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Alias Grace

by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)

3.88 · rating details · 18,059 ratings · 1,103 reviews

In Alias Grace, bestselling author Margaret Atwood has written her most captivating, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying work since The Handmaid's Tale. She takes us back in time and into the life of one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of the nineteenth century.

Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer, Thomas Kin

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Paperback, 636 pages

Published October 1st 1998 by Btb Bei Goldmann (first published February 1st 1996)

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Community Reviews

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Aug 16, 2011

Maxine McLister rated it

Alias Grace, although a work of fiction, is based on one of Canada's most infamous murder cases. In Toronto, in 1843 16-year-old Grace Marks and fellow servant, James McDermott were accused of murdering their employer, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper and mistress, Nancy Montgomery. Both were sentenced to death and McDermott was hanged. However, Grace's lawyer was able to get her sentence commuted to life imprisonment by arguing her youth, her gender, and, according to him, her feeble-mindedne...moreAlias Grace, although a work of fiction, is based on one of Canada's most infamous murder cases. In Toronto, in 1843 16-year-old Grace Marks and fellow servant, James McDermott were accused of murdering their employer, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper and mistress, Nancy Montgomery. Both were sentenced to death and McDermott was hanged. However, Grace's lawyer was able to get her sentence commuted to life imprisonment by arguing her youth, her gender, and, according to him, her feeble-mindedness.

The story opens when Grace has been in Kingston Penitentiary for 15 years. This is a period of reform in Canada and a group of clergy and others hire Dr Simon Jordan, a young American psychiatrist, to establish her innocence as Grace claims to have no memory of the actual murders. The story is told from different perspectives. Each chapter begins with an actual quote from the period, including excerpts from the trial, her and James' confessions, newspaper articles, and from Susanna Moodie, an early Canadian writer who went to see Grace, both at the penitentiary and, in the insane asylum, where she spent five years. The story is also told by Grace in the first person while Jordan's part of the story is told in the third.

Each chapter is also named after a quilt pattern with a corresponding picture of the pattern and each pattern gives us a hint of what to expect in the chapter. Throughout the story, Grace talks about quilt patterns and she is often pictured piecing a quilt together while telling her story. Grace, frequently, points out that quilts appear differently when seen from different angles and, like the quilts, Grace's story is pieced together from fragments, not all of which seem to fit together.

Atwood never establishes the guilt or innocence of Grace. Instead, she leaves it up to the reader to decide whether Grace is the innocent she seems to portray herself or the murdering temptress others have named her. As Grace tells her story, she often admits to the reader, but not to Jordan, that she is telling him what she thinks he wants to hear, so that we are never sure whether to believe any or all of what she says.

But this story isn't really about whether Grace is innocent or guilty although guilt plays an important role in the story. It is about class, and status, and about the role of women in Victorian Canada at a time when women, regardless of class, were seen as the weaker sex, feeble of mind and body, always at the mercy of men who invariably seem to betray them. According to Grace, poor women have only three avenues open to them, service in a wealthy household, marriage, or prostitution.

Alias grace is a fascinating look at Canada West (Ontario) in Victorian times; it is also an intriguing psychological thriller as well as a brilliant feminist novel. Margaret Atwood is often considered Canada's greatest living writer. It is easy to see why when you read Alias Grace.(less)

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Jun 05, 2011

Tatiana rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, booker, 2011

I felt about Alias Grace the same way I did about probably half of Atwood's novels I've read so far - I just didn't fully get it.

Nobody conveys Life ain't easy for a woman message as well as Atwood. Past, present, future - the living is rough for women. It is particularly unpleasant for Grace Marks, a young servant girl in mid-19th century Canada, accused of murdering her employer and his housekeeper with the help of her co-worker and alleged paramour, and who is locked up first in ...more

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Feb 07, 2009

Jamie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 1001-books, undergrad, read-in-2009

Margaret Atwood occupies a strange nook in my heart. She's become a bit of a chore lately, as I'm including her in my senior honors thesis; on the other hand, I've now read almost all of her novels, and while none are bad or even...not really good. Just that because a few of the novels shine so brightly, that the others seem duller in comparison.

