Tag Archives: Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale, Academy Girls, and the Worst Bachelorette Party Ever

I have read The Handmaid’s Tale maybe 4 times since college, so when my book club picked it for our December meeting, I thought I’d see if the audiobook version was any good. Oh my my, oh hell yes, time to put on that Handmaid’s Dress because Claire Danes simply kills it. As Offred, trapped in a bizarre patriarchal system where she has to bear children for wealthy men or else risk exile or worse, Danes finds a beautiful balance between the handmaid’s naiveté and…

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The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

Synopsis: After an economic disaster causes 50% unemployment, a married couple decides to take a chance on an unusual planned community rather than continue to live in their car and fight off roving bands of marauders. Review: I have not alwqys been a fan of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian science fiction, but with The Heart Goes Last she finally delivers a novel that’s one of her best ever, and that can hold its own with the best of the genre. The dystopian premise is so delightfully…

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Vacation = Gillian Flynn, The Group, Pretty Is, New Margaret Atwood !!!

Because my idea of relaxing is reading about women in desperate circumstances driven to make choices that aren’t really choices at all because they are WOMEN. Repressive society, nobody understands their inner life, maybe they don’t even have an inner life, and you have to escape your gallant kidnapper while your friends talk shit behind your back and if you’re lucky you’ll end up competing with a prostibot. Or, as Luscious Jackson put it, “When a man knows where he came from he can tell…

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The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Synopsis: The events leading up to the “waterless flood,” a global catechism wiping out almost all of mankind, as told from the point of view of two survivors, a sex worker and a healer, both of whom were members of a radical vegetarian cult. Review: The Year of the Flood is Margaret Atwood’s companion to Oryx and Crake, presenting the events that led to Jimmy the Snowman’s reign over the gentle, sinless Crakers in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Atwood resolutely refuses to call either book “science…

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Favorite Author Meme

Heather at Errant Dreams came up with a wonderful meme–enjoy & consider yourself tagged! * Answer the questions as you see fit. Although they’re all phrased to ask about a singular author, feel free to respond with multiples, or even a list. * Where possible & convenient (you don’t have to go as crazy as I did!), include a link here or there to an author’s website, your review of one of their books, or a review that inspired you to try the author(s), so…

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The Alphabet Meme

Picked this meme up from Melanie, in honor of two YA books I read for work this weekend. The goal of this is to list favourite authors according to last name (with a representative fave book as well). Atwood, Margaret — Cat’s Eye Bronte, Charlotte — Jane Eyre Card, Orson Scott — Ender’s Game Dragonwagon, Crescent — The Year It Rained (with Paul Zindel) Eager, Edward — Half Magic Forster, EM — Howard’s End Gibson, William — Neuromancer Hobb, Robin — Ship of Magic Ishiguro,…

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Keep Away from the Genre

Last night’s work read saw a celebrated author of so-called “literary fiction” attempting a murder mystery. Great characters, fabulous dialogue, smart ideas–terrible plot. Why? The writer doesn’t know the first thing about genre satisfaction. This happens from time to time. A “real writer” will decide to take on a genre, thinking that it must be easy otherwise there wouldn’t be so many of them. But what said “real writer” doesn’t understand is that true genre excellence comes out of love for what the genre has…

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The Robber Bride–The Movie

Phew!! Finally done with my work reading for the weekend. I finished up with 2 very short books in the same series. (By the way, I hate that WordPress only lets me publish partial feeds b/c of a bug. Sorry.) For this post, I’ll talk about the movie version of Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride, which starred Mary-Louise Parker as the titular man-stealing tramp who ruined the lives of her best friends. I have always loved this book and thought it would make a great…

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