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Jan 06, 2009

Edan rated it:

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 More...

6 comments like (20 people liked it)

Dec 25, 2009

Choupette rated it:

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 pain More...

18 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jun 07, 2011

Sarah rated it:

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 t More...

10 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 28, 2009

Manny rated it:

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, More...

29 comments like (14 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2007

Lavande rated it:

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 pass More...

3 comments like (13 people liked it)

Nov 07, 2008

Beth F. rated it:

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 ok More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 06, 2011

mark rated it:

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...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2009

Madeline rated it:

"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 More...

21 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2007

Jessica rated it:

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.

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 12, 2008

Trevor rated it:

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 thin More...

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Holly rated it:

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...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 25, 2010

Rachel rated 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. More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 27, 2008

Kirsten rated it:

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 tr More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2008

Andrea rated it:

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 ea More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2009

Peter rated it:

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.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 21, 2008

Gay rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 05, 2011

Pat rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Melody rated it:

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 t More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2009

Valerie rated it:

This one was creepy... in the "my isn't human nature creepy" sort of way not "zombies ate my brains" creepy. It is a story of 4 women that are connected because they all went to college together. 1 of these women (Zenia) is a she-devil... she manipulates every situation and basically destroys anyone that she comes into contact with. The other 3 women find themselves bonding together and trying to pick up the pieces that is the tornado of Zenia. You learn a lot about the 3 wom More...

0 comments like

Jan 21, 2012

Michelle rated it:

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 w More...

0 comments like

Jan 21, 2012

Lo rated it:

You can always depend on Margaret Atwood to write a top notch three star book, which is in many ways wonderful (you aren't hopelessly addicted, you don't feel a need to reread her books 12 times to memorize everything, but you enjoy the story and you take something away from it).

The Robber Bride follows the lives of three women - Tony, Charis, and Roz. Each has their dark past that has left them scarred, and each has been brutally betrayed by Zenia, a girl they knew in college. While More...

0 comments like

Jul 25, 2011

Kezia rated it:

After a bit of a slow start, 'Robber Bride' becomes quite the page turner. A riveting story based on gender reversal of a symbolic Grimm's fairy tale turns into an original story of loss, crisis and deception at the hands of a woman svengali.

Unlike some less talented writers, in Atwood's hands, jumping back and forth in time worked eerily well to tell the story. There are a few plot weaknesses and inconsistencies (why would Roz be so taken in after what happened to Charis? What becam More...

0 comments like

Apr 19, 2011

Jackie rated it:

I've never read the Handmaid's Tale, but I figured I should read some Margaret Atwood. I picked this up at my favorite used bookstore in DC, and oh, man, I am glad I did, because it's probably the best book I've read in a while. This Margaret Atwood lady really knows how to get into the female psyche. The book is not really so much about Zenia (the evil seductress) as it is the three women whose lives she becomes a part of. Tony, Charis, and Roz met in college, but are three very different women More...

0 comments like

Jan 30, 2011

Jennyreadsexcessively rated it:

I just loved this masterfully written novel of 3 women connected by a common thread--they’ve all been betrayed by the evil Zenia. The story begins at the middle of Atwood’s tale as the friends mark the 5 year anniversary of the death of Zenia, the girl from college who lied to and harmed each of them. At the dive bar where they meet monthly to boost each other’s morale as they try to carry on with their lives, in walks Zenia--alive and well. The friends are shaken up and try to make their esc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2010

Venus added it

رمان تحسین شده عروس فریبکار نخستین اثر اتوود بود که با ترجمه شهین آسایش در سال 1380 در ایران منتشر شد و بدین ترتیب این رمان نخستین معرف سبک و نگرش این نویسنده در این کشور بوده است. این اثر، پس از «بالا آمدن»، «سرگذشت ندیمه» و «آدمکش کور» چهارمین رمان اتوود است که به فیلم تبدیل شده است.
داستان این کتاب پیرامون زنی به نام «زینیا» روایت میشود، او کسی است که وارد زندگی سه زن و شوهر شده و روابط هرسه زوج را به نابودی کشانده است. بر این اساس، نویسنده زندگی این سه زن را از کودکی برای خواننده تعریف و More...

0 comments like

Jun 03, 2009

Ian rated it:

I'm not sure I, a nearly 40 man, am the target audience for this book and its style, unreliable narrative and density certainly make for a challenging read.

Set in 1970s Canada it tells of three different friends (Mousey Tony, Hippy Charis and power woman Roz) and how they were hurt by the alluring Zenia - who I am not sure is even real. She is everything a man wants.

They meet for lunch and see Zenia - who they thought was killed in a terrorist attack (as well as the sexu More...

0 comments like

Jun 05, 2011

Ms. Library rated it:

I finished The Robber Bride fairly quickly for its size. It is a well-written book that really explores the nature of women's power and their relationship to men. I have to say that normally I dislike books where there is an evil conniving character that ruins everybody's life. Simply put, most of the time, I think the characters are naive and they deserve it. "They are obviously fooling you! Can't you see past it! COME ON SIMBA! Scar is BAD!" (No, not The Lion King. I love Th More...

0 comments like

Mar 06, 2010

Badly Drawn Girl rated it:

This is the 5th book by Margaret Atwood I've read and it's the one I liked the least. That doesn't mean I didn't like it, or that I don't think it's a good book. But for the first time, I found myself struggling at times to stay motivated. I can't quite put my finger on why except that perhaps it's because none of the main characters really spoke to me in any meaningful way. And at times, I felt like I was revisiting Cat's Eye, with Zenia standing in for Cordelia. Makes me wonder about Marga More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2007

Laura rated it:

The Robber Bride is one of my favorite Atwood books (and that is really saying something). This novel explores the darker sides of women, and reveals some of the complications and weaknesses of the human condition. Other reviewers dislike this book because the characters aren't always admirable, and I say Bah! People aren't always admirable. The Robber Bride is one of those books that is so rich and ready for explication, a book could probably be written ABOUT it. I love it.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

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