Reviews

The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

sailor_marmar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

agnestyley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Oh, to be a woman: envious, selfless, strong, fallible, obsessive, dependable, complicated. Three female narrators, who appear as stereotypes and cardboard cutouts of the post-feminist era at first, turn out to portray the truly intense depth of the female experience. 

"Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it's all a male fantasy: that you're strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren't catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you're unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious or the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur."

I adore Margaret Atwood. I raced through this (lengthy) novel faster than I raced across Europe on ICE Deutschebahn trains. Though I must remember that her novels will never have satisfying endings - to love Atwood, you have to be okay with mystery and intrigue, or you will simply combust with dissatisfaction.

raconteurs's review against another edition

2.0

Wow. Das war leider kein gutes Buch. Drei Frauen, alle drei völlig klischeehaft dargestellt, werden von einer femme fatale (die eigentlich auch alle Klischees bedient) über mehrere Dekaden ihres Lebens ausgenutzt und hintergangen. Bei allen dreien spielen ihre Lebenspartner eine entscheidene Rolle. Diese sind alle drei als absolute Verlierer dargestellt, die keine Chance haben dem bösen Vamp zu entkommen. Langweilig, ohne jeglichen Witz.

heidkath's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

0hannah0banana0's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I would give this a higher rating if i could. Normally my picks tend to be shorter but this was most definitely worth it. The writing really sucked you in

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, and Sexual violence

emmacampbe11's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

taramc's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Read this after seeing the male fantasies snippet. 

I love how layered the book was. The flaws in everyone. Sometimes I found the long winding over descriptive sentences a little boring and the character irritating. 

I still lived a lot of what Atwood was encapsulating in this book and the relationships she displayed. 

I didn’t find myself excited to open it and read the next page so the mystery element was lacklustre for me. Took too long to get through. Put me in a reading slump. 

bfrance99's review

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I’ve only ever read The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, so I wasn’t sure what to expect… but it wasn’t this. I have no idea what to make of this book. Nothing happened? And the characters seemed spurious and irritated me the whole time. The men were incredibly weak. Zenia was obviously unlikeable but at least interesting - Tony, Charis and Roz’s lives felt like trauma porn and I didn’t gel with them much. The writing is good, sure. But the plot was non-existent and the characters uninteresting. 

cherubrina's review against another edition

4.0

this was soo beautifully written. 500 pages and i was absorbed the entire time.

tsslais's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25