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The Robber Bride (Paperback)

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3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
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  Library Binding, December 31, 1997 $27.00 $27.00 --
  Paperback, January 19, 1998 $10.20 $4.00 $0.79
  Mass Market Paperback, December 31, 1993 -- -- $0.22
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  • This item: The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of Cat's Eye depicts a femme fatale's malevolent role in the lives of three women; a seven-week PW bestseller.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Library Journal

Petite Tony teaches the agressively male subject of military history and has a talent for speaking backwards; actually, she's Ynot. Charis eats only vegetarian fare and consults crystals. Boisterous, stylish Roz runs her own company and drives a BMW. These three women would seem to have little in common, but they're held together by a single thread: Zenia, a lying, charismatic femme fatale who at one time or other stole the men in their lives. But Zenia is dead, blown to bits in Beirut, and can hurt them no more. Or so they think until the day a still-seductive Zenia walks into the restaurant where they are having lunch. As in Cat's Eye ( LJ 2/1/89), Atwood takes feminism one step further, showing women as victims not only of society but of themselves. Her book is daring, richly detailed, and compulsively readable. Indeed, some readers might find it too readable; at times it feels a bit trashier than something you would expect from Atwood. In addition, while Zenia is a fascinating absence at the novel's center, she seems too bad to be true. Nevertheless, Atwood is always good reading. For most collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/93.
- Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Anchor (January 20, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385491034
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385491037
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,910 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

96 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (96 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book by Margaret Atwood, December 14, 2003
By Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
THE ROBBER BRIDE by Margaret Atwood

THE ROBBER BRIDE is yet another cleverly written novel by Margaret Atwood, who most recently was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003 for her apocalyptic book ORYX AND CRAKE. THE ROBBER BRIDE follows a similar theme as her novel CAT'S EYE, in which four girls form a clique of friendship, while one of the girls becomes the ring leader, tormenting one of the other girls endlessly till near-tragedy strikes. However, in THE ROBBER BRIDE, we are now looking at four women, whose history begins in college.

Roz, Charis, and Tony were acquaintances during their college years. Their one link was a mutual "friend" named Zenia, a friend that eventually turned on each of them later on in their lives and practically destroyed them in order to get what she wanted from them.

The book is very complex, as the author takes us back and forth in time, telling the story of each of the women and their relationship with each other and with Zenia. What's interesting is that without Zenia, none of these women would have kept in contact. But as each one finds out what a snake Zenia can be, they bond and through the years they continue their friendship. Zenia then dies, and the women feel they are safe and can move on with their lives. But, then one day while they are out at a restaurant, one of them thinks she has spotted Zenia...

I found THE ROBBER BRIDE to be riveting and very intense. I feel that out of all the books I have read by Margaret Atwood, this was the most powerful of them all in terms of emotion and passion. This is not to say that her other books were any less than this one, but I remember feeling a lot of angry feelings as I read it. Margaret Atwood is truly a talented writer, and what makes me want to read her other books is that each book she writes is different from the next. She doesn't use a formula; she re-invents herself with each new book. I rated THE ROBBER BRIDE five stars and I highly recommend it. Margaret Atwood fans will love it.

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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining, but not your typical Atwood novel, June 6, 2005
By Melissa Niksic (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
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Margaret Atwood never disappoints! "The Robber Bride" tells the story of three 50-something Canadian women who come from very different backgrounds. There's Tony, a history professor with an eccentric husband; Charis, a New-Age flower child; and Roz, a successful businesswoman. These women have one thing in common: they've all been duped by Zenia, a former classmate of theirs who befriended each woman in turn and eventually stole all of their men. Although Zenia supposedly died in an explosion years ago, the women are stunned when she turns up in a restaurant one afternoon, still very much alive.

"The Robber Bride" constantly jumps back in time, telling each woman's individual story and explaining how the mysterious Zenia managed to dupe all of them. The characters are all very interesting, especially Zenia (for some reason I can picture Catherine Zeta Jones playing her in a movie adaptation of this book), but the novel lacks the depth and focus that is prevalent in Atwood's other books.

