily make for believable characters.
The idea of three women who become friends based on one single connecting link- the woman who lured away each of their men-is, again, a bit of a stretch. These women meet once a month for lunch, never bringing up their singular connection until Zenia resurfaces in their lives. What is it that keeps them coming back to that lunch before her return? Guilt? Self-loathing? The need to keep turning the knife in the wound? I am not sure most women would want this constant reminder of the darker moments in their lives.
Maragret Atwood is a skilled writer. She infuses her story with references to an old Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale and pulls on Tony’s interest in wars to enlighten the reader on the battles these women each face. It isn’t the writing the lacks, but the characters, which, at times, seem a bit forced. The book was entertaining enough to have me wanting to know how these women finally disentangle themselves from the arms of Zenia, but not enough to not wish is was a few less than its 528 pages long. Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride is awarded:

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About Margaret Atwood

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

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The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam Trilogy, #2)

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Quotes from The Robber Bride

“Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy: that you're strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren't catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you're unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.” — 28 people liked it

“Genius is an infinite capacity for causing pain.” — 17 people liked it

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