Well, Alias Grace is a supernova. It's an absolutely phenomenal novel, and a truly thrilling read. It's a departure for Atwood, as it's ...moreMargaret Atwood occupies a strange nook in my heart. She's become a bit of a chore lately, as I'm including her in my senior honors thesis; on the other hand, I've now read almost all of her novels, and while none are bad or even...not really good. Just that because a few of the novels shine so brightly, that the others seem duller in comparison.

Well, Alias Grace is a supernova. It's an absolutely phenomenal novel, and a truly thrilling read. It's a departure for Atwood, as it's historical fiction (of course, she did do the Journals of Susanna Moodie before), but moreover, it employs similar narrative techniques as detective fiction, while turning them on their head--in any case, it's definitely a page-turner, which is not something you usually mention in conjunction with Atwood. This doesn't discount the literary merit--there's enough meat in the book to write a dissertation or five on it. There's something quite fresh in her style here, with many many passages I absolutely had to read aloud to whomever was (un)fortunate enough to be near me as I read.

The general structure of the novel is from the outset quite fascinating--each section is tied under the flag of a quilt pattern, and each begins with a series of epigraphs, combining historical documents, poetry, "witness accounts" and so forth--ultimately questioning the validity of each, and how we reconfigure the past with necessarily limited frameworks at hand. Writing a fictionalized account of a historical person is itself an indictment of history, but Atwood takes it so much farther, and in much more wonderfully 'political' ways. Grace is still a frustrating enigma by the end of the text, but you'll adore her and her sly moves, her secret longings, and her storytelling ability--Dr. Jordan, as we discover, has no idea what he's getting into with her. It's certainly a dark read, and often I would have to lay the book down for at least a minute or two to catch my breath. But Atwood has a wonderful way of infusing humor into even the bleakest of moments, so there were just as many times when I found myself laughing aloud. This book will not leave you for a long time.(less)

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Aug 30, 2007

Lori rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2007august

I loved this book.

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, which was just what I wanted.

For about 450 pages.

And then it all unravels. I knew she'd have to give the readers an answer as to what really happened, even though we'd been s...more

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Jul 26, 2007

Jessica rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: modern-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay. My beef with Margaret Atwood's 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 Timbers"] being relevant to the content of their section) were both wonderful. But she withholds important information like Agatha Christie. Oh, so Grace Marks had MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES? Maybe if y...more

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Oct 03, 2011

Stephanie Pina rated it

Of course, it was Elizabeth Siddal's portrait on the cover that prompted me to read this book, but Margaret Atwood did not disappoint. Grace's narrative brought me into her world. I felt for her. I felt sorry for Doctor Jordan, who is examining Grace, because he just seemed so lost in regards to his personal life.
Inspired by the true story of Grace Marks, convicted of murder in 1843, Margaret Atwood weaves a compelling story that gives Grace dignity and pride in the midst of what must h...more

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Sep 19, 2010

Christy B rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, neo-victorian, historical-fiction

My first Atwood. I was very excited to dive into this seeing as how her books have been on my list for ages.

Alias Grace is a fictionalized account of a true story. In 1843, Grace Marks, a Canadian housemaid, was convicted of murdering her employer and his mistress. She and her supposed accomplice, James McDermott were both found guilty and set to hang, but Grace's sentence was later reduced to being committed to an asylum. Grace then spent the next thirty years in a variety of asylum...more

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Jan 11, 2009

Bonnie rated it

Shelves: recommended, historical-fiction

I must have read this the first time a couple of years after it hit the shelves. I read it a second time a few years ago when a friend commented on it; how much she enjoyed it. I have to agree. As did others: it won a number of awards.

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Oct 02, 2011

Lisa James rated it

Shelves: 1001-books-list, historical-fiction, non-fiction

I just finished this book, including the author's afterword, which is edifying as well. Based on a true incident, this is a sensational story for the truth of the double murder, the hanging of McDermott, & the conflicting stories that exist. Coming towards the end, the suggestion that this is an early case of dissociative or multiple personality syndrom really makes you THINK. This story definitely makes you feel awful for Grace, & leads you to believe that yes, she was indeed innocent of the...more

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Dec 22, 2011

Donna rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of biographical fiction

Recommended to Donna by: 1001 books you must read before you die

Shelves: 1001-books, historical, canada, crime, prison, contemporary-literature, favorites, read-in-thailand

It took me a good ten chapters to get into this book, as I found the shifting character perspectivees and shifting voices within the same character, from first to third person, to be incredibly distracting. However, by two-thirds of the way through, I was beyond hooked and basking in the sheer cleverness of Atwood's writing.

Atwood is, with this novel, creating a portrait of a convicted murderess who, in her day, had much speculation surrounding her as to whether or not she was innoc...more

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Sep 15, 2008

Madeline rated it

Shelves: the-list, historic-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm giving this three stars, but the correct rating would be 2 1/2 stars - I liked this book, for the most part, but there were just too many unanswered questions and minor annoyances for me to want to read it again.
Usually, I hate giving away the endings of books in my reviews, but I honestly cannot talk about Alias Grace without giving away major plot points. You've been warned.

So: for the most part, this was a cool story, mostly because it's based on the true story of Grac...moreI'm giving this three stars, but the correct rating would be 2 1/2 stars - I liked this book, for the most part, but there were just too many unanswered questions and minor annoyances for me to want to read it again.
Usually, I hate giving away the endings of books in my reviews, but I honestly cannot talk about Alias Grace without giving away major plot points. You've been warned.

So: for the most part, this was a cool story, mostly because it's based on the true story of Grace Marks, who supposedly helped murder her employer and his housekeeper. She served thirty years in prison, plus several years in a mental institution. Atwood's story has two perspectives: Grace Marks and Simon Jordan, a doctor who's interviewing her and basically trying to get her to remember the day of the murders. This was all pretty cool, and I liked Grace a lot as a protagonist. So let's move on to the negative.
Stuff I Didn't Like:
-Simon creeped me out. One minute he's half-heartedly flirting with the daughter of the prison Govenor while mentally undressing her, and then he's screwing his landlady for reasons that even he doesn't understand. And then towards the end of the book he's suddenly like, "Oh wait! I'm in love with Grace! Yes! Totally in love" and it made NO SENSE. This was the first time I'd read a book where Atwood writes from a man's perspective, and it did not go well.
-I guessed the ending. This is an extremely bad sign, because I can NEVER guess book endings, ever. But with this book, I'd gotten to the part where Grace describes how McDermott told her she'd promised to sleep with him, and she was like, "I did not" and I thought, "She's being possessed by the spirit of Mary Whitney." And then I thought that it had to be more complicated than that, and that there would be a scientific explanation for it. But there wasn't. Which brings me to my next point...
-Atwood's half-hearted commitment to the paranormal aspect of the story. The hypnosis scene revealed that Mary was possessing Grace, but then everyone was like, "But that's not possible, there's a psychological explanation" but they never gave one. All the elements of a good ghost story are here: the peddlar who reads palms, divination with an apple peel, people making strange, random prophesies (like Grace's mother saying she wouldn't survive the voyage, and Mary telling Grace she'd cross water three times before getting married), and the bizarre possession. But Atwood, probably because she didn't want to lose her credibility or something, refrains from going all-out with the paranormal events. If she'd have relaxed a bit and written the book as a ghost story instead of historic fiction, it would have been really good.
-The whole hypnosis. I was sure it was all an act, because Jeremiah had been telling Grace earlier about setting up a fake spiritualist act, but then Grace didn't seem to remember anything about the hypnosis or what she said during it. So could Jeremiah actually hypnotize people? After the hypnosis scene, and as soon as I realized I was expected to believe that it had been authentic, was when my faith in the story really started to drop. It was all downhill from there.
-No twist ending. I was waiting, up until the last page, for Grace to be like, "I'm so glad I killed those two bastards. Mwahahahaha! The end." But no such luck. In retrospect, I should have known better - Atwood hates giving readers a straight answer to anything, and conclusive endings where everything gets wrapped up in a neat little package is for lesser authors, I guess.
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Feb 23, 2008

Mary rated it

Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: crime, historical

I've never been really keen on female authors - which is pretty obvious if you look back over my reading history - but I had Atwood recommended to me by several friends, so I picked up this book with the intention of giving it a whirl. I'd heard good things about The Handmaid's Tale but I didn't want to start with that one. It felt kind of like a cop-out.

