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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
I love atwood her writting styles is amazing and creepy and it makes me question everything.
The dinner scene was fantastic it felt my heart racing and stressed as if I was there & being overstimulated.
All the men in this were terrible terrible people
Part 3 had me gasping I really though she killed Peter and was cleaning up the mess, but when she noted going back to 1st person I loved that.
I picked this book up randomly at the bookstore and Im so happy I did, & I had no idea this was her first novel!
Marian is coasting through life. Things aren't great, but they aren't bad. She has a boring job, an interesting roommate, and a tolerable boyfriend. But deep down she knows something is off. When she and Peter get drunkenly engaged it really starts to show. Suddenly certain foods start to taste off, then they become completely un-consumable. At first it's just meat - fine, she'll become vegetarian. But then it starts spreading. Soon it's certain vegetables, puddings, eggs, cake. The list keeps growing and her waist starts shrinking. But Marian starts to feel as if she's no longer in control of her own life. She feels as if she is the one being consumed. Interesting characters, even though all are unlikable and very neat concept. Superbly written.
It is actually 3.4 stars
I enjoyed in most of the conversations between Duncan and Marian. Also I loved the contradiction in Clara’s ideas even if she is a mom and a wife as well. But after some point I got bored of the story generally. After the half of the book, I found myself that I was yelling with my inner voice to Marian as Come ooon It is too obvious that you should break up with Peter.
Atwood opens a window to look at relationships and roles we play in our life in this book.
“Why are you so interested in amoebas?" "Oh, they're immortal," he said, "and sort of shapeless and flexible. Being a person is getting too complicated."
Maybe it isn't a baby at all but a kind of parasitic growth, like galls on trees, or elephantiasis of the navel, or a huge bunion....
This was the first book I read from Margaret Atwood and I can’t say that it was a strong start.
I enjoyed in most of the conversations between Duncan and Marian. Also I loved the contradiction in Clara’s ideas even if she is a mom and a wife as well. But after some point I got bored of the story generally. After the half of the book, I found myself that I was yelling with my inner voice to Marian as Come ooon It is too obvious that you should break up with Peter.
Atwood opens a window to look at relationships and roles we play in our life in this book.
“Why are you so interested in amoebas?" "Oh, they're immortal," he said, "and sort of shapeless and flexible. Being a person is getting too complicated."
Maybe it isn't a baby at all but a kind of parasitic growth, like galls on trees, or elephantiasis of the navel, or a huge bunion....
This was the first book I read from Margaret Atwood and I can’t say that it was a strong start.
This was Margaret Atwood's first novel and it is one of the most accomplished first novels I've read. It is a very funny social comedy of modern alienation, especially concerning gender roles. The main character, Marian, develops an eating disorder midway through the book. I've heard critics describe this as anorexia nervosa, but it is more like Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). In any case, eating disorders were not well known or understood when this book was written in 1965, so it is remarkably prescient. Marian is engaged to a yuppie named Peter with whom she has little in common. She shares an apartment with a single woman named Ainsley, who is eager to have a baby because of some poorly digested ideas that she has picked up from a cultural anthropology class. Marian is also friends with Clara, a young academic woman who keeps having babies. Marian meets another guy, Duncan, who is kind of like Meursault from Camus' The Stranger. At first, she pities him but she winds up getting involved with him out of anxiety over her engagement. This is definitely a young person's novel, filled with insightful passages about dead-end jobs, tenancy, marriage and raising children. The metaphorical ending isn't entirely successful, but it doesn't ruin the book for me.
Duncan is strange, but very fascinating at the same time. Nothing much happens plot-wise - but that's always been the least interesting bit anyway. The use 9and non-use) of the singular is very powerful. I got really absorbed into this book and really liked it.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
many many thoughts. i will start with the positives: characters that are fun to hate but subtly which is quite different from the normal flashy unlikeable narrator thing
i loved the ending it was defo the highlight of the book
great detailed focused descriptions which i lovee
really really good deliciously slow build up of tension
i liked the switching perspectives i thought it was really unique and added another level of depth to the unreliable narrator thing she had going on, very kewl
some stuff i didnt like: i know this was written 60 years ago and i think there are many books that can stand the test of time, but i feel like overall this one just didnt. however it does gives really good insight into womens writing of the time.
i wish the narrators emotions were talked about more and i feel like, due to part 2 not being first person, she kinda loses that really personal insight during the climax.
i also wish mariannes relationships with the people around her was more clear? like i could not tell you what was going on w some of those people at all or why they were there.
also why do they talk so,, britishly? i was 1000% sure this was set in ireland at the start and then connected the dots to CANADA?? interesting choice.
i know duncan is a very central character which is why i felt the ess ee ex bit could have been definitely explored more, even if it is meaningless in the grand scheme of things and the starting bit of the ending just ended up feeling very rushed by itself, especially after the slowish development of the first 300 pages, but it is still very well written.
overall it def had some lapses and THREE missing quotation marks oh my god can her editor please check this book properly?? but i really enjoyed it and i think it is a very underrated work of hers, very thought provoking and i highly recommend!
i loved the ending it was defo the highlight of the book
great detailed focused descriptions which i lovee
really really good deliciously slow build up of tension
i liked the switching perspectives i thought it was really unique and added another level of depth to the unreliable narrator thing she had going on, very kewl
some stuff i didnt like: i know this was written 60 years ago and i think there are many books that can stand the test of time, but i feel like overall this one just didnt. however it does gives really good insight into womens writing of the time.
i wish the narrators emotions were talked about more and i feel like, due to part 2 not being first person, she kinda loses that really personal insight during the climax.
i also wish mariannes relationships with the people around her was more clear? like i could not tell you what was going on w some of those people at all or why they were there.
also why do they talk so,, britishly? i was 1000% sure this was set in ireland at the start and then connected the dots to CANADA?? interesting choice.
overall it def had some lapses and THREE missing quotation marks oh my god can her editor please check this book properly?? but i really enjoyed it and i think it is a very underrated work of hers, very thought provoking and i highly recommend!
