Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great book by Margaret Atwood, December 14, 2003
THE ROBBER BRIDE by Margaret AtwoodTHE 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.
|
|
|
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
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).
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Margaret Atwood
by Margaret Atwood
by Margaret Atwood
by Dave Carley
by Margaret Atwood
See all 100 books citing this book
