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Review
Utterly absorbing and satisfying (Sunday TIMES )
One of the most important novels of the twentieth century...utterly remarkable (New York TIMES )
A deep understanding of human behaviour (Marilyn French )
A novelist and poet of great gifts (GUARDIAN )
One of the most important novels of the twentieth century...utterly remarkable (New York TIMES )
A deep understanding of human behaviour (Marilyn French )
A novelist and poet of great gifts (GUARDIAN )
NEW YORK TIMES
'One of the most important novels of the twentieth century...utterly remarkable'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love this novel as it explores Canadian identity through a poetic use of prose. Nothing really happens but its just a pleasurable read. The central character gets in touch with the wild and undergoes a mental breakdown and as she gets more confused so does the narration.I think as this deals with ecofeminism then this book would certainly appeal to women.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The story of a Canadian woman, newly divorced and returning to her family home to explore her past and future isn't the first thing I'd run to read. However, I'm very glad I acquired this book and read it cover to cover. I found the beginning of the story slow and confusing - it felt to me as though the first three chapters that another author might include, had been chopped away to land the reader straight away at the point of important story flow.
As I read on I found myself slightly exasperated at the pace, and the bewilderment I felt, trying to work everything out at once. This may well say more about me as a reader than the book, though! But by the end I was completely hooked and reread the last few pages because it was SUCH a satisfying ending. It's not especially neat - you won't be told what the characters will be doing for the next two hundred years. But that's not the style of this anyway - and I don't care to know! The plot for the 'heroine' was sufficiently resolved and I came away from this book calm, impressed and ready to read some of Atwood's other books which previously I've sidled round as "a bit hard". Well-worth the time spent on reading.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A first-person narrative of a woman diseffected by the casual destructive savagery of humanity, Surfacing is essential and thought-provoking reading, though probably too subtle and bleak to find itself listed among Atwood's more famous and popular novels.
In flight from the dreary confines of human conventions and institutions, the protagonist is slowly 'becoming-animal' as she becomes enchanted with the natural order of the wild. It is a narrative that would appeal to any fans of Angela Carter's lycanthrope (werewolf) stories, as Atwood attempts to express the appeal of being beast (of feeling properly alive) rather than merely subsisting, dulled & compromised, in the hollow roles society offers us.
The narrative is vivid, politics and personalities are easily familiar to us - though they are never one-dimensional or stereotypical - which is important because we are meant to empathise with how the protagonist becomes estranged from her companions as well as civilisation.* They are to read her 'sortie' as her going mad, we are to understand the reasons for her outlook and for her breakdown and withdrawl into the wilderness.
In flight from the dreary confines of human conventions and institutions, the protagonist is slowly 'becoming-animal' as she becomes enchanted with the natural order of the wild. It is a narrative that would appeal to any fans of Angela Carter's lycanthrope (werewolf) stories, as Atwood attempts to express the appeal of being beast (of feeling properly alive) rather than merely subsisting, dulled & compromised, in the hollow roles society offers us.
The narrative is vivid, politics and personalities are easily familiar to us - though they are never one-dimensional or stereotypical - which is important because we are meant to empathise with how the protagonist becomes estranged from her companions as well as civilisation.* They are to read her 'sortie' as her going mad, we are to understand the reasons for her outlook and for her breakdown and withdrawl into the wilderness.
This is an accessible but serious novel you'd probably want to purchase for someone who has already read one or two of the more celebrated Atwood titles - but in time it will stand out as one of the most evocative and satisfying...
(* Note: this isn't in any way to imply that 'Surfacing' is somehow a cross between 'The Good Life' and 'Grizzly Adams'!!)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dated, unsubtle, and occasionally boring
I have read many but by no means all of Margaret Atwood's novels over the years starting with The Handmaid's Tale (1985) which I studied at A Level in 1999 and followed by Alias... Read more
Published 3 months ago by R. A. Davison
STODGY AND CRUSHINGLY DULL
Didn't enjoy this book at all - it was a monumental chore to read. I think I understood the premise of the book but did not get any insights into life from reading it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Rocke Harder
life-changing
I first read Surfacing at University in 1992 and it was highly influential. It put into words much of how I felt as a woman at the time. Read more
Published 10 months ago by atypicalpen
Tries too hard
I am a big Atwood fan, but this is the first of her books I've disliked.
Surfacing is centred around a young woman who has returned to her family home in order to find... Read more
Surfacing is centred around a young woman who has returned to her family home in order to find... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Rebecca
Thought-provoking poetry
How to review this wonderfully poetic book? It is not so much the story of a period of days in a young woman's life as the story of life itself. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Anthony Peter Swallow
So Much Lies Beneath The Surface
`Surfacing' was Margaret Atwood's second novel released way back in 1972 and has become something of a cult classic particularly in her homeland of Canada. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
I love this book.
This was my first experience of Atwood, bought on a whim after a vague recommendation, and I was not entirely sure what to expect. Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2009 by T. Boardman
Disappointed
After reading 'A Handmaid's Tale' I chose to read another book of Atwood's. I was thoroughly disappointed, I could not get into it at all, there was very little dialect which made... Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2008 by jessica maxwell-muller
woman becoming whole....
for all of us -this book can allow growth to unfold. for me personally it is a reminder to keep asking myself the questions - who am I ? Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2007 by A. Barton
Absorbing and intelligent
Firstly, a note to my fellow reviewers: it is bad form to give away the ending of books in review - despite your own personal views, it's not up to you to spoil it for other... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 2007 by Jack Barnes
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