Alias Grace was the most interesting sounding at the bookstore, so I picked it up and it grabbed me immediately. It's so beautif...more

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Nov 20, 2007

Nathanial rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Lizzie Borden

Shelves: mystery

Similar to Testimony Of An Irish Slave Girl, but instead of being framed by the prejudiced perspective of an interrogator who questions the prisoner, we read the first-person viewpoint of the prisoner herself. Here the drama lies in the way Atwood uncovers layers of suspicion and reveals the tragic details of a life spent deceiving the masters - employers, jailers, and doctors, all - in order to live a life; whereas with McCafferty's novel -even with the extended passages of first-person testim...moreSimilar to Testimony Of An Irish Slave Girl, but instead of being framed by the prejudiced perspective of an interrogator who questions the prisoner, we read the first-person viewpoint of the prisoner herself. Here the drama lies in the way Atwood uncovers layers of suspicion and reveals the tragic details of a life spent deceiving the masters - employers, jailers, and doctors, all - in order to live a life; whereas with McCafferty's novel -even with the extended passages of first-person testimony - the narrative tension is counterbalanced by the drama of how a biased man begins to loosen his intolerance and see the servant as a woman.

Atwood's approach leaves much more room for us readers to enter as participants who identify both with the strengths and foibles of the character, rather than sit in judgment of one with whom we may or may not share certain traits, but of whom we're always aware of how we're supposed to feel. By virtue of his position as a white man taking the testimony of the slave woman, the interlocutor character in McCafferty's book becomes an unreliable narrator; Grace, the protagonist of Atwood's novel, is also unreliable, but the difference is that her task is not to evaluate others, but to avoid evaluation herself.

Such a playful framing also gives Atwood room to introduce extra-literary devices such as songs, drawings, and newspaper clippings into the text. Along the way, of course, she does switch perspectives, which becomes part of the fun.

Oh, and it gets better and better. Of course I shouldn't have expected Atwood to stay in one place - she does delve deep into the mind of the interrogator character, with a very close 3rd person POV that she contrasts with the the distant and formal airs of excerpted letters from him to other officials. Her title character, Grace, retains the primary role, with an irreverent 1st person narrative that (if I'm not mistaken) stays in the present tense. All in all, this combination adds to the playful and yet serious tone - or the serious and yet playful one, as the case may be.

Atwood is so extraordinary at making such distinctions as humor-in-tragedy vs. tragedy-in-humor - which may not seem so delicate a divide when stated so plainly, but in deed informs the psychological demands each protagonist asks of one another. By virtue of the clear breaks between chapters and subtle surprise that suspends across them, we readers are allowed to decide just how willing we will be: how much credit to give to each account, especially because Atwood has left so much room for variation that we can take a joke for a serious jibe - or contemplative rumination for buffoonery, as it pleases us.

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Jan 09, 2009

Jen rated it

Read this as a book club selection - else I probably wouldn't have picked it out for myself. The story is interesting -- young girl in 1800s Canada is convicted as a murderess. The story is based on fact; the dialogue and perhaps some surrounding tidbits are fictionalized. Author's writing style is different - takes a bit of getting used to at first. I found myself finishing the book just to finish it and skimming parts. Not a standout for me.

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May 02, 2008

Summer rated it

Shelves: 2008, novels, i-will-lend-this-to-you

Like with any well-written book, I notice new things every time I reread a Margaret Atwood novel. This time, I was struck by the way things happened in threes: the deaths of three mother figures, three iconic sheets, three dresses, three "suitors" at the farm, three sides to Grace's personality. Is it confirmation bias? Or is Atwood playing around with a number that has a lot of literary and pseudomystical background?

Anyway, this book is great in that it has several levels ...more

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Apr 15, 2009

Aimée rated it

I love Margaret Atwood. It took me a bit to adjust to the different approaches of storytelling, but I really enjoyed how she chose to do that. The story kept me glued to the pages!

