Scan barcode
authoraugust's review against another edition
5.0
Margaret Atwood has been on my to-read list for a very long time, but I hadn't heard about this book until I stumbled upon it in the writing section at the library. The title intrigued me enough to pick it up, and I'm incredibly glad I did. Memoirs of writing are usually fun, in their own way, and some (like Bird by Bird, for example, or On Writing) are fantastic. This, though, tackled all those topics which are closest to the fear in a writer's life - things like writing Art for Art's Sake vs. writing Art for the Betterment of Society (which should we do? and Atwood does not actually answer that for us, but addresses both sides very thoroughly). I felt like I was swimming through a thorough, engaging, but dense philosophy book instead of a writing memoir, and though it took me a while to make it to the end, it was definitely worth the read.
emrogoreadsomething's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
mckenziesbookshelf's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
paulareadswithcats's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
iceberg0's review
4.0
She's so smart and funny. I mean I knew that but it is different when the narrative voice is removed.
rymdkejsaren's review against another edition
2.0
There are some wonderful gems of insight in this book, but overall I found it messy and pretentious. Atwood writes amazing fiction, but I'm none the wiser as to how after reading this. Maybe that wasn't the point. But then, what was the point?