The Robber Bride in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Jul 01, 2010 Lydia Presley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, 2010, 1001

This was my first Atwood experience. I feel like I've been hiding under a rock somewhere because I have not read any of her other books - and I wouldn't have read this one if it weren't for the 1001 Books list.

I'm fascinated by how this book was written - taking the lives of three very different, very unique women and binding them together through the actions of one very vicious woman.

Tony - the short, war-loving woman. She has a tendency to speak, think and write backwards as an escape and a wa This was my first Atwood experience. I feel like I've been hiding under a rock somewhere because I have not read any of her other books - and I wouldn't have read this one if it weren't for the 1001 Books list.

I'm fascinated by how this book was written - taking the lives of three very different, very unique women and binding them together through the actions of one very vicious woman.

Tony - the short, war-loving woman. She has a tendency to speak, think and write backwards as an escape and a way of protecting herself. She is stubborn, protective, loyal and enjoys a routine set in stone. As I read her history I began to understand her actions, her wishes and her desires.. and most of all I began to understand her complete and total hatred of Zenia.

Charis - Karen, in another live. Out of all three women, her childhood was the most traumatic, from physical abuse at he hand of her mother to traumatic abuse at the hands of her uncle, Charis believes in auras, in new age material and can see auras of those around her. Yet none of this saves her when it comes to Zenia sweeping into her life and taking advantage of her soft heart.

Roz - The mother of three, the sullen Larry and hilarious teen girls. Atwood nails these two teenage girls and I appreciated the give and tug of their relationship with their mother. Roz deals with her own sort of abuse from her husband, Mitch, and... in my mind, has little excuse to hate what Zenia does to her... I shouldn't say that, perhaps she should be the least surprised about what happens. She's a savvy woman, she knows what will happen, it's happened before - but she plays her own twisted games with it all.

And finally there's Zenia. We, the readers, get to know her through her actions, her words toward the three woman affected in this book. She is the worst nightmare of every wife and mother, girlfriend and lover. She is complicated but clear, and as I read about some aspects of what she did and began to form a picture of her in my mind I can't really say I was surprised by her, but her actions still surprised me .. if that makes sense. It was a strange feeling and one that kept me up reading until the wee hours of the morning for some sort of resolution.

This was a fascinating book and I intend to seek out other Atwood novels now. What do you all recommend I check out next? ...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Christina rated it liked it

This book reminded me irresistibly of an old movie called "A Letter to Three Wives." In the movie, three women receive a poisonous letter from a fourth (cleverly never seen in the movie, although she does narrate from time to time) who informs them that she has left town, running off with one of their husbands. Throughout the day, the women each wonder whether her husband could be the one who ran off. In flashbacks, they look at arguments with their husbands, praises the men have lavished on the This book reminded me irresistibly of an old movie called "A Letter to Three Wives." In the movie, three women receive a poisonous letter from a fourth (cleverly never seen in the movie, although she does narrate from time to time) who informs them that she has left town, running off with one of their husbands. Throughout the day, the women each wonder whether her husband could be the one who ran off. In flashbacks, they look at arguments with their husbands, praises the men have lavished on the letter-writer, and in spite of a confident front they all find themselves afraid.
A similarly enigmatic and poisonous woman draws together three women in this book, walking in, taking over their lives, and running off with their men and their money. All of the women find themselves understandably shaky afterwards. When she turns up alive after they attend her funeral, they all start to wonder what she's up to now.
All three women are cripplingly insecure and the men involved are so pathetic that I wanted to sit down and write a thank-you letter to Gloria Steinem that my generation no longer needs to live in fear of being hamstrung by the loss of a truly useless man. If the genders were reversed in this book I would no doubt be complaining at the flat portrayals of the damsel-in-distress female characters, because that is in a way how the women in this book view their men. The men need coddling, looking after, manipulating and pleasing, but in the end they hold all the power. Maybe it's a generational thing: the book takes place in the late eighties and the women involved were all children during World War II. It's possible that this would resonate as less alien with a generation or two before me.
This all drove me absolutely bonkers. The women and men in the 50s film had more confidence and character than these three. Granted, both husband and wife in one couple (played by Jeanne Crain and some guy - the focus was definitely on the women) were poorly fleshed out, but the Career Girl and the Golddigger both had depth and fire, and their respective husbands were men you could actually imagine missing. Or at least having an opinion about. It was so hard for me to read through page after claustrophobic page of lonely, introverted I'm-never-good-enough thinking by these women (vague hippie Charis actually seemed to me to achieve a little bit more power than the other two, from time to time).
But...and this is why I gave the book three stars...I couldn't stop reading. The writing was incredibly good. Charis' backstory was moving and there were a few side characters I would happily read a book about (Charis' grandmother, Roz's children). Every detail felt real to the story, which was probably why it drove me so nuts. Do something, ladies! Don't take him back! Go look for him! Just at least tell yourself you're worth something! Stop reading everything backwards, for crying out loud, Tony, you're driving me up the wall.
Bottom line: I'm glad it's over, but I will read more Margaret Atwood. ...more

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