Classics Without All the Class discussion

Which of the five levels of story did people like the best - and least?

I would have to say any part with Alex Thomas is my least favorite which is too bad because that's the parts with the scifi story. But I really didn't like Alex Thomas at all, although I like Iris's rendition of the scifi story.

My favorite storyline was probably then Iris as an older woman looking back.

I also want to say that I didn't thought that the "other woman" in the scifi story was Laura, not Iris until a little over half way in the novel.

My favourite was the framing story of curmudgeonly Iris pottering about, fighting the signs of old age, and describing the natural world so eloquently. So many of those chapters started with beautiful descriptions of nature or the weather.

I quite like sci-fi, and Atwood's own speculative fiction, but the pap sci-fi in Zycron was my least favourite level. I think that was because it (seemed to) take me away from Iris. I'm sure I'll reread this one day, and then I'll try to pay more attention to it, as I'm sure there's lots I missed.

Jeane wrote: "I also want to say that I didn't thought that the "other woman" in the scifi story was Laura, not Iris until a little over half way in the novel."

I also thought it was Laura at first. I didn't like the sci-fi story either, but I almost never like sci-fi. It was just too different from the rest of the book for me. I liked the story of Iris in the present and when she looked back on when she and Laura were little.

Yes, present day Iris leads the pack.