writeright.myfreeforum.org :: Margaret Atwood

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:57 pm

I'm a huge fan of Margaret Atwood's books. I was first introduced to her work when I was about 15 and read "The Handmaid's Tale".

I love everything of hers that I've read, though I haven't yet gotten The Penelopiad or her latest volume of partly-autobiographical short stories, nor have I read her non-fiction essays.

Her books however, are fantastic - I find them to be an inspiration. I'd find it very hard to pick a favourite - I love The Handmaid's Tale, I really enjoy reading dystopian speculative fiction, Oryx and Crake was good as well, but The Robber Bride and Cat's Eye are fantastic books as well. Plus there's the need-to-read-it-three-times magic of Surfacing, and the slightly less refined debut The Edible Woman. The Blind Assasin won the Booker Prize, and it's a really creative tale, well writen and very much deserving of the accolade.

I love her style - it's easy to read, and though there is always a deeper level, it's not in any way pretentious.

Any other fans/ anyone have an opinion?

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:23 am

I studied The Handmaid's Tale at school and absolutely hated it. I think it's because it made me so angry, but that was a good 10yrs ago so I think it's about time I tried Margaret Atwood again. I might start with the Blind Assassin...

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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:23 pm

handmaids tale made me angry too but maybe in a different sense, angry about the state of the world and how we could so easily descend into that, I found it fascinating as well though, the idea of how quickly what we consider to be civilisation can be undone by some chaotic events, and everythign we consider freedom taken away from us. If anything I think it might be more relevant today because of all the debate around islam and christianity. It's quite a harsh critique of human nature to some extent, and certainly human weakness. I loved it, but then i do go in for dystopian fiction quite a lot, it appeals to me on some level, I can be optimistic but I suppose in some senses i can be a pessimist as well, regards the future of the human race, and dystopian fiction eggs that part of me on...