AshleyA's Full Review: Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
The premise of the book seems simple at first: a Grace Marks a the mid-19th century servant is accused of murdering her former master and his mistress. Her partner in crime is punished by death, but Grace is found guilty and is committed to an insane asylum in Canada. Jonathan Porter, a respected psychiatrist is assigned to her case to help her unravel the threads of her past and to bring her up to the exact moment the murder transpired to see if indeed she is either innocent or guilty.
Margaret Atwood, author of other well-received works such as the "Handmaid's Tale" and "Cat's Eye" skillfully spins a historically fictitious thread about Grace's life filled with great detail that parallels the quilts and clothes Grace herself sews in the novel. From Grace's meager beginnings in Ireland, to her horrific trip to North America, you begin to slowly discover the complexity of Grace's character. Told by Grace herself, what she reveals to her psychiatrist is not only profound but ambiguous as she takes us from household to household recounting each of her experiences as well as giving a vivid profile of each of the main characters she encounters.
The books starts out quite slowly and provides a solid "present day" foundation on which the flashbacks are built. Being a murderess, Grace is perceived in the asylum as barbaric, but she is also secretly admired and greatly talked about. Although rather dry at first, the sluggish beginning gives way to a riveting biography. The language used by Atwood is amazingly un-anachronistic and true to the syntax of that era, and I was captivated by her eloquent descriptions and symbolism (peonies, quilts) that gave further depth to the novel. Atwood gives such an inside look to being a female servant, that you would have thought that she'd hopped a time machine to the mid-1800's and lived it herself! Through Grace's carefully guarded remarks about anything that would be considered "lewd" or socially unacceptable, Atwood also makes a bold statement about how women, even in the lowest ranks of society, tried to maintain well-polished reputations and in some cases, dignity, despite their mistreatment by men.
Once again, Margaret Atwood has failed to disappoint giving her audience a suspense-filled read that won't soon be forgotten.
In Alias Grace, bestselling author Margaret Atwood has written her most captivating, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying work since The Handmaid's T...More at Barnes & Noble.com
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