FABClub (Female Authors Book Club) discussion

As I understand it, this represents Margaret Atwood's first (only?) foray into what can be called historical fiction. It got nominated for lots of prizes!

And my goal is to get to this before the end of December - thereby finishing out the year only some four months behind!

I'm going to try and read this one with you. I hope to start by the end of the week.

Fantastic!

I re-read it earlier this year and will be ready to discuss when you are.

I'm starting tonight. I hope this is as good as the blurb on the back makes it sound!

I'm on page 84 and I found this line timely given what is going on with Syrian refugees.

"Simon finds it tiresome to be constantly accused, in his individual person, of all the sins of his country, and especially by these Britishers, who seem to think that a conscience recently discovered excuses them for not having any conscience at all at an earlier period."

I'm starting it right now!

I'm on chapter 25 (pg 215) and just love this. Mostly because of her writing. I'm really interested in the story but it's been a little slow to develop. I'm really hoping Grace is the victim here because I really like her.

I haven't gotten far at all (Chapter 4), but I love what I've read so far! I really enjoyed all the introductory material that set up the historical context. I was also amused by the poem that comprises Chapter 2. It reads like historical documentation, but it's not attributed to anyone. That leaves me assuming this is Atwood writing in a newspaper/tavern singer voice of the time?

And oh, once we hear Grace herself! I'm impressed by how it is set up in such a way (so far, for me) that the facts of almost 20 years ago don't so much matter, it is who she is today that interests me. And she is such an intelligent commentator! The "jellyfish ladies" - "that is what the ladies are like: mostly water." "Legs penned in so they cannot get out and go rubbing up against the gentlemen's trousers." Murderess - "it has a smell to it, that word - musky and oppressive, like dead flowers in a vase." (The irony of comparing dead flowers to a dead body!) And then again the irony of a woman imprisoned for murder repeating the inanity of "a mercy [the rape victims in India] were all slaughtered and put out of their misery, for only think of the shame."

I'm thinking this is going to be a whole lot of fun and I want to take it very, very slowly! (And the time-sink of holidays are looming over my head and asking more and more of me!)

So I have a theory, that hit me on page 32. I could be completely wrong, but everything I've read since then feels like it's confirming my hypothesis. (Right now I'm on page 104 - Chapter 13.) I'm putting it as a spoiler because if I'm right it might actually BE a spoiler. (view spoiler)[I think this is a situation of split personalities and Mary Whitney is Grace's alter ego. (hide spoiler)] But please don't tell me if I'm wrong or right! Or at least tell me as a spoiler as of which page!

I'm also intrigued by the way she's constructed Dr. Jordan. On the one hand, he seems like a nice guy, with his heart in the right place, and I would think we all want him to be the hero and "rescue" Grace. Yet there's this constant sub-text running through his thoughts, he judges every single woman he meets on her appearance. At first it seemed acceptable, sometimes funny, sometimes justified. But it's starting to make me realize that I'm expecting too much of him, he's not a hero, just one more product of his era. And the only one who seems to have any wisdom at all here is Grace herself.

I like your spoiler idea. Hadn't thought of it myself, but you might be on to something.

I found Dr. Jordan hilarious. To me, he was the comic element of the story.

As the book went on I liked Dr. Jordan less and less. I too saw him as a Grace's "hero". He (and his letters with his mother) did provide some really good comic relief in places. I'm not going to comment on your spoiler other than to say I had the exact same thought :)

I finished last night and gave it 4.5 stars I knocked a half star off because I was disappointed in the ending but I'm not going to say anymore until you finish then I have lots to say :)

I'm just a bit past the half-way point. I'm intrigued by the constant theme of the quilts. They're everywhere, and they add a lot to the atmosphere, and I can't help wondering what folks think they are meant to be saying?

I loved this bit from p. 161: "...those quilts...I thought that they looked like flags.... And since that time I have thought, why is it that women have chosen to sew such flags, and then to lay them on the tops of beds? For they make the bed the most noticeable thing in a room. And then I have thought, it's for a warning. Because you may think a bed is a peaceful thing, Sir, and to you it may mean rest and comfort and a good night's sleep. But it isn't so for everyone; and there are many dangerous things that may take place in a bed. It is where we are born, and that is our first peril in life; and it is where the women give birth, which is often their last. And it is where the act takes place between men and women...some call it love, and others despair, or else merely an indignity which they must suffer through. And finally beds are what we sleep in, and where we dream, and often where we die."

I just finished this last night - the holidays are consuming almost every moment of my life right now! I quite love the ambiguity she leaves us with here, and the parallels with Dr. Jordan.

I think this and The Handmaid's Tale are very different from the rest of hers that I've read so far (all the other novels up to this point are contemporary, if I'm remembering correctly). Here, and in The Handmaid's Tale, there's a very different style?, voice?, that I enjoy much more than the others. Which makes me wonder what are the stylistic similarities between historical fiction and speculative fiction as opposed to contemporary fiction.

I loved the ambiguity. I know some readers prefer a definitive ending but I quite liked this.

I think there are parallels between writing about the past and imagining a future. Sure with historical fiction you have a ton of facts but if you didn't actually live in that time period you are still making up a lot of things about the world. I think it really shows her versatility as a writer to be able to successfully produce books across so many different genres.

I haven't read near enough of her work. Next year I'm planning on several more. I'll check back in these threads to see what you guys thought.

Amanda, earlier you had said you were disappointed in the ending?

I do think you're right, it does require a different level of imagination. I think it also requires a different type of exposition, you have to create or re-create the world for the reader in a way that isn't necessary for a contemporary novel.

I loved the way she set up Dr. Jordan to find himself in almost the same situation Grace was in, only he had the financial ability to get himself out of it.

I was disappointed in the ending but not because of the ambiguity. I thought it was too abrupt. I wanted more story I guess.

Ah yes, the pain of having a good story end before you're ready!

Exactly!

Earlier I had asked about the meaning of the quilts - I was so happy to find this review that explicitly addresses that point:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...