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Lady Oracle

Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)

3.68 · Rating details · 11,991 ratings · 717 reviews

Joan Foster is the bored wife of a myopic ban-the-bomber. She takes off overnight as Canada's new superpoet, pens lurid gothics on the sly, attracts a blackmailing reporter, skids cheerfully in and out of menacing plots, hair-raising traps, and passionate trysts, and lands dead and well in Terremoto, Italy. In this remarkable, poetic, and magical novel, Margaret Atwood p ...more

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Paperback, 346 pages

Published April 13th 1998 by Anchor (first published September 27th 1976)

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Sep 14, 2017 Robin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian-lit, 2017, literary-fiction

The secrets of self...

Margaret Atwood has wowed me again, with this quirky 1976 delight. It's surprisingly playful and humorous (for Atwood), but also brings with it her trademark not-messing-around intelligence when it comes to womanhood, self, body and love.

Joan is our protagonist, our red-headed Botticellian heroine, who begins the book with this tantalising line:

I planned my death carefully; unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to co The secrets of self...

Margaret Atwood has wowed me again, with this quirky 1976 delight. It's surprisingly playful and humorous (for Atwood), but also brings with it her trademark not-messing-around intelligence when it comes to womanhood, self, body and love.

Joan is our protagonist, our red-headed Botticellian heroine, who begins the book with this tantalising line:

I planned my death carefully; unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.

Have you ever wanted to start fresh - shed your life like a snake worming out of an old skin, and leave it behind? Joan has done it - faked her death and re-emerged in a small Italian village. She is, at heart, an escape artist. She writes gothic romances, she lives under two identities, and the person she presents on the outside is only one reflection of the whole. Her interior world is secretive, hidden, claustrophobic. Soon, the secrets start to collide, in a most inconvenient fashion.

Atwood writes so well about the cruelties of childhood, and about the opposing natures of freedom and love. I couldn't help but be pulled along in the story, which was at times relatable (the complexities of the mother/daughter relationship), heartwarming (the character of Aunt Lou was my favourite by far), a bit ridiculous (the Royal Porcupine - need I say more?), and frightening (a former-lover-turned-stalker who becomes more than a little menacing).

She also plays with the literary world and its conventions. When Joan unexpectedly becomes a published literary poet, she is attacked by a male interviewer who tries to skewer her and force her into the "Women's Lib" mold, something she wiggles out of, just like MA would (and still does).

And it forces the question: what is the truth, when so many forms of truth exist in one person? Many of the characters in this novel are two sides of the same coin. It is impossible to be exactly as one presents, or present exactly as one is.

I enjoyed this ride from beginning to end. I enjoyed being privy to Joan's messy life, because all lives are messy. While this book is not as chocked full of literary protein as other books by this author, it reminds me why she continues to knock her readers' socks off, even 41 years after this was published. ...more

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Jan 14, 2018 Agnieszka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, ebook, read-more-women, own-a-copy, 2018, margaret-atwood

I’ve read quite a lot of Margaret Atwood and very much enjoy her writing, both style and issues she raises. I like her in psychological scene and don’t shy away from her dystopian face either. Lady Oracle is her earlier work and truly didn’t know what to expect there. I also have a problem to what genre the novel in fact belongs. She seems to feel comfortable in gothic romance, black comedy and quasi-noir novel though it's the psychological portrait and depth I'm looking for in her novels.

It s
I’ve read quite a lot of Margaret Atwood and very much enjoy her writing, both style and issues she raises. I like her in psychological scene and don’t shy away from her dystopian face either. Lady Oracle is her earlier work and truly didn’t know what to expect there. I also have a problem to what genre the novel in fact belongs. She seems to feel comfortable in gothic romance, black comedy and quasi-noir novel though it's the psychological portrait and depth I'm looking for in her novels.

It starts in Italy when Joan Foster after simulating own death decides to wait all upheaval out and catch her breath. Joan, a seemingly unremarkable, somewhat skittish and gauche girl that even her husband, by the way a wicked loser himself, looks down on is not entirely a person everyone thinks she is. And she is a recognized author of highly acclaimed even if questionable debut novel Lady Oracle. But it’s only half of it. For as it shows Joan as Luisa Delcourt is a woman with vivid imagination and quite successful writer of historical romances. Though to tell the truth we are not sure if she is not someone else yet.

