Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 4.25/5 Awards: Booker Prize Nominee (1996), Scotiabank Giller Prize (1996), James Tiptree Jr. Award Nominee for Longlist (1996), Governor General’s Literary Awards / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur general Nominee for Fiction (1996), Orange Prize Nominee for Fiction Shortlist (1997), Premio Mondello (1997), Salon Magazine Best Fiction of the Year (1997), International DUBLIN Literary Award Nominee for Shortlist (1998) Français: Captive Summary It's 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories? My thoughts Alias Grace was my first Atwood book, but she has been involved in my life for much longer. My mother had read every single novel or short story that this woman has written and because of that, I never picked one up. Do you know how children don't want to do the same things as their parents? Well, I didn't want to be like my mother and read those stories with boring looking covers. However, when The Handmaid’s Tale(THT) became an HBO show and suddenly Atwood who was already writer royalty became Hollywood famous, I knew I had to hop on the bandwagon. Now that it wasn’t just my mom reading her books, Atwood was cool! Ohh, the shallowness of popular culture. I searched my mom’s library up and down to find THT, but I never did and so I had to settle with her second most famous book, Alias Gracewhich was fine because Netflix now had a mini-series based on it. (Yes, I do realize how millennial that sounds. Yes, I am slightly ashamed.) Regardless of how I was led to the book, I still fell in love with it. Alias Grace surprised me in more ways than one. At first, I excepted some kind of hardcore murder mystery story with brutal scenes of asylum treatments and other monstrosities. In a way, it was that, but it took up only a very small part of the story. The whole thing hinges on whether or not you believe Grace is innocent or guilty, and if she is guilty, does she not remember anything or is she lying. Grace is certainly on my list of the best characters because of that inner conflict Atwood creates. You want to believe her, you really do, but there is always something holding you back. Depending on what details you catch on, you either feel pity at her life or feel enthralled at the evilness of her character. I have never read any story that could give such opposite portrayals of a single individual. The richness and depth of Grace go beyond even the best characters I've read about. There are just so many layers to her past and her present that make her life, although probably quite usual for that time, absolutely captivating. As we dive into her story, she starts to feel more and more real. She becomes our friend; we have empathy towards her regardless of if you think she's guilty or not. In a lot of ways, the tables turn as she becomes our confidante. She feels the same struggles that we still do today regarding class and gender and she can express them almost freely as she has nothing left to lose.
The plot does hit some slow points. The book is over five hundred pages and goes through every step of Grace's life: from her childhood up until her late ages. It feels as if every single moment was a clue to figure out her culpability and so it is quite tedious to read. Every romance, brush of a hand, off-handed remark feels special. However, you never lose the macabre curiosity of wanting to simply know though I doubt that that was the point Atwood tried to convey. This story is about murder, surely, but also a social commentary on prison life, sexism, psychology and class. In many ways, it feels like it could have happened today. Women still are marginalized societally, treated as lunatics and are the primary victims of domestic violence. We are still vilified and treated as simple-minded jealous monsters capable of the worsts of sins. We are still the object of men’s fascinations. At its core, Atwood’s novel is as feminist as can be. I believe she wants to make the point that women’s lives are dependent on what other people think of them. In Grace’s case, she is innocent or guilty, a monster or a pitiful girl. She herself has no opinion of her as she cannot remember anything, her faith was decided by others based on more or less reasonable evidence. As we progress, we are hoping for a breakthrough, a sign that Grace knows something or remembers, but we are never given such a thing. She remains a mystery that cannot leave anyone indifferent but can never be certain of anything herself. Overall, Alias Grace is an absolute mind-bender. It is at the perfect crossroad between thriller, romance and psychological treaty. It is a smooth read, but not an easy one and shall not please the most impatient. However, for those ready for the ride, it proves to be a most enriching and thought-provoking read. I shall not snub Atwood again.
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