Margaret Atwood
Forum
explore the use and relevance of the narrator's focus on olfactualry discription related to both past and present experiences.
>>By jo (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
Great book, i really enjoyed reading it. How did u find it? Do u think she uses the different narratives in the novel effectively?
>>By San (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
I hate atwood she is a raving feminist who deserves to be shot because I have to read her stupid books in english class...i hate her so much she, along with the stupid teacher, are the reason i failed english class last year....she should give up her sorry career as a writer because she obviously doesn't know what the hell she is doing, and her books are the most boring pieces of "lliterary" crap i have ever come across, and i read alot.
>>By Carl (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
well said, carl. i really dislike atwood(y) as well. she is a raving feminist, and her writing is boring and as stale as my mother's arse. argh. NO GOOD!
>>By stu (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
Hello everyone whats happening, I am a jewish boy from Montreal, and my father is a pimp, he smacked me. I have a brother who is very smart named Lennie. He tells me that Margaret Atwood is a good for nothing whore who doesn't care about anything but the feminist movement in america. I think that is a very bad movement indeed. I would rather have an american bowel movement! I could also go for a bagel.
- Duddy
>>By Duddy Kravitz (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
Booooooooooooooo......... iight so we got assigned a book in writers craft... i got atwoods "The Edible Woman" wtf.. the book is so fuccin borin.. and how u gonna name a book tha "edible woman" wtf is that all about.. atwood needs to stop... and she won an award for her shyt.. yo differently though my cousin could write better than her .. so this big ass project is due monday.. and i have to finish the boring book.. how tha fukk is that gonna happen.. any how i fail u kno she gonna get some hate mail... either write well or don't bother writing at all.. ATWOOD NEEDS TO COME BETTER... or jus not come at all
bun atwwod and her messed up work
Ez
- Lady Saw
>>By Wha type of rass clot work is she puttin out?!! (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
I believe that M. Atwood is a remarkable writer,
this is quite evident in her style of writing, presentation
and the effectiveness of Cat´s Eye.
>>By KHADINE (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
You are all a bunch of friggin idiots!! Maybe you failed english because you are a moron without a sense of literature and education. If you put down your comic books and snacks and picked up a novel once and a while, you would appreciate the history and the brilliance within this book. Maybe you should browse through the dictionary and learn how to spell before you can learn how to read. She has done a hell of a lot better than you will, and no matter how much you insult her work, she'll still be rolling in the dough and be receiving recognition for her writing, while you sit in your trailer and watch child porn. Loser!
>>By one with knowledge (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
Atwood's use of the different perspective's from the different characters was very intrigueing.
However in some cases thanks to the unreliability of Grace and the frequent hints of deceit that are quickly covered with her usual practical remarks the book is difficult to classify in my own opinion. A the start of the book i was very interested in the different use of narrative, however i must say that towards the end of the book no matter how i tried the unreliability of grace as a narrator made it difficult for me to formulate my own opinion on her innocence/guilt.
>>By edd (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 12:57)
Put it this way, much like many students in the Canadian school system we are forced to read many books which we do not enjoy. Me in particular. I read this book for english class and it is fairly obvious Atwood is a feminist. My only problem with this is that we are given....no no forced to read pro-neo reformism propaganda in the classroom. Doesn't this disturb you, because for me it does. I also find her writing slightly dry but I disagree reading this novel not because she sees men as a collective entity but that view is forced upon us in deep seeded indecieferable riddles and vague comparisons.
>>By KA (Sunday, 16 Feb 2003 00:49)
There is something more essential about the writting and the incisive perspective of Atwood that everyone is missing - her experirence as a native Canadian writer. I am reading Surfacing for school and I half agree that the style is challenging and the other half says if you cant handle it go back to magazines. If you hated the shifting of narratives of whichever novel of hers you're reading try surfacing because it is dominated by the perspective of the unnamed 'surfacer' " I ". However the delineation of the novel's plot is the same as she gradually strips the narrative of all logic - returning to a primative, pre-logic and pre-linguistic perspective - you can quote my teacher...
