Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

[Gyre]

Title of Book: Alias Grace

Name of Author: Margaret Atwood

Paperback: 545 pages

Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; New Ed edition

ISBN-10: 1860492592

ISBN-13: 978-1860492594

The Blurb:

In 1843, a 16-year-old Canadian housemaid named Grace Marks was tried for the murder of her employer and his mistress. The sensationalistic trial made headlines throughout the world, and the jury delivered a guilty verdict. Yet opinion remained fiercely divided about Marks- -was she a spurned woman who had taken out her rage on two innocent victims, or was she an unwilling victim herself, caught up in a crime she was too young to understand? Such doubts persuaded the judges to commute her sentence to life imprisonment, and Marks spent the next 30 years in an assortment of jails and asylums, where she was often exhibited as a star attraction. In Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood reconstructs Marks's story in fictional form. Her portraits of 19th-century prison and asylum life are chilling in their detail. The author also introduces Dr Simon Jordan, who listens to the prisoner's tale with a mixture of sympathy and disbelief. In his effort to uncover the truth, Jordan uses the tools of the then rudimentary science of psychology. But the last word belongs to the book's narrator--Grace herself.

Welcome to the world of Margaret Atwood, a very diverse world, which makes interesting reading, having already read 'The Handmaid's Tale' and 'The Robber Bride', none of her books are the same which makes excellent reading. At the moment I have just started reading 'Oryx and Crake', another very different read.

Everyone meet Grace, Grace meet everyone. 'Alias Grace' tells the very tragic tale of Grace Marks, imprisoned from the age of 16 years old for the murders of her employer, Mr Kinnear and his housekeeper (and mistress), Nancy Montgomery, but the question you will ask all the way through the book is did Grace commit these murders?

The book covers all aspects of Grace's life to the murders, and then her incarceration, it explores the mind and life of Grace with the character, Dr Simon Jordan, a psychiatrist who is not entirely convinced about Grace's story.

The book ultimately is about Grace but it is also about class, about poverty, about the will to survive whatever your background.

I know I will re-read 'Alias Grace'

Rating: 10/10

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o154/Pictures_073/412DBA6DYJL.jpg

[Lilywhite]

I've just finished my copy of this today and loved it. I wasn't expecting as much detail and history as was put in there but it definately made for a brilliant read.

My own personal opinion was that the parts with Dr Jordan were perhaps unnecessary but still readable anyway.

[madcow]

I enjoyed this one too. Look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

[Renniemist]

Thanks for the review Gyre. I have had this book on my shelf for over a year and your comments, and those of the others, was the incentive I needed to get started.

I liked this book very much and it was interesting the way Margaret Atwood told Grace’s side of the story. A fascinating insight into what life was like not just in the prisons at the time but also for those arriving in Canada in the 19th Century.

[Polka Dot Rock]

Cheers Paula, another great review! :mrgreen:

I've had Alias Grace hanging around for ages, so I think it's high time it became part of my TBR shelves :)

[Gyre]

Glad you enjoyed it Aimz :D