Quite sizeable part of the novel concerns Joan’s miserable childhood, inability to be accepted by peer group, rebellious, contrary even nature and her troubled relations with her overbearing and demanding, highly disappointing in the end, mother. And I think it’s a very good part but Atwood after a while waves this thread aside and changes the tone. She will return to it some years later, develops and deepens it, creating brilliant and incomparable Cat’s eye. But now our unfortunate though sympathetic heroine drifts uncertainly between her various incarnations, lying and prevaricating, taking pot luck and believing that she will finally become a real self. Her life dilemmas and torments are intertwined with ludicrous adventures of fictional protagonists from her trashy romances and create, all in all, humorous and warm novel, apparently light but under the surface some deeper thoughts are hidden.

It's not the best work of Atwood for sure but it had its moments and left me rather satisfied. It was touching and amusing, I couldn't help but laugh reading some chapters, I enjoyed the language and her power of observation. Had I read it at the beginning of my acquaintanceship with Atwood's writing definitely would have been curious how she developed as a writer. Since I started my adventure with her works with her later and more mature novels I think it was very nice to see her younger self either.

3,5/5 ...more

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Dec 02, 2017 Maria rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: north-america

The premise of this book intrigued me: a main character with several identities running from all of them by faking her own death - seems dramatic for an Atwood novel. Did it all get too complicated? Well... yes. Joan Foster is an escape artist, a medium (maybe), wife, lover, fat girl, communist but not really, and authors - two different kinds. In the opening of the book, she has escaped all of this. She's had enough. But it's not easy running from your other selves, and as she sits in her hideo The premise of this book intrigued me: a main character with several identities running from all of them by faking her own death - seems dramatic for an Atwood novel. Did it all get too complicated? Well... yes. Joan Foster is an escape artist, a medium (maybe), wife, lover, fat girl, communist but not really, and authors - two different kinds. In the opening of the book, she has escaped all of this. She's had enough. But it's not easy running from your other selves, and as she sits in her hideout, she thinks back on her life.

We start with her childhood, naturally. This takes up a rather lot of the book, which I liked, I always enjoy reading about childhoods. And this one centers around Joan's difficult relationship with her mother. But soon enough Joan grows up and meets a man, and then another and later on, another. All of them have a different view of who she is. Not because she lies to them - although she does - but mostly because of their own prejudices, their own world views, their backgrounds, their view on women. Sometimes this is annoying, because several of them treats her like a child, telling her how she should live her life (in their kitchen, mostly). And of course, if she protests, it's only because she doesn't know what's good for her and she'll change her mind later.

So the feminist aspect is there, as always, but it's not the crux of the story. Not all the men in the book are like this, and they are certainly very different from each other. The point is rather that everyone Joan at some time feels close to seems to pull their own view of her down over her head, and never sees the "real" Joan, if there even is such a thing.

Although Joan tries to shape some of her identities herself, she can't control or foresee the outcome. Mostly they are a mix of her own view of herself and how others see her. And THAT is the crux of the book. How are identities shaped? Sure, we have somewhat stable personality traits, but identities will always be created, shaped and re-shaped in the meeting point between ourselves and other people. The novel does a great job in exploring how this works, and how it often makes a mess. And although Joan is critical and analyses a lot of what happens to her quite thoroughly, she rarely voices her opinions clearly to the people around her, and even when she tries to take hold of things, she is often just pulled along with everything that happens. And that's real life, I suppose. We are not always in control. There is a bit of farce to this, but tragic farce. Relationships are though.

I liked that the last few chapters were a bit more action filled than usual for Atwood, and more immediate than just looking back on past events, which her main characters does a lot. And her prose is always good. All the characters are very well rounded - they all feel deep and like real individuals - one of the things I love about Atwood. Her characters feel real. And all their personal quirks comes together in the plot, everything plays a part in how it all turns out. A bit complicated, but well put together. ...more

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Jan 20, 2020 Glenn Sumi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian, set-in-toronto

This was my second read of Atwood's third novel, and, alas, I didn't find it as witty or as funny as I did the first time around.

It's about Joan Foster, a writer of Gothic romances, who has found her real life getting so out of control that she has had to fake her own death to start anew.

