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Lady Oracle Kindle Edition

3.7 out of 5 stars 863

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale—now an Emmy Award-winning Hulu original series—and Alias Grace, now a Netflix original series.

Joan Foster is a bored wife, confused by her life of multiple identities. She takes off overnight as Canada's new superpoet, pens lurid gothics on the sly, attracts a blackmailing reporter, skids cheerfully in and out of menacing plots, hair-raising traps, and passionate trysts, and lands in Terremoto, Italy to take stock of her life. But first, she must plan her own death... In this remarkable, poetic, and magical novel, Margaret Atwood proves yet again why she is considered to be one of the most important and accomplished writers of our time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A rich, subtle, deep, delicate, nourishing book. It’s all joy, but it stays with you. She has things to tell us.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Brilliant and funny. I can’t tell you how exhilarating it was to read it—everything works. An extraordinary book.” —Joan Didion

“A very funny novel, lightly told with wry detachment and considerable art.” —
The Washington Post Book World

"Funny, poignant, and briskly energetic." 
--Newsweek

From the Publisher

New in this edition: a Reader's Companion to Lady Oracle--ideal for discussion groups

"Funny, poignant, and briskly energetic."
--Newsweek

"A rich, subtle, deep, delicate, nourishing book. It's all joy, but it stays with you. She has things to tell us."
--Philadelphia Inquirer

"A really gifted writer...alternately satirical and lyrical."
--Time

"A very funny novel, lightly told with wry detachment and considerable art."
--Washington Post Book World

"Brilliant and funny. I can't tell you how exhilarating it was to read it --everything works. An extraordinary book."
--Joan Didion

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007EDOS0O
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (March 27, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 27, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2463 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 378 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 out of 5 stars 863

About the author

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Margaret Atwood
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Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, went back into the bestseller charts with the election of Donald Trump, when the Handmaids became a symbol of resistance against the disempowerment of women, and with the 2017 release of the award-winning Channel 4 TV series. ‘Her sequel, The Testaments, was published in 2019. It was an instant international bestseller and won the Booker Prize.’

Atwood has won numerous awards including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

Photo credit: Liam Sharp

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
863 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024
This is a story that takes you from childhood to young adulthood. The woman is a kind of chameleon Shapeshifting character. You never know exactly where she’s going or where she’ll end up and it has a real sense of humor to it, so enjoy that part.
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2024
I had to push myself to get through 90 percent of this book. I kept at because,1) hey, it’s Margaret Atwood, 2) the main character secretly writes gothic novels. I love gothic novels- have read a bunch of paperback novels which have covers with women in gauzy nightgowns running from foreboding castles- mostly when I was much younger. I remain nostalgic for them but when I try to reread them they seem rather silly.
The last 10 percent of this book tied everything together, including fat-shaming, fairytales and the gothic. I was breathless waiting to see what the main character would decide. It was worth the push-but I wish the first part was shorter.
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024
This was a disappointing book. I’ve loved her others, but this one just didn’t have the same appeal. The story was confusing and hard to follow, even a little nonsensical at times…but maybe that was her goal. I didn’t hate it, so 3 stars for that.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020
This is the first non-Handmaids series book I have read by Margaret Atwood and I am pleasantly surprised. She is a captivating author and her words feel natural yet lyrical. I highly recommend checking out this riveting story!
13 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2024
I never got the point of this book. Thoroughly unlikable characters and meandering storyline.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2014
I thought I might have read this one by Margaret Atwood before, but I think instead I might have started it and put it down. The reason I put it down at the time was probably because this was a little lighter fare than her usual. And yet I found it quite enjoyable this time around.

Generally I think of Margaret Atwood as a woman's writer, who tackles issues both political and personal that matter to women. She also writes a lot of science fiction, and I read and enjoyed (and I don't usually read science fiction) her recent Crake and Oryx trilogy. But this novel is something else.

