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juushikaTitle: The Edible Woman
Author: Margret Atwood
Published: New York: Anchor Books (Doubleday), 1998 (1970)
Page Count: 310
Total Page Count: 23,293
Text Number: 68
Read For: my own enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Marian appears to be an average woman with average friendships and relationships, working an average job and leading an average life. However, when she gets engaged to her boyfriend her life begins to change. Marian can't eat: first meat, and then vegetables, and finally anything at all. As she struggles through her issues with food, she carries on a bizarre and selfish friendship/affair with a mysterious young man. This is a story about the bizarre appearing within the mundane. The writing style especially at the beginning of the book is almost painfully plain, but the promise of strange events to come and the introduction of a particuarly bizarre character keep the reader interested. It grows into a somewhat neurotic, strange book that, despite its mundane, even boring beginning, is easy to get lost in and worth exploring to the end. I didn't take a very strong liking to this text, but I still recommended it. Atwood is a talented writer and Marian's story is a compelling tale and warning.
The first third of this book was frustrating in a very strange way. The protagonist leads such a boring life and the people that surround her are so frustrating and immature that I wasn't sure why I was still reading. Somehow, however, Atwood manages to build up this incredibly mundane and average setting without driving the reader to distraction. Somehow the text remains readable, even compelling. Chapters fly by. It's a confusing experience but I think it shows real talent on the part of the author. Without this setting, the rest of the book wouldn't be either so peculiar or so meaningful, but the introduction could have easily lead all readers to put the book down from the onset.
As for the body of the story itself—the metaphor of a woman that can't eat but is rather being eaten is pervasive, but the book manages to carry out a fairly solid plot despite the basis in the metaphorical and bizarre. The secondary male character is engrossing in his own right: entirely selfish but at the same time easy to be interested in and love; Marian's relationship with him is described in such a straightforward way that the reader identifies with it despite its strange and questionable nature. The metaphor of the edible woman builds slowly but reaches a very heavy, literal climax. All in all, this is a hard book for me to sum up: it both mundane and exceptional, literal and metaphorical, and somehow kept me reading through to the end despite the first third of the book and my lack of interest in the general subject. I don't know what to say about it.
However, the fact that I did read through this book quickly and found it hard to pull myself away from it does say something. Despite the book's beginning, subject matter, and strange contradictions in style and purpose, it reads well and builds up to an iconic, dramatic conclusion. The disparate aspects carry through and resolve. For that reason, I recommend it. Atwood manages to do a lot with this text, and while it isn't the best or most memorable book that I've read, it is unique. The metaphor of the edible woman is perhaps reason enough to read this text, and the writing style, somehow compelling despite dealing with such an average setting, makes the book hard to put down.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: Margret Atwood
Published: New York: Anchor Books (Doubleday), 1998 (1970)
Page Count: 310
Total Page Count: 23,293
Text Number: 68
Read For: my own enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Marian appears to be an average woman with average friendships and relationships, working an average job and leading an average life. However, when she gets engaged to her boyfriend her life begins to change. Marian can't eat: first meat, and then vegetables, and finally anything at all. As she struggles through her issues with food, she carries on a bizarre and selfish friendship/affair with a mysterious young man. This is a story about the bizarre appearing within the mundane. The writing style especially at the beginning of the book is almost painfully plain, but the promise of strange events to come and the introduction of a particuarly bizarre character keep the reader interested. It grows into a somewhat neurotic, strange book that, despite its mundane, even boring beginning, is easy to get lost in and worth exploring to the end. I didn't take a very strong liking to this text, but I still recommended it. Atwood is a talented writer and Marian's story is a compelling tale and warning.
The first third of this book was frustrating in a very strange way. The protagonist leads such a boring life and the people that surround her are so frustrating and immature that I wasn't sure why I was still reading. Somehow, however, Atwood manages to build up this incredibly mundane and average setting without driving the reader to distraction. Somehow the text remains readable, even compelling. Chapters fly by. It's a confusing experience but I think it shows real talent on the part of the author. Without this setting, the rest of the book wouldn't be either so peculiar or so meaningful, but the introduction could have easily lead all readers to put the book down from the onset.
As for the body of the story itself—the metaphor of a woman that can't eat but is rather being eaten is pervasive, but the book manages to carry out a fairly solid plot despite the basis in the metaphorical and bizarre. The secondary male character is engrossing in his own right: entirely selfish but at the same time easy to be interested in and love; Marian's relationship with him is described in such a straightforward way that the reader identifies with it despite its strange and questionable nature. The metaphor of the edible woman builds slowly but reaches a very heavy, literal climax. All in all, this is a hard book for me to sum up: it both mundane and exceptional, literal and metaphorical, and somehow kept me reading through to the end despite the first third of the book and my lack of interest in the general subject. I don't know what to say about it.
However, the fact that I did read through this book quickly and found it hard to pull myself away from it does say something. Despite the book's beginning, subject matter, and strange contradictions in style and purpose, it reads well and builds up to an iconic, dramatic conclusion. The disparate aspects carry through and resolve. For that reason, I recommend it. Atwood manages to do a lot with this text, and while it isn't the best or most memorable book that I've read, it is unique. The metaphor of the edible woman is perhaps reason enough to read this text, and the writing style, somehow compelling despite dealing with such an average setting, makes the book hard to put down.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
