The story of Zenia ought to begin when Zenia began. It must have been someplace long ago and distance in space, thinks Tony; someplace bruised, and very tangled. A European print, hand-tinted, ochre-coloured, with dusty sunlight and a lot of bushes in it - bushes with thick leaves and ancient twisted roots, behind which, out of sight in the undergrowth and hinted at only by a boot protruding, or a slack hand, something ordinary but horrifying is taking place. Zenia is beautiful, smart and greedy, by turns manipulative and vulnerable, needy and ruthless. She is also dead. Just to make absolutely sure Tony, Roz and Charis are there for the funeral. But five years on, as the three women share a decorous lunch, the unthinkable happens: 'with waves of ill will flowing out of her like cosmic radiation', Zenia is back
The Robber Bride
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'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
Book Description
It stirs depths that Cat's Eye did not reach, and grants deeper stronger powers to women's friendship in distress' MARINA WARNER
An exceptional novel from the winner of the 2000 Booker Prize
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Alison
TOP 500 REVIEWER
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.
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By JOHN
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.
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
One of the best books I have ever read, The Robber Bride is a work to read at one [very long] sitting, and then read again, and again, and again. Atwood creates a world so real that you can touch it, and the extraordinary things which happen there are utterly convincing and deeply moving. Her four heroines are all, even the villain, created with consummate skill and a compassion which grabs the reader and sweeps you along in the stories which are woven together in this wonderful book. The complex structure is extremely satisfying, and is sustained by the creation of three distinct - and glorious - narrative voices, a stunning feat of writing which makes this an amazingly enjoyable read. Lots to think about, characters to love, and a real joy in language. The ending, or endings, in particular, are amazing, and even thinking about them brings tears to my eyes.
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book margaret Atwood
This was a christmas present and the person is a very big margaret Atwood fan and she love this book
Published 4 months ago by fred
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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 13 months ago by lart phauson
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Published 18 months ago by Kate Hopkins
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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 on 8 Dec 2010 by weemoglet
5.0 out of 5 stars
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 on 1 Oct 2010 by Gwen C
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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
4.0 out of 5 stars
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
4.0 out of 5 stars
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
1.0 out of 5 stars
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
4.0 out of 5 stars
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
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