The heroine, Joan, is a woman who has staged her own death--for various reasons. The idea is an appealing one to a lot of women--maybe not to stage their own death, but to just disappear and start all over in some exotic place. Unfortunately, the exotic place is not all glamour for Joan and she spends a lot of time reviewing her past, trying to save money, and working on writing a Gothic romance novel, which is her usual source of income. Joan has kept many secrets over the years, and there are layers to her personality that are unusual, but may also represent the layers of any woman's personality. She is rebellious and compliant; frivolous and practical; sentimental and cynical. She creates cages for herself and then tries to break out of them, figuratively.

I have to admit when I first read the book I was turned off by the pages of her Gothic novel. I lacked the sense of humor needed to realize the inherent spoof. The stories Joan writes are silly bodice-rippers, but when seen as satire, they really are funny. The best part of this book for me was the middle part, in which Joan recalls events in her life from a young child through adulthood and up to the present. Seeing how she progressed, who mattered to her, and what types of events shaped her personality was intriguing and Atwood writes so fluidly, with dialogue that seems real, it is a pleasure to read.

I recommend this book. There may be more layers to it than it seems on the surface. And it really is humorous at times. But don't expect a wow ending.

I have to admit I found the ending a little anti-climatic. It was just a wrap-up and maybe not as satisfactory as what I wished it would be. However, I enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone, especially if you have enjoyed Margaret Atwood's other works.
44 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024
Always admired ms Atwood but this book leaves a lot to be desired. Her excellent narrative did hold me to the end but the plot got lost somewhere along the way and the end was dismal as if she ran out of ideas.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2023
Enjoyed this book so much. Felt sad, then happy for the protagonist. As always, At woods writing is excellent. Feel good for having read it.
8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

MyWick
5.0 out of 5 stars no complaints
Reviewed in Germany on January 8, 2020
Product on time, product is quality, excellent read. Nothing more to say!
C J Callow
5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing, amusing and sad all at once
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 21, 2019
As usual Margaret Atwood has written a winner. Sad, mixed up Joan - an abused childhood behind her desperately seeking love. Hilarious episodes follow but ultimately Joan finds the strength to cut lose and to stand on her two feet. Does she succeed?
2 people found this helpful
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Hirishi
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful copy, super book.
Reviewed in India on April 16, 2015
This book is super, but what else to expect from Atwood? Equally super, though, is the quality of the copy and print. One of the nicest in the series.
One person found this helpful
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Connie
5.0 out of 5 stars Reader from Muscat Oman
Reviewed in Canada on February 28, 2013
I enjoyed the book, Lady Oracle, by Margaret Atwood. The humor was terrific. For instance in chapter 25: "We met at the Red Hot stand in Simpson's Basement. The Royal Porcupine explained that he was poorer than usual and this was the cheapest place in town to have lunch, as you could get two hot dogs and an orange drink for a dollar. I found his cape a little incongruous in Simpson's Basement, and the sexual fantasies I'd been having about him drooped slightly." LOL!!! Chapter 25, again: "Finally I had someone who would waltz with me, and we waltzed all over the ballroom floor of his warehouse, he in his top hat and nothing else, I in a lace tablecloth, to the music of the Mantovani strings, which we got at the Crippled Civilians."

I laughed out-loud a lot reading this book, even in public and I didn't care who heard me! How about this one: "Everything for him was style; nothing was content. Beside him I felt almost profound." Hahahhaaha!! Then the description of Fraser Buchanan: "He was a short man, tidily dressed in a tweed jacket and turtle-neck sweater, with sideburns that he obviously found daring, as he turned his head often to give you the benefit of a side view." Snort!! I can just imagine these characters vividly!! "Daring sideburns" hahahahaha!!!

Ms. Atwood must have been giddy writing this stuff and I can picture her sharing some of these lines with Graeme Gibson so they both could have a good chuckle. I would definitely recommend Lady Oracle if you want a good giggle or full-out laugh reading a book that is hard to put down. Enjoy!
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Great story, great prose
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2023
This was the second MA book I've read and I've really enjoyed it. The story and back story was great. It was a bit strange at times when the switch happened and it went from back story to current time. I suppose it was more due to spending a long time in the back story, so it took me some time to adjust and remember all the things from the current day plot. But the main character was so well drawn. Complex and in many ways relatable. Really enjoyed it!
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