Alias Grace

After watching the mini-series adaptation on NetFlix for this novel, I had to read the book and see how the two formats compared to each other. I'm already a big Margaret Atwood fan, so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed in her book. I felt there was the right amount of switching between different characters' points-of-view to tell the story well, yet keep you guessing as to the reliability of the character's words. Atwood also has a gift for inserting dry, deadpan humor in the story that makes you connect to the story, avoiding any hint of moralizing or preachiness about the way the world worked then...or the way it does now, especially around women's roles and attitudes toward them.

I usually end up liking a book much better than the movie, but I have to say that in this case, I got a lot out of watching the movie as well as reading the book. If you've only read the book, or only watched the movie, I would suggest you try the alternate version. I had a more enriching experience of the story as a whole through both mediums.

“If we were all on trial for our thoughts, we would all be hanged”Maids Dreams Asylum Religion SubconsciousWhile reading Austen, I have often wondered about the lives of those in the background. Those actually get any work done. It is strange that I came across this book only by chance.In the mid 1800s, Grace alias Mary Whitney (or maybe Mary Whitney is the real deal, and it's Mary Whitney alias Grace) a maid, is tried in court at the age of 16 for the murder of the house owner and housekeeper. The story unfolds with Grace walking us through her life as she talks with a psychologist, Dr. Jordan.Disclaimer:It is long, unbearably so. You know it is good; you can't stop reading, but you wish it would just hurry up and end. And if you are here for a murder mystery, bye-bye. Though there is murder and mystery in it, the appeal is not in its resolution. It is in the writing and the ideas.While reading the book, I imagined myself sitting behind a one-way mirror, listening to Dr. Jordan interview Grace. She's not supposed to know that someone else is watching her. But I think she knows. We came for clarity, but it's still a façade. Her guard is up all the time.There is a childlike innocence to this narrative of murder and madness.Grace is brought up religious and knows her Bible front-to-back. Yet, there is a ruthless practicality to her thoughts that quite frequently leaves her religious beliefs helpless. Many parts of the book reflect on the unfairness and impracticality of religion in real life, especially in the lives of people like Grace.“...because the only thing to do about God is to go on with what you were doing anyway, since you can't ever stop him or get any reasons out of him. There is a Do this or a Do that with God, but not any Because.”This is only my second book of Atwood's. Still, I'm pretty sure that the rest of them also feature badass women in crappy circumstances. There are few other authors who portray them so well. (Check out [b: Aarachar 33215688 ആരാച്ചാര്‍   Aarachar K.R.  Meera https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480602706l/33215688.SY75.jpg 23575547], if you like Atwood.)“In his student days , he used to argue that if a woman has no other course open to her but starvation, prostitution or throwing herself from a bridge, then surely the prostitute, who has shown the most tenacious instinct for self-preservation, should be considered stronger and saner than her frailer and no longer living sisters. One couldn't have it both ways, he'd pointed out: if women are seduced and abandoned they're supposed to go mad, but if they survive and seduce in their turn, then they were mad to begin with.”It is striking that all men are viewed either with indifference or hatred by Grace, unlike most other women in the book. I think we are never meant to know what she really feels. She has lost everything; she left no trace. She shared her dreams with us, but not with Dr. Jordan. Her feelings are hers to keep; it's up to us to guess.” A prison does not only lock its inmates inside, it keeps all others out. Her strongest prison is of her own construction.

While I do admire Atwood's writing, and the language here is superb, the story she's telling in the novel leaves me cold, and not just because she's constrained by certain known historical facts. Or maybe that's exactly the problem. We never really know Grace's state of mind at the time of the killings the ultimate fate of Dr. Jordon is also unclear, presumably because these are real historical figures and Atwood didn't feel she could invent those details. The result, it seems to me, is an incomplete narrative that I find unsatisfying.

I really liked the writing, but the story seemed strangely paced, too long with an almost rushed conclusion.

It is one of those books which leaves me supremely frustrated, in particular the melodramatic decline of Dr Jordan followed by his complete disappearance from the story, and the strange hypnotism/seance scene. Oh, and that rushed conclusion.

I felt that even Ms Atwood got bored with her tale.

First of all, as a capital L Literature snob, Atwood's writing style was wonderful. The way she strings words and phrases together floated my boat, most definitely! It was both elegant and smart, but not difficult to read at all.

I want to share this review on the back of my copy of the novel:

“A stunning novel full of sly wit, compassion and insight, boasting writing that is lyrical, assured, evocative of time and place, and seductive in its power to engage us.”
– Houston Chronicle

Heck yes! I agree with you, whoever you are at the Houston Chronicle. Especially on the “sly wit” part – there's such a soft spot in my heart for some well-written wit, and this novel had no shortage of it. I caught myself smiling and chuckling at many points in the book, as there were several characters capable of fantastic wit.

That said, the story moved a little slowly for me throughout most of the book, and then suddenly resolved so quickly in the last 100 pages or so. I have to admit I was even slightly bored in the middle, when not much was happening. It was the writing style, wit and mystery that kept me from getting too overly bored.

Mystery isn't usually the kind of thing I like to read, but this was so well done. Atwood really keeps you guessing – at the very moment when you think you've solved it, something is said or happens that makes you wonder. Could Grace be crazy? Is she a murderer? Is she just really cunning? Atwood's mastery of this aspect of the story was totally spot-on.

Atwood plays around a lot with a couple major themes: the roles of women and men in society and psychology. Each female character is somehow weaker and sluttier than the next! It was definitely a hit-you-over-the-head kind of theme. But in this novel, it worked, because it seems like females win in the end, despite the odds. The male characters also ended up being rather hilariously ill-equipped. The psychology theme was super funny to me – I won't go too far into it, but I don't think it's a coincidence that the celebrated psychologist exits the story in the way that he does. Read it, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Read the rest of this review here: http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2016/01/alias-grace-by-margaret-atwood/

Part true story, part invention Alias Grace is the tale of enigmatic Grace Marks, who's convicted for murder in the 19th century. Grace is gentle, self-controlled and sometimes mad, she's a puzzle, and spellbinds a variety of surroundings characters who try to get her released from prison. We hear her tell the story in her own words to a young physician who tries to analyse her mind, interlaced with fragments of other people's reports and also Grace's own contradicting confessions from the past.

Atwood's narration is beautiful, gripping, sometimes sensual, sometimes haunting, and her Grace is fascinating especially as she always remains slightly out of grasp. The mystery of the murder and Grace's innocence and guilt is built around a portrait of 19th century culture, in which women are always at the mercy of men, the weaker gender, exploited. The ending with Grace stitching together a quilt containing symbols for herself, Mary and Nancy, was such a subtle yet powerful end commentary.

4.5