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Back in 2019, I promised that I would read all of Margaret Atwood’s 17 novels, with the short story collections the following year. After all the year before I managed to read all 12 of Jonathan Coe’s novels (yes I know there’s a new one, it’s on the TBR stack). Dutifully I purchased all her novels and then other books got in the way and this project was dropped. Weirdly in that same year I read her second novel, Surfacing, for the IRL bookclub I co-run. Now we’re on the right track and the project has started. Expect to see many more Atwood novels in the future.
The Edible Woman is Atwood’s debut published in 1969 and it is a strong one. In her forward she states that it is a proto-feminist novel as certain feminist concepts did not really find their way to Canada until much later. However after reading the novel, I was struck by a revlation but I will get to that in a bit.
Marian works for a company that creates surveys for products, lives with an impulsive flatmate Ainsley and dreams of her upcoming marriage to Peter. However two events change her life; one is a chance meeting with an old classmate, Len Slank and the other is another chance meeting, this time with a uni student called Duncan. When Marian introduces Peter to Len, Peter just ignores Marian for the whole evening and discusses cameras with Len. At this point she begins to wonder if she is merely an accessory for Peter : someone he can own. Throughout the novel Len then forms part of the Ainsley subplot.
When she meets Duncan, she falls in love with him but he treats her like an accessory as well as he just wants to sleep with her. The main difference between him and Peter is that the former is blatant about the fact that he is using Marian.
As the marriage looms closer Marian starts to hate food and imagines them coming alive. She also starts to feel helpless. Her relationship with Duncan is a temporary and she knows that, Ainsley is caught up with her plan to become a mother and her dislike for Peter is increasing. The ultimate question is if Marian will accept herself and take control of her future.
The Edible Woman, for an Atwood novel, is quite interesting. The characters are fully realised, something that she has always been consistent with. It’s quite funny in places, the dinner party at Duncan’s place is brilliant, so is the Marriage party. Then there’s the symbolic ending, which I will guarantee will stick in the mind for a long time. It’s also worth noting that one character delivers a spiel about how nature will take over mankind, this is a topic that is explored slightly in her next novel, Surfacing and deeply in 2003’s Oryx and Crake.
I said earlier that I came to a revelation and that is: Sally Rooney’s Normal People is basically an Edible Woman rewrite. Both books consist of people looking deeply at their relationships. Both have characters questioning their normality within society and also both books have a main protagonist who has difficulty fitting in with norms and wants to break free. Yes The Edible Woman has a more feminist slant but one can clearly see her influence in Normal People. Which also means the term millennial fiction is a load of codswallop. Anyone agree me with here.
The Edible Woman is Atwood’s debut published in 1969 and it is a strong one. In her forward she states that it is a proto-feminist novel as certain feminist concepts did not really find their way to Canada until much later. However after reading the novel, I was struck by a revlation but I will get to that in a bit.
Marian works for a company that creates surveys for products, lives with an impulsive flatmate Ainsley and dreams of her upcoming marriage to Peter. However two events change her life; one is a chance meeting with an old classmate, Len Slank and the other is another chance meeting, this time with a uni student called Duncan. When Marian introduces Peter to Len, Peter just ignores Marian for the whole evening and discusses cameras with Len. At this point she begins to wonder if she is merely an accessory for Peter : someone he can own. Throughout the novel Len then forms part of the Ainsley subplot.
When she meets Duncan, she falls in love with him but he treats her like an accessory as well as he just wants to sleep with her. The main difference between him and Peter is that the former is blatant about the fact that he is using Marian.
As the marriage looms closer Marian starts to hate food and imagines them coming alive. She also starts to feel helpless. Her relationship with Duncan is a temporary and she knows that, Ainsley is caught up with her plan to become a mother and her dislike for Peter is increasing. The ultimate question is if Marian will accept herself and take control of her future.
The Edible Woman, for an Atwood novel, is quite interesting. The characters are fully realised, something that she has always been consistent with. It’s quite funny in places, the dinner party at Duncan’s place is brilliant, so is the Marriage party. Then there’s the symbolic ending, which I will guarantee will stick in the mind for a long time. It’s also worth noting that one character delivers a spiel about how nature will take over mankind, this is a topic that is explored slightly in her next novel, Surfacing and deeply in 2003’s Oryx and Crake.
I said earlier that I came to a revelation and that is: Sally Rooney’s Normal People is basically an Edible Woman rewrite. Both books consist of people looking deeply at their relationships. Both have characters questioning their normality within society and also both books have a main protagonist who has difficulty fitting in with norms and wants to break free. Yes The Edible Woman has a more feminist slant but one can clearly see her influence in Normal People. Which also means the term millennial fiction is a load of codswallop. Anyone agree me with here.
I loved the constant metaphors that Atwood uses throughout this and I found the characters so charming and nuanced. The moments of character monologues added a lot to the novel; every character felt so fleshed-out and fully-realised it was remarkable. I can definitely imagine this book adapted into a play. I wish the plot had more peaks and valleys however I found joy in the simple moments in the book and thought the references to contemporary consumer culture brilliant.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes