false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170488610m/58027.jpg 58027 35 From Publishers Weekly Intrigued by contemporary reports of a sensational murder trial in 1843 Canada, Atwood has drawn a compelling portrait of what might have been. Her protagonist, the real life Grace Marks, is an enigma. Convicted at age 16 of the murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper and lover, Nancy Montgomery, Grace escaped the gallows when her sentence was commuted to life in prison, but she also spent some years in an insane asylum after an emotional breakdown. Because she gave three different accounts of the killings, and because she was accused of being the sole perpetrator by the man who was hanged for the crime, Grace's life and mind are fertile territory for Atwood. Adapting her style to the period she describes, she has written a typical Victorian novel, leisurely in exposition, copiously detailed and crowded with subtly drawn characters who speak the embroidered, pietistic language of the time. She has created a probing psychological portrait of a working-class woman victimized by society because of her poverty, and victimized again by the judicial and prison systems. The narrative gains texture and tension from the dynamic between Grace and an interlocutor, earnest young bachelor Dr. Simon Jordan, who is investigating the causes of lunacy with plans to establish his own, more enlightened institution. Jordan is hoping to awaken Grace's suppressed memories of the day of the murder, but Grace, though uneducated, is far wilier than Jordan, whom she tells only what she wishes to confess. He, on the other hand, is handicapped by his compassion, which makes him the victim of the wiles of other women, too: his passionate, desperate landlady, and the virginal but predatory daughter of the prison governor. These encounters give Atwood the chance to describe the war between the sexes with her usual wit. Although the narrative holds several big surprises, the central question: Was Grace dupe and victim or seductress and instigator of the bloody crime, is left tantalizingly ambiguous. 2069530 1996 Alias Grace total:8067|5:2051|4:3513|3:2069|2:355|1:79| 8067 31303 10330 610 5 6 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun May 04 08:47:58 -0700 2008 Sat Feb 07 07:26:43 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 3 2 false true Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jul 24 09:15:07 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 26 09:45:14 -0700 2007 Alias Grace? It was a technically impressive novel - very impressive. Her skill with narrative voice as well as her unique framing device (the different kinds of quilts, their names ["Hearts and Gizzards," "Tree of Paradise," "Falling Tim...more...]]> 4 3 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Thu Aug 14 10:24:45 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 11 11:28:00 -0800 2009 3 1 false true Mon Sep 15 11:13:02 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 11:36:10 -0700 2008 Usually, I hate giving away the endings of books in my reviews, but I honestl...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 25 13:56:54 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 23 01:23:27 -0800 2008 The Handmaid's Tale but I didn't wa...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 19 18:21:33 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 14:55:45 -0700 2007
Right up until I didn't.

Atwood creates such compelling characters, and Grace Marks was no exception. I was curious (did she commit murder?), compassionate (boy, her life sucked) and drawn in (the tale bit by bit enthralled me). I couldn't make the pieces fit...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 14:00:30 -0700 2007 Tue Nov 20 10:46:45 -0800 2007 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 04:56:35 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 04:59:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Apr 11 09:18:42 -0700 2008 Fri May 02 18:04:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 15 11:44:06 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 11:46:34 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Sep 07 09:23:38 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 09:24:21 -0700 2009 (from the inside flap)
In the astonishing new novel by the author of the bestsellers The Robber Bride, Cat's Eye, and The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood takes us back in time and into the life and mind of one of the most enigmatic and notorious wo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Thu Aug 20 16:38:02 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 16:43:53 -0700 2009 This was...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 09:28:21 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 14:04:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jun 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 21:50:46 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 22:00:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 13:25:34 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 13:25:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 18:01:03 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 03:24:41 -0800 2009
Atwoo...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 14:51:09 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 14:55:33 -0700 2009
Alias Grace is the semi fictionalised story of Grace Marks, a "celebrate...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 22 20:23:36 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 20:35:52 -0800 2008
Alias Grace is Canadian writer Margaret Atwood's retelling of a famous local Murder case of the mid nineteenth century. It involves a delectable mix of characters surrounding the main hero Grace Marks, a young Irish woman who flees pover...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 11:27:37 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 11:35:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 19 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Tue Nov 25 09:43:22 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 09:43:41 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=58027