"Surfacing" by Margaret Atwood

Read: 3/22/09

3/5 stars

The first Atwood book that I seriously had trouble finishing. I am a big fan of Margaret Atwood, after reading her Booker Prize winning work, The Blind Assassin. My fan-hood was reinforced after I read Alias Grace. Apart from these two novels, I've also been reading her poetry at poets.org, and I simply think she has astounding insight and talent at word-crafting.

That said, I'm not even sure that I'm disappointed with Surfacing. One of my old English professors used to love the phrase "Homer nods," signifying that not even the great Homer shone in his writing all the time. So, I guess it would be realistic that Atwood won't write stunners all the time. Also, though I couldn't get into the story (partly because there isn't much of a story), I grant that Atwood, through the voice of a mentally unstable woman, tried to show the final emancipation of the colonized from their colonists-- of women from men, of people from civilization, of Canada from America, even if strictly speaking, America never colonized Canada. Rather, Americans, in the mind of the unnamed protagonist, symbolize death of the land, given the American propensity for development or improvement.

Story-wise, though, Surfacing is about a woman who returns home with her lover and another couple to search for her father who has gone missing. The foursome initially plan to spend two days there, but extend their "vacation" to a week. In the course of that time, they simply engage in living off the land and the few provisions they bring. Both couples bicker and one of them goes through a falling out. Eventually, the father is not found, and the four decide to go home, but not without the final act of rebellion from the unnamed woman.

Obviously, there's not much to the story. The setting, though, is important to the novel, as the unnamed woman's home is set in an isolated island in the middle of a lake in Northern Quebec. The isolation of the setting emphasizes the isolation of the woman, aside from the fact that this, her home, brings to fore certain memories that define who she is.

My main problem with the book, though, is trying to understand what goes on in this woman's mind. I do not doubt that Atwood tried to capture it faithfully, but the assortment of images and symbolism was too vague and obscure for me, to the point that I couldn't understand what exactly happened in the woman's past.

But, as usual, there were flashes of brilliant insight in Atwood's writing. For instance, one quote that I loved from this book is"When you can no longer distinguish your pleasure from your pain, then you're addicted." I can relate to this when it comes to book buying.:)

Surfacing, however, hasn't turned me off Margaret Atwood. I still maintain that she's a fabulous writer and a strong advocate of women's rights, qualities which recommend her very strongly to me. As a reader, I think that even when a great writer "nods," once we are convinced of their greatness, the weak work only makes us eager to get back in the saddle with the writer we believe in.