>>By Doolaliegirl (Sunday, 16 Feb 2003 18:09)
I have read only2 of her books : a poetry collection - morning in the burned house- & a novel : the robber bride. Ithink M.A is fresh. If she uses narrations in all her books then i think that's really cool. U get to see the same issues from different perspectives.She's really good and it's a pity some people don't see it that way claiming she is a feminist and all. I don'tt think that removes anything from the fact that she's gifted, creative, hardworking and talented . Maybe, if they didn't have to readher in school they'd appreciate better.
>>By olumide (Monday, 17 Feb 2003 19:18)
This book has an excellent mixture of sex, murder and female ingenuity and resillience. I could not put down the book when I started readeing it, no out of choice i hasten to add, i am studying it for my english lit a-level. It is a very interesting novel in which Atwood explores the main question of the novel very interestingly, is Grace the murderess that she is celebrated for or is she innocent?
>>By claire (Saturday, 1 Mar 2003 11:38)
she tries to make time into something new
>>By ben (Tuesday, 11 Mar 2003 03:08)
I just have to make one comment MARGARET ATWOOD is a FUCKING WHORE and almost EVERYONE here CAN NOT SPELL
>>By lieke (Tuesday, 1 Apr 2003 07:37)
i was just looking through websites trying to get information about margaret atwood for an assignment that i had to do....and i found this one..this lame site where people write how they feel about margaret atwood, and if you did this or do it you need to grab a life, adn stop bitching about english class, she is a whore blah blah..she went to harvard, she has received 17 honorary degrees she has taught at almost 7 different universities all over canada and the USA. she writes all kinds of books, like fiction, novels, childrens....for all of you who think she is a "whore" and sucks at what she does, grow up.....im sure you could never achieve what she has. wow i cant believe i am actually writing on this lame site too, but you ppl all need to get your heads out of your asses and learn to respect people who have actual talent....assholes
>>By ---- (Thursday, 3 Apr 2003 06:06)
I do feel that Atwood is too self-conscious as a writer. Her prose strikes me as being
pretentious, turgid, and too immersed in its own style to really achieve anything great
or even genuine. Unlike Virginia Woolf and other greater artists, I can't help but feel
Atwood is less concerned with any true issues in the world, and more concerned
just with winning the Booker Prize and being hailed a 'literary wonder'. She doesn't
srike me as being at all a genuine person. She is not a writer in the truest sense of the
word.
>>By Samuel (Wednesday, 9 Apr 2003 16:16)
Can Atwood write? Sure. Can she even make a story interesting? Sure.
Is it propaganda aimed at convincing everyone that the mad ravings of
feminists have validity? Sure. While she does it with some artfulness, Atwood
never really rises above the level of Propagandist For The Movement. The
fact she is so overplayed in the classroom is partly explained by that. That
she recieves awards for her oddly inverted morality tales shows just how
deeply incestuous the award givers and the book companies and the
writers are. Will you enjoy her stories? Perhaps, but not if your forced to
read them by a teacher with an agenda to convince you that the Patriarchy
Must Be Resisted or some other doube talk shit. If you want to read her I'd
reccomend Handmaid's Tale so you can see her in top "to the ramparts!!"
form. The paranoid vision of the feminist apocalypse surely to come because of the evils that male christians do. Meant to whip the faithful into a frenzy of
passion to 'resist' and 'think correctly' it shows, in the end, how strangely
introverted and convoluted the feminist imagination is with its visions of
persecution and need to promulgate neo-maoist correct thinking. As a
caricature of any form of christianity outside the embraced liberation theology/
world council of churches model it promotes a vision as narrow and hateful
of the 'other' as any spouting of a Fawell or sunday televangelist. Ultimately
Atwood is a one trick pony recycling the same ideas in increasingly paranoid
'warnings' and incoherent but sometimes brilliant prose. Scan and Pan.
Seco
>>By Seco (Friday, 13 Jun 2003 03:30)
In 1913, Rebecca West said, "I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."
So, I wonder at the sophomoric fulminations against "feminism" by the obviously marginally literate posters above. Is feminism as an issue still discussed in Canadian schools? Dear me!
Whitney Green
>>By Whitney Green (Sunday, 22 Jun 2003 08:52)
Youre all fucking morons who dont know a damn thing about literature. I wouldnt piss on you if you were on fire.
>>By Harmony (Monday, 28 Jul 2003 00:29)
I just have to make one comment MARGARET ATWOOD is a FUCKING WHORE and almost EVERYONE here CAN NOT SPELL
That are two comments, and both quiet unfunded..... and yes, I might make some spelling mistakes, but hey I am dutch, and hey, I do like the one book I read from Atwood... so there must be something wrong with me....
>>By Campking (Thursday, 6 Nov 2003 17:33)
she was a pretty funny interviewee...
>>By Sexibeast (Saturday, 22 Nov 2003 11:52)
As a male I have never felt Atwood was pushing any agenda or that her novels were mouthpieces for the feminist movement. Her writing is clear and strong and attacks oppressors of all varieties.If you were offended by her books perhaps you are one of the guilty in which case you might want to take a hard look in the mirror.
>>By goddog (Sunday, 23 Nov 2003 02:38)
when i read some of the responses it seems that most of the people who don't like MArgaret Atwood are male. They just don't apreciate feminism the way females do.
>>By jaidyn (Sunday, 7 Dec 2003 22:41)
good response whitney and goddog
there are obviously a lot of cranky adolescents who are having a fit about being asked to read and think
Margaret Atwood is one of my long-time favorite writers. She knows how to use words to turn prose into poetry while constructing fascinating stories that ask us to look at human nature.
I don't get the feminism stuff. She portrays both males and females as heroes, victims, and perps. Actually, few heroes, mostly confused people who are partially victim, part vindictive. Perhaps human.
So, she writes from a feminine point of view. When you are a female, that is the perspective you have.
Perhaps the cranky teens could try reading another book of hers before commenting further, or hold their breath until they turn blue (as that's what tantrummers do).
Finished the Blind Assasin last month - for Atwood fans, this is a good one. Travels between decades and points of view, so one needs to follow the characters closely. And as usual, the answer doesn't come until the very end.
>>By elysealice (Friday, 19 Dec 2003 17:09)
Hmmm ... very interesting commentaries all the way around. Like you, olumide, the only MA novel Ive read is Robber Bride -- finished it very recently, in fact. Id really have to agree with Samuel -- she's no literary master -- although to be sure, she weaves a good tale and can occasionally put together a really dandy sentence. Too, all those years of hearing rave reviews must have set my expectations a bit high ...
That said, the after-effect was much stronger than the "during" ......... once i was finished with the thing and considered it as a whole, I thought: not bad, not bad at all.
Warm wishes to all for a terrific holiday --
>>By bones (Saturday, 20 Dec 2003 00:30)
If anyone has read "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, is it not a chilling mirror of what is currently transpiring in the U.S.
>>By jmg49 (Friday, 13 Feb 2004 16:55)
Mrs. Atwood is a good writer. I suppose that not all of her books have a urgent feel to them, or a simple story, but all those I have read (more than I have time to list here) have something to offer... unlike some of the sexist comments made here.
These discussions are not possible if people throw insults at each other and at the writers they're discussing.
>>By Noudjali (Friday, 13 Feb 2004 18:04)
To all who said atwood sucks: you are the biggest idiots i've ever heard of and can't recognise genius when it stares you in the face. She is one of the most BRILLIANT and FASCINATING authors I"ve ever read and Blind Assassin is breath taking in its brilliance. Cat's Eye is also an amazing book. Her work is perceptive and grabs you right from the first page. I got lost in Blind Assassin right from page 1 and couldn't put in down until it was over. Her work is gripping and I truly think she is one of the best authors I've ever read.
>>By Lady Lazarus (Thursday, 25 Mar 2004 09:39)
Thanks to Lady Lazarus who agrees Mrs. Atwood is great. I just read Oryx and Crake, and it is just as valid as The Handmaid's Tale in foretelling a turn of events our greedy society could take. In this novel, Atwood confronts most of the issues bioengeneering present today, weaves a mean story and manages to be at once intimate and planetary.
>>By Noudjali (Thursday, 25 Mar 2004 18:59)
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