Joan's ability to keep secrets – and live in a fantasy world – comes naturally to her. She's used to living a double life. She grew up with a weight problem, and was bullied by everyone from her mother to her cl ...more

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Dec 08, 2017 Barry Pierce rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017, 20th-century

At the beginning of Lady Oracle, Joan Foster is hold up in her Italian apartment after faking her death. Back in Canada, Foster was hailed as a literary sensation and a major author on the rise, so why did she choose to die at the height of her hype?

In many ways, Lady Oracle is the polar opposite of Atwood's previous novel Surfacing. Surfacing is a quiet, introverted, atmospheric novel that concerns only a handful of characters over a few days. Lady Oracle is a globe-trotting saga that follows o At the beginning of Lady Oracle, Joan Foster is hold up in her Italian apartment after faking her death. Back in Canada, Foster was hailed as a literary sensation and a major author on the rise, so why did she choose to die at the height of her hype?

In many ways, Lady Oracle is the polar opposite of Atwood's previous novel Surfacing. Surfacing is a quiet, introverted, atmospheric novel that concerns only a handful of characters over a few days. Lady Oracle is a globe-trotting saga that follows our protagonist from early childhood up to the present day in a style that mirrors the Gothic romances that she secretly authors.

This novel is bloated but enjoyable. It is clear that Atwood had a lot of fun with this one. As it was written has a partial pastiche of Gothic romance novels, there are a lot of scenarios and characters that fall into the realm of the ridiculous. I mean, there is literally a Polish count in here and a dude called the Royal Porcupine. As the novel is told through flashbacks when the author is in self-exile in Italy, a lot of her memories read like heightened fantasies which leads you to question just how truthful she is being.

My favourite parts of the novel were the early chapters when Joan was recounting her early childhood. She was an obese child who found solace in the company of her Aunt Lou. These are the most touching and, shall I say 'rational', chapters before everything turns slightly bonkers.

Overall, I feel this novel needed a better editor. My edition almost hits the 400-page mark and that is so totally unnecessary for this novel. One could argue that Atwood was somewhat over-indulgent in her tale of Joan Foster and gets carried away in the minute details and events of her life which have no overall impact on the plot. It is as if post-Surfacing she decided to have the literary equivalent of a binge and pen a novel which is essentially all plot and nothing much else. But there are many fun aspects to Atwood's binge. I liked this one, but it is odd. ...more

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Dec 15, 2015 Dannii Elle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction-love

Just who is Joan Foster? Is she the emotional, over-eating teen? Is she the unknown creator of the commercial historical romances, that fill bookstore shelves with their covers of buxom, swooning damsels? Or is she the mysterious, red-headed and suave figure behind the renowned publication of Lady Oracle? Right now she is none of those people. Right now she is dead.

Much of this novel reminded me of another of Atwood's masterpieces, Cat's Eye. I found they appealed to me in the similar execution ...more

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Sep 12, 2007 Katie rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: people who read for the language of the book, not necessarily for plot

I am a big Margaret Atwood fan, mainly for her writing. Her books don't always have a lot of plot and sometimes I find her endings too pat, but I still devour her books for the language. Lady Oracle has one of my favorite beginnings to a book:

"I planned my death carefully; unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it. My life had a tendency to spread, get flabby, to scroll and festoon life the frame of a baroque mirror, which came from ...more

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Jan 13, 2008 Catherine rated it it was ok

This book really pissed me off. I guess there's no real character arc. The main character starts out weak, unself-aware and just really messed up (for plenty of good reason, so I did sympathize with her) -- but nothing has really changed by the end of the book. She's still messed up and unself-aware. Ugh. The whole book made me feel really impatient and uncomfortable. I felt kind of sick and nervous the whole time I was reading it, as if doom was just around the corner. That probably says a lot ...more

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Oct 06, 2020 Shirin Tondkar rated it it was amazing

Shelves: l-canada, my-best

Joan Foster is a writer of Gothic romances, her story begins with the decision to start a new life, then we know about her childhood and next continue to this time of her life in which the situation get out of control.
Maybe running away from reality and difficulties are not a very logical decision, but I admire the people who easily can give up everyone and gave up everything, live their own lives, and don't care about what others say. So, I think Joan is something like this in a good way.
This b ...more

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Aug 22, 2007 Megan rated it it was amazing

Sickly funny, in a way that's typically attributed only to men. The book begins with the narrator's (a writer of Harlequin romances) own faked death and becomes, finally, a woman writer enjoying her woman-ness, fat jokes and all. You could talk to this book over coffee about things that matter in your life, and it wouldn't start crying and gushing about Oprah. Plus it's got a delicious title. I can't believe it is a second novel. ...more

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Jan 23, 2018 Gabrielle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, own-a-copy, read-in-2018, canadian

Who is Joan Foster? I'm not sure she knows. She juggles two identities, has a whole career her husband doesn't know about, a past she hides from everyone... To get away from it all and start fresh, she fakes her death and takes off to a small Italian village, where she gets a chance to think back on exactly how she got there.

