Coffeespoons

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 civiliz...

Last year I read The Blind Assassin by Atwood, and it left me reeling because of its beauty and pain. So, I thought, "This must be her best. 'Cause it's so damn beautiful that she can't possibly write like this consistently." I was proven wrong. Though I still prefer Blind Assassin , let me assure you that Alias Grace is written with the same hauntingly beautiful prose. And it's not just the prose that's haunting--it's also the subject. Grace Marks was a real-life maid who was accused of murdering her employer and his housekeeper-cum-paramour. The events occurred in Canada in the 18th century, and Grace Marks's story and guilt were subject of much debate. According to the historical accounts, Grace was in cahoots with James McDermott, another individual who worked for Thomas Kinnear, Grace's employer. Marks and McDermott allegedly murdered Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, the housekeeper, out of envy and greed. They ran away together, but were ...