A review by lelia_t
Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Atwood

3.0

I came into this book with false expectations. I’d thought Atwood would speak more to the craft of writing and her own experiences, but this book is about the motivations of writers (Success? Money? Art?) , which part of the writer writes, who the writer writes for. A philosophical look at writing, in other words. Atwood is definitely well read and has done a lot of thinking on the topic, as you’d expect a writer of her stature to have done. But I found that with each chapter, she asks a question, explores about 25 responses from other writers and then comes to a simple conclusion that she could have arrived at in ⅛ of the word count. It’s like weaving a tangled web and then removing a single important fiber, so you wonder why we had to weave the tangle in the first place if only one fiber mattered?

I enjoyed her brief descriptions about her own experiences as a writer and I value some of her insights, especially in the final chapter, “Negotiating with the Dead,” but overall this seemed like a lot about a little.