That sounds simple enough, but in Atwood's hands it turns into a story at once hilarious and tragic. Joan's story made me think of the actual multiple identities we carry ar ...more

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Nov 06, 2017 gorecki rated it liked it · review of another edition

I finished Lady Oracle over a weekend, without being able to put it down. And yet, once I’d finished it, I was left having mixed feelings about it.

Lady Oracle started off strong, with the first paragraph grabbing my attention immediately. After only a few sentences I knew I want to dedicate my full attention to the book and read it until my eyes hurt. The narration was full of Atwood’s usual poignant insights on the human heart and behavior. You can see the main character’s, Joan’s, complicated I finished Lady Oracle over a weekend, without being able to put it down. And yet, once I’d finished it, I was left having mixed feelings about it.

Lady Oracle started off strong, with the first paragraph grabbing my attention immediately. After only a few sentences I knew I want to dedicate my full attention to the book and read it until my eyes hurt. The narration was full of Atwood’s usual poignant insights on the human heart and behavior. You can see the main character’s, Joan’s, complicated personality grow into something wild and intense as a result of bad parenting, bullying at school, and fighting with obesity and being overlooked. Atwood’s observations and understanding were so strong, that I couldn’t help but feel I’m reading something very personal and multilayered. It sometimes even brought back memories from my own past, and gave me the opportunity to look back at them from another perspective.

But somewhere in Part Four of the book, something went wrong. The story started meandering into directions I was not very fond of – Canadian nationalists, communists, dynamite, enemies leaving dead animal’s corpses on doorsteps… Suddenly there was so much happening, so many unrealistic events making Joan look paranoid, but yet strangely absent-minded and detached at the same time, that I lost that fascination I had in the beginning of the book. I did not understand why half of the things happened or how they related to the story, nor did I feel they received any closure in the end of the book. While I felt Joan had turned into an unreliable narrator, partly living in the romantic gothic novels she writes for a living, there were still actual events happening around her that showed she was not all that unreliable. Still, these events did not receive any actual ending. From something serious and insightful, this book became a comedy very much verging on the absurd.
I love Atwood. Always have, always will. Even though Lady Oracle did not become a favorite of mine, I still believe that despite the strangeness of the second half of this book, the first half of it was simply incredible.
...more

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Jun 08, 2007 Ash rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourites, mystery

This is my favourite of Atwood's books, probably because in some ways it's the silliest. Joan Foster is melodramatic and hapless, but entirely loveable. Plus, there's a mystery! And a fake death! And a secret life in a foreign villa! It's kind of like reading a romance novel, only a lot more with the intentional funny. ...more

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Sep 23, 2007 Linda Aull rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: those that want to escape.

Shelves: thanksgivingdinnerfiction

This is one of those books that makes you feel kind of intellectual, but doesn't take any effort at all to slip into. Who can't relate to wanting to escape the life that you've built, or let happen, around you, at least from time to time? Atwood is such an accomplished writer that the themes are almost secondary to her skill with the language. A pure pleasure to read. ...more

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Mar 14, 2018 Abbie | ab_reads rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4.5 stars! I did love this but I feel like there was *something* missing that I can’t quite put my finger on. Otherwise, classic Atwood, witty, sharp, relentless

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Feb 07, 2013 Pam Bustin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: feminist-reads, i-read-canadian, what-i-read-in-2013

Shit. I’d danced right through the broken glass, in my bare feet too. Some butterfly. I limped into the main room, trailing bloody footprints and looking for a towel. I washed my feet in the bathtub, the soles looked as if they’d been minced. The real red shoes, the feet punished for dancing. You could dance, or you could have the love of a good man. But you were afraid to dance, because you had this unnatural fear that if you danced they’d cut your feet off so you wouldn’t be able to dance. Fi

...more

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Mar 11, 2020 Sonia Gomes rated it liked it

Shelves: weird

I can never understand why I am drawn to Margaret Atwood, it is I think the strangeness of the characters, the quirkiness of the plot, the queerness of the situations because once I am in the middle of the story I am surrounded by a sort of disquiet a weirdness I cannot come to terms with...

I should keep Atwood away from me but…

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Feb 25, 2018 Patricio rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

«I planned my death carefully, unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.»

Sometimes you come across a book whose story is neither mind-blowing nor has crazy plot twists, but that's still truly enjoyable and delightfully written.
In brief, Lady Oracle was that book.

In the beginning, we know a little about Joan Foster's current situation: she has forged as death so she could take control over her life once again. This may sound like a «I planned my death carefully, unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.»

Sometimes you come across a book whose story is neither mind-blowing nor has crazy plot twists, but that's still truly enjoyable and delightfully written.
In brief, Lady Oracle was that book.

In the beginning, we know a little about Joan Foster's current situation: she has forged as death so she could take control over her life once again. This may sound like a 20th Century Gone Girl, but this book is nothing alike it, and I think it's way better in certain points.
There was a great veil of mystery in the narrator's (Joan) situation at first, and I liked how she started telling some stories from her past, until realizing I was completely immersed in her story and that there was no way back.

Joan was a fat girl who grew up only with her mother for some years, until the day her father showed up. Yep, this sounds slightly fucked up, and it is. Joan was often oppressed by her mother and her frustration about her daughter's weight, her behavior or anything she saw as a flaw.
I believe Atwood described with accuracy and veracity not only the main character's mixed feelings towards her mother, but also about herself and the people/situations around her.

The narrator said several times that she had different personalities inside her, and that was right on point. She behaved differently and created different stories about herself to different people, and the curious thing is that she wasn't the only one with such a complex personality. The other characters also had this dualism, and they gave a great depth and credibility to the story for I believe some people are like them sometimes.

I want to talk, once more, about Atwood's writing which was fascinating. I LOVED IT. It had a lot of humor and it was so captivating.
Joan was a writer, so there were small excerpts of her novels in the story, and the author managed to create a different style from her own. Oh. My. God. It was quite different from the way Atwood uses adjectives and the verbs, and not every writer is able to this! If this woman isn't talented, no one else is!

I think I've just found out a possible new favorite author of mine. ...more

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May 04, 2008 Jamie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Atwood fans, lovers of the gothic

Recommended to Jamie by: my thesis advisor

Shelves: thesis

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It seems many of the reviews of this book call it an embarrassment to Atwood's oeuvre--I'm really not sure why, as it's really quite an enjoyable read, if not the most "important" book Atwood's written. But then, as I continue to move through Atwood's body of work, I see her stuff split into two factions: you have the 'issue' novels, like Handmaid's Tale and Oryx & Crake and, to a lesser extent, Robber Bride and Cat's Eye; then there are the sort of 'throwaway' novels that have Atwood's wit and It seems many of the reviews of this book call it an embarrassment to Atwood's oeuvre--I'm really not sure why, as it's really quite an enjoyable read, if not the most "important" book Atwood's written. But then, as I continue to move through Atwood's body of work, I see her stuff split into two factions: you have the 'issue' novels, like Handmaid's Tale and Oryx & Crake and, to a lesser extent, Robber Bride and Cat's Eye; then there are the sort of 'throwaway' novels that have Atwood's wit and shrewd eye, but don't necessarily come across as politically motivated books. I would put Lady Oracle in this category, along with Edible Woman and perhaps some of her short stories. I'm looking forward to seeing where the next ones I'm plunging into (Alias Grace, and after, Blind Assassin) will go.

Lady Oracle focuses on Joan Foster, a secret writer of costume gothics and a woman who fakes her own death in order to get away from the tangled web she's woven around her life. There's really not much more to the plot than that, but then, Atwood's work is very rarely plot-centered. The book is definitely a page-turner--I managed to get through it in three days, and that was during exams! Her style by this novel was really gaining force; I saw many echoes from her first novel, Edible Woman, in this one, particularly in terms of her dealings with eating disorders and the psychic-splitting of the self in women under a patriarchal order. In these themes, I certainly think Atwood's motive was political, and she handles them far better in "LO" than in "EW." While a lot of reviewers say Joan Foster is a self-pitying wuss, I actually felt she managed to gain a great deal of agency through the text, though of course her obsession with the gothic romance narrative seems problematic on the surface. But as with most Atwood protagonists, their split selves result from the sort of overarching cultural scripts that are forced upon us--so here, it's the gothic romantic ideals of love; in EW and Robber Bride, it's the fairy tale narrative; so on and so forth. So with Atwood, I typically think if something is coming off as problematic, it's worth a closer look on a large scale level.

