God's Gardeners - Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood in general

I discovered Margaret Atwood rather late in life, but as the saying goes, better late than never. One of my students had A Handmaid s Tale as a set book for AS level English literature, and so this was my introduction to this wonderful authoress. I have since read my way through several of her novels, and am currently nearing the end of Negotiating the Dead , a non-fiction work about writing itself. Born in Ottawa in 1939, Atwood s infancy was obviously affected by World War II. In Chapter 1 of Negotiating with the Dead , we learn that she spent the summers of her early childhood in the north of Canada, where there were no cinemas or theatres, the family radio did ...

Margaret Atwood in general

work. I am a long way short of having read everything, but can hopefully give you an overview and an introduction to this most wonderful contemporary writer. Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa in 1939, and grew up in Quebec, Ontario and Toronto. She has also lived in Boston, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Berlin, Edinburugh and London Her work shows a good understandign of time and place, of culture and history, and no doubt her cosmopolitan lifestyle has helped her in this. Atwood generally writes about Canada, but not always. Where ever she sets her work, she captures her location well and makes you feel as though you also have spent time there. Atwood writes ...

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood is a difficult book to categorise. It works on a dizzying number of levels: A historical novel, depicting an industrial and social milieu in early twentieth century Canada; a complex and shadowy love story; as a study of the symbolism of science fiction, or as a story of women and men and the secrets that bind them. It is the story of two sisters, Iris and Laura, who grow up in provincial Canada, daughters of a wealthy man who runs a button-making factory. The novel opens with a description of Laura's apparent suicide after WW2, and then Iris takes over as narrator, trying to understand and unravel the threads of Laura's ...