When I saw this in the Oxfam bookshop at only £2.49, I simply had to grab it before someone else did! I was told by a fellow volunteer that Alias Grace was ‘the most accessible Atwood book’. Not that I was worried – I’ve never had a problem getting stuck into one of her books before, in fact it’s always been the opposite. So, I was quite confused with how long it took me to start enjoying this book. Was it me? Alias Grace has all the ingredients for an unputdownable, thrilling read – a real life, infamous Canadian murder, a woman incarcerated for years, while her supposed paramour is hanged – so why was I finding it so hard to get into? Continue reading
Margaret Atwood
Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
Well Atwood has certainly done it again. While reading this book, I was transported to another world – a future world where mankind has gone too far and experimented one too many times with technology and genetics to a devastating result.
This new world is empty and cruel. The sun is harsh and the creatures have become wild and dangerous. The creatures are strange hybrids, spliced together to make odd cross breeds, my favourite being the rakunks, a cross between a raccoon and a skunk – but without the smell, making them perfect pets. There are also spoat/giders, wolvogs and pigoons. Continue reading
The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
Not often do I read a book that takes my breath away. Margaret Atwood has managed to do that twice. First with The Handmaid’s Tale, an absolutely brilliant and imaginative book, and now with The Blind Assassin. Every moment of reading, felt like a luxury, like eating a very rich and creamy dessert. Atwood writes beautifully and has some very inventive descriptions. It’s rare to want to read a sentence for a second time, not because you didn’t understand it, but because you want to savour every word.
The story is of two sisters, Iris and Laura Chase. Iris is now an ‘older woman’ looking back on her life and all the events leading up to her sister’s death at the young age of twenty three. We learn in the very first page that Laura drove a car off a bridge and immediately our interest has been grabbed. Why did she do it? Continue reading
Bundle of Books 