Anyhow, I loved Lady Oracle. It's a quick read, Joan's fat childhood is both hilarious and emotionally potent (and the Royal Porcupine--another Duncan figure--is so well-done), and the writing is of course superb. Definitely worth it, especially over the holiday season as a sort of pleasant, relaxed read. ...more

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Sep 26, 2007 Lissa rated it really liked it

I love Margaret Atwood and she can do (almost) no wrong, so it's probably not shocking that I really liked this book. After all, I have read (in order): The Handmaid's Tale (multiple times), Cat's Eye, Robber Bride (I should go back and re-read these as it's been a long time) The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace and The Penelopiad.

Lady Oracle treads over some of what most readers of Margaret Atwood will realize is familiar ground. The premise of the book is that Joan Foster, a woman who for all appea I love Margaret Atwood and she can do (almost) no wrong, so it's probably not shocking that I really liked this book. After all, I have read (in order): The Handmaid's Tale (multiple times), Cat's Eye, Robber Bride (I should go back and re-read these as it's been a long time) The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace and The Penelopiad.

Lady Oracle treads over some of what most readers of Margaret Atwood will realize is familiar ground. The premise of the book is that Joan Foster, a woman who for all appearances seems to be a success, has found herself unable to escape the mess she's made of her life. Therefore, she decides to fake her death and embark on a new life. However, most of the book is not dedicated to this new life - in fact, it only appears briefly in the beginning and occasionally throughout other parts of the book. Instead, the book in the story of her life. Through her recollections (starting from childhood) we see how things like childhood and teenage obesity, a controlling mother, an absent father, and and emotionally distant husband shape the way that she views the rest of her life and ultimately leads to the mess that she has made. Joan Foster is incidentally a closet writer of gothic romances, and many of the parts of her story and interspersed with snippets of the books that she writes as well.

Lady Oracle is one of her earliest books, written before her success with The Handmaid's Tale. It doesn't quite have the same lyric quality to the writing that some of her later novels have. It's also interesting to see the way that some of the themes from this early novel appeared later in The Blind Assassin, like the secret novels, the way that the book passages are written into the narrator's life story, and the possible death by drowning.

I remember my friend E reading this book and not particularly liking it. Certainly, it's less polished than her later work. That being said, some of this book really resonated with me and I would still recommend it almost without reservation. ...more

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Oct 16, 2017 Rebecca rated it liked it · review of another edition

Joan Foster has faked her death back in Canada and fled to Italy, where she alternates between working on the Gothic romances she publishes under a pseudonym and remembering the various lives she’s lived: as a fat girl who could never earn her mother’s approval and only lost weight to secure an inheritance; as a mistress of a Polish count in London; as a budding spiritualist who completed a poetry book through automatic writing; as a wife and reluctant co-conspirator of a communist; as a paramou ...more

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Aug 05, 2020 Mila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3,75 stars

I think that so far this is my least favorite Margaret Atwood, even though it's still very witty and original. I really enjoyed the parts about the main character's childhood, growing up fat I could definitely relate to some of it and the writing was amazing, Margaret Atwood didn't waste a single word. A great example would be this quote from Chapter One: "Years of breakfasts, inept, forsaken, never to be recovered... Years of murdered breakfasts, why had I done it?" Unfortunately, aro ...more

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Apr 27, 2015 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Joan Foster is a confused character that drifts through life, living multiple identities and struggling to keep them separate. The novel begins with Joan reflecting on her life as she makes plans for the future.

Joan's childhood is a miserable one. She struggles with friendships, suffers with self-hatred and escapes into a fantasy world where she is accepted and revered. Joan's mother is a neurotic, disappointed, angry woman who is unhappy in her life and in Joan. Atwood writes with a quirky, wit ...more

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Feb 21, 2018 C. McKenzie rated it liked it

I'm an Atwood fan, but I struggled with this one. It seemed to go fast forward for a while, and then it slowed and almost went into reverse. I admired and laughed at the intertwined stories of the main character's "real" life and her "Gothic bodice rippers." That was the best, and her sense of humor was subtle and poignant throughout.

