The Robber Bride

I think this is one of my favorite Atwood works. It doesn't try to push heavy narratives or big ideas, instead it's just a mess of a woman who f*cks sh*t up and moves on. Sometimes that's all it needs to be.

Margaret Atwood is a master of rhetoric and one of our most talented and original literary voices. She is an imaginative and probing investigator of life and relationships. "The Robber Bride" offers us the opportunity to follow the lives of three women friends through three decades and to vicariously experience the plethora of destructive deeds heaped upon each of them by "the villainess" of the piece who systematically befriends and betrays each of them. Reading this book is akin playing with nesting dolls.....you keep opening them wondering what the next one looks like.

THE ROBBER BRIDE by Margaret AtwoodTHE ROBBER BRIDE is yet another cleverly written novel by Margaret Atwood, who most recently was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003 for her apocalyptic book ORYX AND CRAKE. THE ROBBER BRIDE follows a similar theme as her novel CAT'S EYE, in which four girls form a clique of friendship, while one of the girls becomes the ring leader, tormenting one of the other girls endlessly till near-tragedy strikes. However, in THE ROBBER BRIDE, we are now looking at four women, whose history begins in college. Roz, Charis, and Tony were acquaintances during their college years. Their one link was a mutual "friend" named Zenia, a friend that eventually turned on each of them later on in their lives and practically destroyed them in order to get what she wanted from them. The book is very complex, as the author takes us back and forth in time, telling the story of each of the women and their relationship with each other and with Zenia. What's interesting is that without Zenia, none of these women would have kept in contact. But as each one finds out what a snake Zenia can be, they bond and through the years they continue their friendship. Zenia then dies, and the women feel they are safe and can move on with their lives. But, then one day while they are out at a restaurant, one of them thinks she has spotted Zenia...I found THE ROBBER BRIDE to be riveting and very intense. I feel that out of all the books I have read by Margaret Atwood, this was the most powerful of them all in terms of emotion and passion. This is not to say that her other books were any less than this one, but I remember feeling a lot of angry feelings as I read it. Margaret Atwood is truly a talented writer, and what makes me want to read her other books is that each book she writes is different from the next. She doesn't use a formula; she re-invents herself with each new book. I rated THE ROBBER BRIDE five stars and I highly recommend it. Margaret Atwood fans will love it.

Wow, this author can write so much different stuff. She writes novels, short stories, poems, and is a literary critic. Her novels range from highbrow literary, to mystery, to sci-fi. Talk about diversity.The Robber Bride is a very funny book, which you might not expect if you've read The Handmaid's Tale or Cat's Eye, both quite dark. In this book, Atwood creates a hypnotically attractive woman named Zenia who wreaks havoc everywhere. The other 3 main characters are women drawn together by their suffering at Zenia's hands and their attempts to forget her, now that she's dead. They meet occasionally for lunch - and on one of these lunch dates, in walks Zenia - quite alive, thank you.Oh boy. Read it yourself and see what happens. In Atwood's hands, what might have been a light romance turns into a catty and witty tale of human frailty and moral choices.

This is the second Atwood novel I have read, and I found it even more difficult to put down than Cat's Eye. I also found it easier to understand. The characters, albeit a tad stereotypical and narrowly drawn, still managed to draw me in and in, fact, reminded me of various parts of myself. I found myself wondering if that was part of Atwood's point -- that we have a bit of Toni, Roz, Charis, and even Zenia in all of us. It was amazing to me how fascinated I was by Zenia, given how distant she was in the novel. There were things that were not great about the book. The characters and some of the relationships were predictable. But that is to be expected with Atwood, who seems to address the same themes in all her writing -- the power relations between men and women, and how the female need for male acceptance impacts the relationships between women. One should read Atwood for the poetic nature of her writing; the stunning metaphors and the descriptions that haunt the reader long after the book is done.

Don't we all know someone like Zenia? She wrecks homes, toys with people, and worms her way into their lives, just for kicks. And conversely, don't we all have a part of Tony, Charis, or Roz in us? As each woman's story unfolded, I found myself echoing what they said or recognizing part of their life. Tony, Charis, and Roz represent most women: vulnerable but strong, able to be hurt but able to bounce back. They are human. Zenia is part of that sect of women that know what they want and get it, no questions asked, any means necessary. Can't you just envision sitting at the lunch table in the Toxique with the other three? Their story is our story, and that's what makes it so good.