Lady Oracle group discussion

[Alexa]

And now we turn to Margaret Atwood's third novel....

[Taylor]

I liked this book! I'll have to look back on it a bit, but I remember enjoying it. Not to the level of edible woman or handmaids tale (obviously) but it was strong.

[Story]

Stephanie wrote: "I liked this book! I'll have to look back on it a bit, but I remember enjoying it. Not to the level of edible woman or handmaids tale (obviously) but it was strong."

I loved this book and saw so much of my young self in it. I'm looking forward to discussing.

[Alexa]

I'm afraid I've fallen hopelessly behind and am just picking up this book today - but it looks like fun!

[Story]

Madeline wrote: "I'm about halfway through the book. Do you think Margaret Atwood ever wrote cheap romance novels under a pseudonym? Hmmmmm."

Now that's fun to think about! If she did, I probably read them. I was addicted to gothic romance from ages 12-15 or so.

[Alexa]

I'm not sure what I think of this book yet. I'm trying to find some meaning in it, and yet so far I can only view it as light entertainment, which would be OK (although I didn't think Atwood was capable of light entertainment) except that all those HORRIBLE gothic romance genre entries lead one to assume that she's making fun of light entertainment.

[Story]

Alexa wrote: "I'm not sure what I think of this book yet. I'm trying to find some meaning in it, and yet so far I can only view it as light entertainment, which would be OK (although I didn't think Atwood was c..."

I think the point is about the worlds women have tended to escape into when they feel trapped, powerless, invisible etc. I personally find the gothic sections hilarious.

[Alexa]

Thanks Storyheart, I think you're totally correct - it's all about escapism isn't it? She's in the middle of her grand escape, reflecting on all her other earlier attempts at escape, while writing escapist fiction.

[Story]

I'm reading Atwood's Murder in the Dark: Short Fictions and Prose Poems and came across this short piece which seems to relate to the themes in Lady Oracle

https://www.poeticous.com/margaret-at...

I also found it quite funny, in a dark way.

[Alexa]

Ah, now that was absolutely brilliant! I'm still trying to figure out why Lady Oracle doesn't work for me the way that piece does. I think it might have something to do with a separation between us and Joan. As if she's a character just created for the humor and hasn't quite come to life. I felt nothing like that with The Edible Woman or with Surfacing - I was totally inside those women's skins, where here I feel as if I'm being held at a distance somehow. Still thinking about it.

[Catherine]

I liked this novel a lot. Joan is the kind of character I really like in that she is over the top, takes herself seriously, and is slightly unreliable because of it. I wasn't to into it at first but once she started narrating her painful & awkward adolescence I just fell in love with this character. There's this pulse of female anger running through these 3 novels so far, but Lady Oracle is so funny about it. All of Joan's relationships were so absurd. Did The Royal Porcupine remind anyone else of Duncan from the Edible Woman, or was that just me?

[Story]

I wasn't to into it at first but once she started narrating her painful & awkward adolescence I just fell in love with this character. There's this pulse of female anger running through these 3 novels so far, but Lady Oracle is so funny about it. All of Joan's relationships were so absurd. Did The Royal Porcupine remind anyone else of Duncan from the Edible Woman, or was that just me? "

I had exactly the same reaction, Catherine. I also found Joan a little silly in the opening section but once we reached her childhood and her horrid mother was introduced, I too fell in love. And yes, Duncan reminds me of a milder form of The Royal Porcupine. He's kind of Porcupine-Lite."

[Alexa]

I think I liked this less than many of you because I'm feeling a lack of empathy, on the part of the author, to the main character. I don't think Atwood likes Joan very much, and I think her scorn for escapist fiction makes this too biting for me.

[Catherine]

Maybe it's because I liked the character that I assume Atwood liked her too, but I felt that it was written to be tongue in cheek, not judgmental. It's a fine line, i suppose. I also can't help but think anytime a writer chooses to make their own character a writer it's because they are modeling some parts of the character on themselves.

[Catherine]

And although I think Joan's writing is meant to be comical, I didn't read scorn in it at all! It can be interpreted in different ways I guess.

[Story]

Catherine wrote: "And although I think Joan's writing is meant to be comical, I didn't read scorn in it at all! It can be interpreted in different ways I guess."

I didn't feel Atwood disliked her either. In fact, I thought she was compassionate toward her weaknesses and self-deceptions. I do think Joan disliked herself though.

[Alexa]

I decided I just had to re-read this. Considering the amount of thought this book has provoked in me I guess there's an awful lot of power there! It just struck me how similar Joan's relationship is with her mother and with her husband. When she describes how he always expects her to screw up and is comforted by things like her bad cooking, it's just like her mother, always expecting to find her eating. So she escaped her mother only to dive right into the same type of relationship all over again!

[Alexa]

And I love the ambiguity of the ending - has she confessed all and turned over a new leaf - or is she just trying out a different form of escape? (And I love the jab at science fiction - which is just where Atwood herself will be turning soon!)