The Robber Bride in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Oct 23, 2007 Willa rated it it was ok

This was my first Margaret Atwood book. It was well-written, had pretty good character development, was intelligent (in the words, writing and topics, I mean), yada, yada, yada... So, I'm really not sure why it didn't grab me more than it did, it just didn't. One possibility is that I don't enjoy it when every character's life was a horrendous tragedy, and that is the case here. Not one person just had normal parents, a normal childhood, and a normal college experience. It just gets to be too mu This was my first Margaret Atwood book. It was well-written, had pretty good character development, was intelligent (in the words, writing and topics, I mean), yada, yada, yada... So, I'm really not sure why it didn't grab me more than it did, it just didn't. One possibility is that I don't enjoy it when every character's life was a horrendous tragedy, and that is the case here. Not one person just had normal parents, a normal childhood, and a normal college experience. It just gets to be too much, and I stop feeling sorry for them or caring, period.

Also, the plot potential was great, Ms. Atwood just didn't do as much with it as she could have. The conflicts could have been so much greater, but they turned out to be pretty ho-hum and boring. The villainess, Zenia, could have created so many more and more dramatic fireworks, but the fireworks that were there seemed like fizzling duds after the build-up they received in the cover blurb.

And even though she gave a lot of information about her characters (hence my statement that the character development was pretty good), it was annoying information. The three female leads were quite stereotypical of various feminist types yet seemed way too concerned with the loss of their men to Zenia to really fit the feminist category. I think Ms. Atwood missed a great opportunity to portray at least one as a stronger woman who realized she was better off without a man who was so easily stolen by a woman who wasn't much more than sexy and conniving, and who (as I've already said, could have been so much more, herself).

And the men? I guess Ms. Atwood doesn't have much faith in them. They certainly all walked away from loving, faithful, supportive women with not a lot of persuasion. At least one finally recognized his mistake, but it apparently took him all of about 4 decades to do it.

Yeah, so, the more I write about the book, the more it becomes clear that I didn't really like it at all. I was going to give it 3 stars, now want to give it just 1, but will end up giving it 2 b/c it was, in fact, well-written enough that these things didn't bother me so much until after the reading was done and I was thinking back over the story as a whole. ...more

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Nov 09, 2007 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book used to sit on my mom's shelf when I was a kid, and the cover art always intrigued me. I wanted to read it, but when I tried I was WAY too young to appreciate it. I'm all grown up now, and love Margaret Atwood, so I'm giving it a real go.

Of the four books I've read by Atwood so far, I've loved the ones that played around with different genres: The Blind Assassin (pulpy sci-fi), A Handmaid's Tale (dystopia), Alias Grace (historical fiction/murder mystery with supernatural elements throw ...more

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Nov 27, 2007 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Why did I wait so long to read an Atwood novel? I have many times heard of the memorable characters and amazing stories. I was hooked from the first chapter of this;my first; Atwood novel. I found myself taking my time, absorbing the characters and the little details about each character that served to make Zenia's presence intheir lives possable. If all Margaret Atwood's novels are any match she will become a favorite author for me. ...more

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