The Robber Bride, by Margaret Atwood

This book begins with the return of a dead woman, Zenia. We see her return from three points of view, that of Tony Fremont, Charis, and Roz.

Tony is an historian, especially interested in war. She has a habit of reversing words, "war" becomes "raw," "Fremont" "tnomerf," etc. Roz is the publisher of a large and successful women's  magazine. Charis is a sort of New Age person, perhaps she could be called an "earth mother" type, respectful of all forms of life, aware of auras, vegetarian.

All three of these women have lost men to Zenia. Tony got hers back, but now worries that he's threatened by Zenia's apparent resurrection. Roz and Charis were not so lucky.

New York Times Review.

MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood

This is the third part of a trilogy that began with Oryx & Crake,  and continued with The Year of the Flood. I was pleased to find that the book began with a brief recap of the first two books, as it's been quite some time since I read them. In this one, we find the surviving humans along with some modified-humans (The Crakers), and many another interesting life-form in the post-chaos world.

A lot of the book is made up of flashbacks into Zeb's life, back to the time when he and Adam were half-brothers living with their father, "The Rev." This is pre-Flood, at the height of Corporate power in Atwood's future Earth.

Atwood's writing is, as always, unintrusive, economical, precise, and entertaining.

What could be a drab indictment of the present environmental atrocities committed all about us is kept alive as a very readable story by the interesting and sympathetic characters she has created in this trilogy.

Be advised: one is not left with a warm, fuzzy view of the future.

NY Times Sunday Book Review

Margaret Atwood's Web Site

Future Dramatization of the Trilogy

The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood

So wonderful. Maggie can't miss, it seems.

This is a complex, multi-layered novel, but not a bit confusing. Atwood tells several stories here, not the least of which is the history of the decade before the outbreak of World War II, and the repression of unions and progressives.

The central characters are sisters, Laura and Iris. Their father is a minor industrialist with a factory near Toronto. Laura, we learn early on, does not live long, but becomes famous posthumously for writing a novel, the title of which is the title of this book. We get segments of the novel-within-a-novel throughout the work. Atwood also uses news clippings (fictional) among the chapters, which switch back and forth in time. All this is done with great skill; one has the impression that this is the way to tell these stories, that no other method would be as satisfying.

Among other lessons, The Blind Assassin teaches us that greed, a lust for power, and the forces of unbridled capitalism have human and individual consequences, some of which are quite specifically illustrated, others hinted at or implied.

Iris and Laura are women, though born into a wealthy family, they are still without power. We see them treated as children at best, and slaves at worst. Since they are both very intelligent and resourceful, they manage to wrest some freedom and self-determination from the world, but not without great cost, especially in Laura's case.

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

This novel is set simultaneously with Oryx & Crake, in the future. Global warming is no longer a subject of speculation, it is the condition of the world. Bioengineering has become a big industry, and scientists are manufacturing new species such as the pigoon, and the rakunk. Corporations are running everythng, and then -- comes the waterless flood.