This is a very entertaining story, but it's not Atwood's best effort (although I did enjoy it).
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A common loathing, September 28, 2005
The story of "The Robber Bride" is told through the eyes of three women -- not really friends, in some senses of the word, but united by a long-time bond and a common loathing. The eponymous star of the book, Zenia, doesn't actually appear much in the story except through flashbacks; in fact, when the book begins, she is five years dead. Or so Tony, Charis and Roz believe.

The three women met in college, but their lives have since gone in very different directions. Tony, a professor of history -- or, more specifically, war -- is married, though childless, and her husband is somewhat fragile of spirit. Tony is solid, logical and often dispassionate. Charis is earthier, wrapped in new-age philosophies. She is unsure how to deal with her college-age daughter, and she still wonders what happened to her long-vanished husband, a Vietnam draft-dodger from the States. Roz is a typical mother of three (one post-college son and twin high school-aged daughters) and a wealthy businesswoman, president of her own diverse company.

Zenia is the woman who wrecked their lives, one at a time and years apart. With a multiple-choice past and an enigmatic present, Zenia has facades upon facades, schemes upon conceits, and she befriends people with ease before corrupting the best parts of their lives -- perhaps for no other reason than she can.

Margaret Atwood takes you deep inside each woman's skin -- except, of course, Zenia, who must remain a mystery -- peeling away layers of their lives and examining in white-knuckled detail the events, experiences and tragedies that shaped them. Each woman's narrative seems sufficient foundation for a book even without Zenia's intrusion; combined, "The Robber Bride" is a tapestry of carefully woven strands, seen individually and successively through each woman's perspective. The flow of flashbacks within flashbacks is effectively rendered, never confusing.

It is interesting to conjecture the different lives these women might lead if Zenia had not targeted their vulnerable places. Perhaps better, perhaps worse -- but far less interesting. "The Robber Bride" is a triumphant look at the core of three women and the multifaceted surface of the one who defined them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars She's a Heartbreaker, Dream Maker, Love Taker
The Robber Bride shares some thematic similarities with Atwood's earlier novel Cat's Eye, but it is superior to that novel in both craftsmanship and plotting. Read more
Published 3 months ago by A reader

4.0 out of 5 stars A different approach to feminist writing
One of Atwood's best works. Shows that though there is a battle of the sexes, women are equally, or maybe even more, susceptible to harm from other women.
Published 3 months ago by Victoria Tarasova

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing but not Satisfying
I liked this book because I found the story to be at once disturbing and intriguing. My main drawback, however, was the characters; all three of the main characters were extremely... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Victoria

4.0 out of 5 stars Maneater
Every month in downtown Toronto, Toni,Charise & Roz,Three women of a certian age meet for lunch and catch up on each other's lives and whose kids are doing what. Read more
Published 8 months ago by simple sellers

2.0 out of 5 stars intensity comes from all the history
Ms. Atwood knows how to craft a good story. The intensity comes from all the history. The main character is a historian, and it is from her that a lot of the true insights come... Read more
Published 8 months ago by David Brockert

4.0 out of 5 stars How One Woman Played with her Friends' Lives
This is a wonderful novel with great depth and readbility.

Three Canadian women, all college friends now in their 40's, have had their lives wrecked havoc with by a... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Bonnie Brody

5.0 out of 5 stars Fairy Tale with Modern Twist
The Robber Bride / 0-553-56905-8

While Atwood most often explores the relationships between men and women, The Robber Bride delves into the relationships between... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ana Mardoll

4.0 out of 5 stars Atwood Strikes Again
The highly sophisticated Margaret Atwood produces another successful novel yet again. Along with her award winning books, The Blind Assassin and The Handmaid's Tale, she delivers... Read more
Published 18 months ago by clb9016

5.0 out of 5 stars Let us all mourn Zenia
I just wanted to throw in my two cents after reading some of the reviews, though I agree with what they all say I would add another interpretation as well. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Shashank Singh

4.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected surprise!
All the characters in this superbly-written novel are symapthetic, human people that you can't help liking, at least just a little. All except one. Read more
Published on August 22, 2007 by L. Toll

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