- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: Anchor Books (Feb 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385491034
- ISBN-13: 978-0385491037
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 2.6 x 20.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,739,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Robber Bride
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Review
It stirs depths that CAT'S EYE did not reach, and grants deeper, stronger powers to women's friendship in distress (Marina Warner )
Margaret Atwood's new novel is a fairy tale of malicious simplicity. Fay Weldon's SHE-DEVIL meets John Updike's WITCHES OF EASTWICK...Vividly written, acutely observed and very likely the most intelligently tongue in cheek novel of the year. (Salman Rushdie, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
Excitements, wit and insight sizzle across the pages. Atwood's survey of impulses that bedevil life seethes with imagination, inventiveness and intelligence. Even she has never written better than in this novel of glittering breadth and dark, eerie depths. (SUNDAY TIMES )
The virtuosity with which Margaret Atwood's prose moves between rage and wit, poignancy and suspense, fantasy and realism makesTHE ROBBER BRIDE a stimulating read. THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Margaret Atwood's new novel is a fairy tale of malicious simplicity. Fay Weldon's SHE-DEVIL meets John Updike's WITCHES OF EASTWICK...Vividly written, acutely observed and very likely the most intelligently tongue in cheek novel of the year. (Salman Rushdie, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
Excitements, wit and insight sizzle across the pages. Atwood's survey of impulses that bedevil life seethes with imagination, inventiveness and intelligence. Even she has never written better than in this novel of glittering breadth and dark, eerie depths. (SUNDAY TIMES )
The virtuosity with which Margaret Atwood's prose moves between rage and wit, poignancy and suspense, fantasy and realism makesTHE ROBBER BRIDE a stimulating read. THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
'Excitements, wit and insight sizzle across the pages. Atwood's survey of impulses that bedevil life seethes with imagination, inventiveness and intelligence' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times 'Funny, thoughtful, moving Atwood's plotting is masterful, and her humor is razor-edged, sexy, and raucous' Washington Post 'It stirs depths that Cat's Eye did not reach, and grants deeper, stronger powers to women's friendship in distress' Marina Warner 'Atwood has never written better than in this novel of glittering breadth and dark, eerie depths' Sunday Times
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have just re-read this, one of my very favourite contemporary novels, and consider it to be an extraordinary achievement.
Its major strength surely lies in the highly skilful interlocking of themes and narrative technique and structure. The lives of three different women, Toni, Charis and Roz, have been ransacked in various unsavoury ways by the baleful influence of the mysterious Zenia. The reader is given ample opportunity to see things from the points of view of three characters with highly contrasted personalities and attitudes to life in general, and as a result is gradually led to realise that, while all three women are in many ways likeable, none of them is perhaps one hundred per-cent trustworthy...
Many articles and reviews have set out to establish what "really" happens in this novel, who, if anyone, is "really" responsible for what happens in the end. This surely misses the point, which is that subjective interpretations of "reality" inevitably and by definition clash with and contradict one another. And, after all, perhaps Zenia, like the witches in "Macbeth", doesn't "really" exist as any more than a personification or metaphor of the neuroses, uncertainties and vulnerabilities of the other characters?
Margaret Atwood heaps up the images which correspond to the chaos and fragility of our inner lives, and alludes very deftly to the fact that so much of what we do and how we behave corresponds to largely anarchic impulses, rather than to rational, planned behaviour.
I haven't yet read "Oryx and Crake", but I put this firmly at the top of the list of Atwood's novels. Although it wasn't shortlisted - five of her others have been, including "Oryx and Crake" and "The Blind Assassin", which went on to win in 2000 - this, for me, is the one that really deserved the Booker.
Its major strength surely lies in the highly skilful interlocking of themes and narrative technique and structure. The lives of three different women, Toni, Charis and Roz, have been ransacked in various unsavoury ways by the baleful influence of the mysterious Zenia. The reader is given ample opportunity to see things from the points of view of three characters with highly contrasted personalities and attitudes to life in general, and as a result is gradually led to realise that, while all three women are in many ways likeable, none of them is perhaps one hundred per-cent trustworthy...
Many articles and reviews have set out to establish what "really" happens in this novel, who, if anyone, is "really" responsible for what happens in the end. This surely misses the point, which is that subjective interpretations of "reality" inevitably and by definition clash with and contradict one another. And, after all, perhaps Zenia, like the witches in "Macbeth", doesn't "really" exist as any more than a personification or metaphor of the neuroses, uncertainties and vulnerabilities of the other characters?