The big message was that the fat girl never gets over being fat. That can apply to anything in our young lives: we're too fat, we're too skinny, we don't have a da ...more

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Apr 04, 2008 Rea rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I love M. Atwood, but this book...I still can't believe she wrote it.

In most cases Atwood's themes revolve around women in some form or another. For the first time I felt myself becoming so frustrated with the female protagonist. I wanted to slap her and tell her to (ironically) grow some balls and stop feeling sorry for herself; there are people who have worst problems! She was weak and doubtful for superficial reasons and I couldn't believe Atwood would resort to using weight a major reason fo ...more

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Nov 11, 2019 Nusrah Javed rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, high-priority

Just like Handmaid’s Tale turned me away from Atwood, Lady Oracle has brought me back.

What a delicious book full of dark humor and gorgeous writing.

With Atwood’s books I have realized you know from the first page if you will like a book or not. I have had this feeling with two of her other works; Edible Woman and the Blind Assassin.

Disappearing is a thread I am seeing a lot in Atwood’s writing. Be it be a real disappearance, or disappearance amidst the daily expectations on women.

I am excite ...more

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Jul 07, 2017 Hermien rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, canada

What a reading pleasure. I love the way Atwood weaves a story within a story and takes you on an enjoyable fantasy journey.

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Dec 17, 2014 Holly added it

I guess I'm an anomaly in that, as much as I enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, it has been Margaret Atwood's other books I have read (Cat's Eye and this one) that grabbed my by the shoulders and shook me, speared me not just through the mind but into my heart; I felt it and it hurt.

This book pained me at times because it had such truth in each of the small insights woven into the greater plot. Women make a huge impact on each other's lives, and this book gives a sense of this and how it can affect a ...more

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Feb 27, 2019 Rosalind Reshma rated it really liked it

“I planned my death carefully, unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.”

These are the opening lines of Lady Oracle, an experience more than a book. While the same can be said about pretty much every work of Atwood, Lady Oracle would be my personal favourite because I happened to read it while going through a rather severe phase of existential crisis and the opening lines lit up something in me as I nodded in agreement.

The protago “I planned my death carefully, unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.”

These are the opening lines of Lady Oracle, an experience more than a book. While the same can be said about pretty much every work of Atwood, Lady Oracle would be my personal favourite because I happened to read it while going through a rather severe phase of existential crisis and the opening lines lit up something in me as I nodded in agreement.

The protagonist, Joan, is anything but the modern empowered woman the readers would mold themselves into. But that is exactly what makes her unique yet very relatable. She is a successful writer but incidentally, her most acclaimed work is an accident among a series of cheap writing she engages in for quick money. Ironically, her husband, the activist and visionary is hardly impressed by the success of her book which unintentionally stands for the very same ideals he does.

We get acquainted with young Joan and her difficult relationship with her mother through a series of flashbacks. But it is hardly an inspiring bildungsroman of the insecure caterpillar transforming into an enlightened butterfly. She is a simple woman who was once a child, a rebellious teenager who eventually grew up into someone who was wise enough to limit her desires to achievable material and emotional rewards. She values romantic love, but does not idolize it. She knows the importance of money, but does not ruthlessly pursue it.

Throughout the novel you expect a twist, a drastic transformation or a shocking revelation. Atwood leads the reader through this parody to the anticlimax which is the twist in a sense. That is the point where the reader understands the futility of fear, passion, desire, identity...everything that constitute the idea of existence and survival.

I wouldn’t say it is an easy or even an enjoyable reading experience as it requires some serious contemplation while reading to understand why the characters behave the way they do. There are parts which shake beliefs and ideals so violently that you are left questioning your choices and your stand in this otherwise shallow world. But it should definitely be in the list of a person who is passionate about literature since it is undeniably one of the best works of literature of contemporary times. ...more

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Jul 10, 2019 Ashley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-top-100, canadiana, favourites, italy, 70s

Tied with The Handmaid's Tale as my favourite Margaret Atwood book. This one was decidedly less eventful but just as dramatic.

What I loved about it was that it was very character-driven, very psychological. It blended elements of the Gothic, of romance, and realism in order to theorize on escapism; particularly, on what escapism means to women (and men), and how it can shape our self-image and even our understanding of reality. A sharp-witted commentary on what it means to be authentic to yours ...more

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About Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood

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Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.

Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, childr ...more