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A review by ryannrripley
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
5.0
I read a review somewhere about how this is a story about insanity, but I strongly disagree with that take. Alias Grace is not a story about insanity. It is a story about power. How can you control your life if all your power has been taken away from you? How can you control your story if other people keep trying to bend it to make it theirs?
The Netflix miniseries based on this book is very good, but it does not do the original telling justice. The book is a god damn masterpiece, my friends- the Netflix series left out far too much.
For example, I hated how they changed Simon to make him a more sympathetic character. They changed his relationship with Rachel to make it seem like he wasn't complicit in what went on between them. Because they took that out, I really did not understand the Simon/Rachel subplot in the show- it didn't make any sense to me. In the book, however, their relationship ties directly into the themes of power and the invisible (but unmistakably valuable and important) role of women in patriarchal society.
When his landlady no longer has the means to care for him (cleaning and cooking), Simon is forced to contend with the world of women's work (Grace's world, the only place where she can exercise any form of control). The result is kind of hilarious, because Simon doesn't know how to navigate in this world. In a way, Simon's relationship with his landlady Rachel becomes a form of prostitution- he is selling his body in exchange for power.
Weaving in notions of seances, showmanship, and using fiction to decipher the truth, the author makes it clear to us that Grace is not insane- at the very least, she is no more insane than any of us are. Grace is someone who is using deception to acquire power- same as Jeremiah did with his pseudoscientific magic shows. Grace wants control, which is something she never had.
The Netflix miniseries based on this book is very good, but it does not do the original telling justice. The book is a god damn masterpiece, my friends- the Netflix series left out far too much.
For example, I hated how they changed Simon to make him a more sympathetic character. They changed his relationship with Rachel to make it seem like he wasn't complicit in what went on between them. Because they took that out, I really did not understand the Simon/Rachel subplot in the show- it didn't make any sense to me. In the book, however, their relationship ties directly into the themes of power and the invisible (but unmistakably valuable and important) role of women in patriarchal society.
When his landlady no longer has the means to care for him (cleaning and cooking), Simon is forced to contend with the world of women's work (Grace's world, the only place where she can exercise any form of control). The result is kind of hilarious, because Simon doesn't know how to navigate in this world. In a way, Simon's relationship with his landlady Rachel becomes a form of prostitution- he is selling his body in exchange for power.
Weaving in notions of seances, showmanship, and using fiction to decipher the truth, the author makes it clear to us that Grace is not insane- at the very least, she is no more insane than any of us are. Grace is someone who is using deception to acquire power- same as Jeremiah did with his pseudoscientific magic shows. Grace wants control, which is something she never had.