Margaret Atwood heaps up the images which correspond to the chaos and fragility of our inner lives, and alludes very deftly to the fact that so much of what we do and how we behave corresponds to largely anarchic impulses, rather than to rational, planned behaviour.
I haven't yet read "Oryx and Crake", but I put this firmly at the top of the list of Atwood's novels. Although it wasn't shortlisted - five of her others have been, including "Oryx and Crake" and "The Blind Assassin", which went on to win in 2000 - this, for me, is the one that really deserved the Booker.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of my top 10 books ever! (I'll spare you the whole list). If I enjoy a book I am usually disappointed by the conclusion - but in this case the entire book fulfilled the expectations of the first few chapters. The reader (me) could identify with all the main characters, and the villain is delicious in succeeding at all the duplications expected of a woman of 'a certain age' and managing to succeed undetected. As ever, Atwood does not dwell on some idealised 'sisterhood', but acknowledges the support that women can get from their peers without necessarily trusting them wholeheartedly. The whole book fits in with my own experiences, both first hand and vicarious.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Robber Bride is a story of the connections and relationships between three women (Tony, Charis and Roz) and Zenia, a femme fatale character. Zenia's sole interest in befriending each of the three women seems to be to take whatever she can. Each of the characters has a very different relationship with Zenia, although all are similarly destructive. The stories that Zenia tells about who she is, what she has been doing and what she is currently doing is different with each of the women.
The backstories of Tony, Charis and Roz are detailed and take up the majority of words in The Robber Bride. While their characters are well explored the character of Zenia is somewhat of a mystery. Even the conclusion of the book is not well defined and has an air of mystery. Throughout the book, things are not really all that they appear to be in each of the women. How much is each of them responsible for the events that happened?
This is a book that requires some thinking about to really fully appreciate its messages that Atwood is conveying. While Tony, Charis and Roz appear to loathe Zenia but they are obviously strongly connected to her and even demonstrate loyalty to her. I think The Robber Bride would make an excellent book club choice as it would easily provoke a lot of discussion about the relationships between the four women.
The backstories of Tony, Charis and Roz are detailed and take up the majority of words in The Robber Bride. While their characters are well explored the character of Zenia is somewhat of a mystery. Even the conclusion of the book is not well defined and has an air of mystery. Throughout the book, things are not really all that they appear to be in each of the women. How much is each of them responsible for the events that happened?
This is a book that requires some thinking about to really fully appreciate its messages that Atwood is conveying. While Tony, Charis and Roz appear to loathe Zenia but they are obviously strongly connected to her and even demonstrate loyalty to her. I think The Robber Bride would make an excellent book club choice as it would easily provoke a lot of discussion about the relationships between the four women.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A History of Four Lives
I am fan of attwood and would say this is a typical well told tale of three womens lives and how they are bound together by a gravitational attraction of a fourth woman . Read more
Published 2 months ago by lart phauson
Femme Fatale on the Loose
A modern feminist re-working of various fairytale themes, coupled with some very profound thoughts on female friendship. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Kate Hopkins
Great price
Why buy new when you can go green and buy used for s fraction of the price? The story's just as good. Great book
Published 18 months ago by weemoglet
Enjoyable read
I had previously read Attwood with not TOO much enjoyment, but needed to read this for a study day.This time I was quite captivated. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Gwen C
Not a useful purchase, but good delivery
I was hoping that the book I received was the same in the picture as I needed to match the page numbers to a copy I had already read for my dissertation. Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2010 by S. Taylor
A good read
The Robber Bride is the story of three very different women, brought together by the ruthless, manipulative maneater Zenia, who betrays each, steals their partners, and then... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2010 by BookWorm
One of Atwood's best
I loved this book and am suprised by some of the negative comments by other reviewers as i would rate it highly on my Atwood reading list. Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2007 by Heather
Not a great read...
Having read The Blind Assassin & Alias Grace within a week, I found it really surprising that it took me months to read this book – the reason being, it is so drawn out... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2006
One of Atwood's Best
As a fan of 'Alias Grace' and 'The Blind Assassin' I enjoyed reading this book all the way through. Toni, Charis and Roz although all different (and were all at the same... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2005
Not highly impressed
The author is excellent, the writing thorough and (almost excessively) detailed, the book; not impressive. Read more
Published on 22 Jan 2003 by T.M. Mathews
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