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Jan 21, 2012

Emily rated it

Shelves: peace-corps-read

- Well-written

- Interesting set-up of the book: chapters divided by quilt patterns, alternating between 1st-person narrative of Grace, 3rd-person narrative for Simon and starting each chapter with accounts from the time of the trial

- I felt like I wanted more from the plot-line with Jeremiah the peddler. My fave part of the book was when you find out Dr Dupont has been Jeremiah the whole time. But then you never hear what he thinks of the murders or if he influenced Grace dur...more

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Nov 29, 2011

Webbnina rated it

Alias Grace is a fictionalized view of the life of Grace Marks, a renowned Canadian murderess.She's a remarkably unsympathetic character. At no point in the story can the reader truly get a handle of who she really is.
I felt that Margaret Atwood could have taken a bit more liberty with Grace's guilt or innocence. In historical fiction accuracy matters, but when no facts point to the truth we rely on the author to fill in the blanks. The trouble with Alias Grace is that the reader never kn...more

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Oct 14, 2011

Becky Foster rated it

Shelves: bookclub

Wow. This book had a lot going on. Axe murders, seances, vivid descriptions of delicious civil-war era dinners. This book is a fictionalized account of a true and very famous murder that was committed in Canada in the 1840s. Grace Marks, a servant, was clearly in the house during, and somewhat complicit in, the murder of her employer and his maid, the same maid that was also pregnant with his love child. The newspapers of the time went crazy with the salaciousness of it all. Just how Grace ...more

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Sep 27, 2011

Jeanne rated it

A complete classic, "Alias Grace" works on many levels and weaves together tones and themes to compelling effect.

Against the real life backdrop of the case of Grace Marks, a servant girl accused of murder in 1800s Canada, Atwood has created truly believeable characters and events.

"Alias Grace" tells the story of Grace through the guise of her recounting her life to a "new fangled" psychiatrist who has been sent to study her. Grace's story is ...more

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Sep 03, 2011

Rod rated it

The novel is based on the life of Grace Marks who, together with James McDermott, was found guilty of murdering their employer, Thomas Kinnear. Kinnear’s housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, was also murdered, but since Marks and McDermott had already been found guilty of the murder of Kinnear it was decided a second trial was not necessary.

Although based on these events, and the acknowledgements show that much research went into it, the book is a work of fiction, so it is probably best to t...moreThe novel is based on the life of Grace Marks who, together with James McDermott, was found guilty of murdering their employer, Thomas Kinnear. Kinnear’s housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, was also murdered, but since Marks and McDermott had already been found guilty of the murder of Kinnear it was decided a second trial was not necessary.

Although based on these events, and the acknowledgements show that much research went into it, the book is a work of fiction, so it is probably best to take the historical events as the author’s starting point and leave it at that. Much of the book consists of reminiscences by Grace herself, for which there is little historical evidence.

Although Marks and McDermott were both sentenced to death, Marks’ sentence was commuted, in part due to her youth – she was only sixteen at the time of the trial. It also seems that she could not remember much of what took place at the time, which some found suspiciously convenient, though others believed her and felt it might be possible to recover her memory of the events. One of these, Dr Simon Jordan, tries to achieve this through a series of interviews with Grace, starting with her childhood in Ireland and progressing to the present. His main technique is to ask questions and note the answers. Another is to bring an object, place it on the table, and ask Grace what it calls to mind. He is given to producing vegetables for this purpose, for example, a parsnip. Maybe if Dr Jordan had lived at a later date and changed his name to Rorschach . . .

It is through these interviews that most of Grace’s recollections are captured, and in her own voice, which is the most important factor in the success of this novel. From the outset Grace reveals an ability to deal with the practicalities of life, and does so in considerable detail. Atwood contrasts this with Dr Jordan’s inability in this direction, which comes out when his landlady is deserted by her husband and he has to fend for himself.

Grace gives us the low-down on what work as a family servant was like, and she has a keen eye for detail, including the personalities of others. Just as important is the way she expresses herself. There is aesthetic pleasure to be had in the prose of this book which might remind us what we are missing in so many other titles. The one caveat here is that Grace is a historical figure. It is easier for a writer to attribute elegant expression to a figure from the past than someone from the present who has deserted letters for e-mails or communicates by thumb via a smart-phone. But the author must still be capable of writing well, and Atwood excels in this book.

So is it perfect? I felt there was too much machinery, especially at the start – extracts from newspapers, a ballad written at the time, and so on. And there is one scene which perplexed me. The peddler Jeremiah, whom she has known since she was sixteen, tries to succeed where Dr Jordan has failed. His route to Grace’s buried memories is hypnosis, though he is now operating under another name entirely. But as the Reverend Verringer notes at the time, it seems that Grace can see in the dark, and that is just one puzzling feature of what Grace has to say under hypnosis. There is a suggestion that she may be exhibiting what we now know as multiple personality, and the other personality expressing herself through hypnosis seems to be Mary Whitney. Mary was the best friend Grace ever had, but died as a result of an abortion.

Some may feel that this book has a feminist tendency, but to me it just seems accurate, making reasonable points very well. I particularly liked Grace’s explanation at the end of the book as to why she changed a traditional quilt pattern concerning the story of the Garden of Eden. She improves on the story somewhat, regarding her version as more true to life as she has known it. She reasons that though God came up with the story, men wrote it down and may not have got it entirely right. Here is a woman with a mind of her own. Grace is a fully realised and very interesting character, as Margaret Atwood must be to have brought her so fully to life.

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Jul 28, 2011

Derek Baldwin rated it

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Battered and faded and over-priced, I dithered over getting this at second-hand bookshop but as I'd enjoyed the other Atwood novels I'd read I eventually decided in its favour.

After a bit of a slow start this book draws you in and is very powerful. Basically its the story of Grace Marks, a mid-C19 murderess, spared from execution because of her youth and naive beauty.

A series of unreliable narrators, not least herself, look back over Graces's life and the events which led to her conviction. Al...more

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Jul 20, 2011

Laura Rittenhouse rated it

Shelves: historical-fiction

This book is based on a bit of grisly history – the murders in 19th Century Canada of a landowner and his servant and the subsequent execution of one of the perpetrators and jailing of the other, Grace. It’s a longish book told in both first and third person, in past and present tense and through a collection of letters. The book itself is, in the main, fiction as the accounts of the crime, trial and later prison term of the protagonist are sketchy.

The bulk of the book is a retelling...more

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Jul 01, 2010

Ellen rated it

I thought this book was really interesting. In Canada in 1843, Grace Marks, a 16 year old Irish immigrant working as a servant, was, along with a man who also worked in the same household, convicted of killing their employer along with his housemaid who was his mistress. They were both sentenced to death but Grace's sentence was commuted to life due to her youth and the fact that there was considerable disagreement as to whether she was a willing or forced accomplice. Although her accomplice ...more

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Jan 22, 2010

Joselito rated it

Grace Marks was from a big starvation-poor Irish family who migrated to Canada to survive. In Canada she became a serving maid [housemaid/housemaid nowadays:] of one family after another and lost contact with her own family. Before she was 16 she became a service maid of a rich bachelor Thomas Kinnear who was having an affair with his other service maid Nancy Montgomery.

Grace Marks was young and pretty. Aside from her and Nancy, Kinnear had a houseboy who apparently fell in love with...more

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Sep 07, 2009

Sherrie rated it

Shelves: already-read

"Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood
(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 women of the nineteeth cenury. Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer, the wealthy Thomas Kinnear, and of Nancy Montgomery, his housekeeper and mistre...more

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Aug 20, 2009

Jamie rated it

It's been ages, so I don't feel I can give a terrible accurate review. I read this for my first freshmen year college course on true crimes. For my final project I fictionalized the Manson Family Murders on Waverly Place, which is now down the street from me. How small the world is.
This was my first experience with fictionalized accounts of real crimes--or ficionalized accounts of anything that historically happened. Since then, they've become one of my favorites. I love the idea that...more

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Jul 04, 2009

Sylvia rated it

This is my first time reading Margaret Atwood and I enjoyed the book. I don't think I would have chosen it if it hadn't been a Book Group selection -- which is one of the wonderful reasons to belong to a good book group. The book was a "grabber" which means in my lexicon that when you start it, you have to finish it. The writing was beautiful, leisurely and evocative. My favorite parts of the book were the scenes of life in the city and country in Canada in the 1860's. I loved one...more

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Jun 27, 2009

Jason rated it

Shelves: read-2009

While reading this, I had trouble putting it down, as Atwood's writing style is luscious an wonderful. So a three? What about that interesting changes in point of view that are superbly handled, with each character getting a full and interesting inner life? Yeah, that was great. And the plot? Absolutely intriguing. How about the meta narrative comment on the difference between not-fiction and truth? Intriguing and interesting.

So what's the deal? In the end, it's not a book that real...more

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May 30, 2009

Shannon rated it

I was expecting a little bit more from Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, which was shortlisted for a Booker Prize. I am also a fan of historical fiction and crime stories/mysteries, both of which Alias Grace could be categorized as. I found the story interesting, if a little slow moving, with no truly likeable or unlikeable characters.

Alias Grace was inspired by the real-life murderess Grace Marks. Marks was a servant for a man named Thomas Kinnear. She, along with another servant named...moreI was expecting a little bit more from Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, which was shortlisted for a Booker Prize. I am also a fan of historical fiction and crime stories/mysteries, both of which Alias Grace could be categorized as. I found the story interesting, if a little slow moving, with no truly likeable or unlikeable characters.

Alias Grace was inspired by the real-life murderess Grace Marks. Marks was a servant for a man named Thomas Kinnear. She, along with another servant named James McDermott, were convicted in 1843 of the murder of Kinnear and his housekeeper (and lover) Nancy Montgomery. Montgomery was strangled to death and Kinnear was shot. Marks and McDermott were arrested shortly after the murders, having crossed into the United States by ferry from Canada. Marks was found wearing the clothes of the deceased Montgomery. While Marks admitted to being aware of McDermott's intentions to kill both Montgomery and Kinnear, she insisted that she has played no part in the deed itself and in fact, feared for her life from McDermott. She also claimed to have no memory of the hours surrounding the murder and only remembered being shot at by McDermott. McDermott, however, put the onus for the murders on Marks. In any case, both were found guilty. McDermott was hanged and Marks was spared but sentenced to life in prison.

When the book opens, the reader is confronted with a solitary Grace living out her life in prison. It is hard to imagine the mild-mannered and subdued Grace as a conniving murderess, as she has been labelled. There are those who believe in her innocence, or at least her claim of insanity at the time of the murders, and they are fighting for her release from prison. The supporters, led by Revered Verringer, hire Dr. Simon Jordan to interview Grace in an attempt to piece together what truly happened on that day in 1843. This becomes a useful tool for Grace to slowly, and in minute detail, relate her entire life story. I have to admit, I didn't become very interested until around page 400. Atwood is a great writer though, and made the story readable and fairly interesting along the way.

There is one notable twist in the story when a hypnotist is brought in to try and unlock the memory of Grace. We are never really sure if she truly does not remember the murders or if she is feigning amnesia to avoid culpability. Grace is an interesting study - an obedient servant with a feisty side. The opinions of her by others (McDermott, wardens, fellow prisoners and psychiatric doctors) shows that she was considered conniving, wily and a sinful and evil woman. The story leaves the reader with a complicated and not entirely complete character profile of Grace. The formal and unflowery language, common to the period in which the novel was written, makes it even harder to get attached to and delve into the character, or to let her speak unabashedly.

As Atwood herself notes in the afterword, Grace "...continued to be written about over the course of the century, and she continued to polarize opinion. Attitudes towards her reflected contemporary ambiguity about the nature of women: was Grace a female fiend and temptress, the instigator of the crime and the real murderer of Nancy Montgomery, or was she an unwilling victim, forced to keep silent by McDermott's threats and by fear for her own life? It was no help that she herself gave three different versions of the Montgomery murder, while James McDermott gave two."

Read for yourself:

I'm trying to remember what Mr. Kinnear looked like, so I can tell Dr. Jordan about him. He was always kind to me, or so I will say. But I can't rightly remember. The truth is that despite everything I once thought about him, he has faded; he's been fading year by year, like a dress washed over and over, and now what is left of him? A faint pattern. A button or two. Sometimes a voice; but no eyes, no mouth. What did he really look like, when he was in the flesh? Nobody wrote it down, not even in the newspapers; they told all about McDermott, and about me as well, and our looks and appearance, but not about Mr. Kinnear, because it is more important to be a murderess than the one murdered, you are more stared at then; and now he's gone.

- smd (less)

· see review

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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 po...more

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“Gone mad is what they say, and sometimes Run mad, as if mad is a different direction, like west; as if mad is a different house you could step into, or a separate country entirely. But when you go mad you don't go any other place, you stay where you are. And somebody else comes in.” — 110 people liked it

“If we were all on trial for our thoughts, we would all be hanged.” — 90 people liked it

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