Book of the Month: The Robber Bride
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Oof! Get ready to be sucked into a dark and frightening place in your imagination that you rarely go to… hopefully.
In place of a true romance novel for this month full of chocolates, hearts, and roses (yuck!), here is a novel rife with despair, ruined relationships, and treachery. And then a little bit of triumph. Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride is fraught with turbulence and tension as readers follow the intertwining stories of four very contrasting women.
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Pages: 528
Publish Date: 1998
Available: Kindle, Audiobook, & paperback
Set in Toronto, The Robber Bride is a driven and vividly intense study of four very different women and their relationships with one another. Three of these four have had their marriage or relationship unravelled by the beautiful, and relentlessly heartless, Zenia, and we witness how each romance is inexplicably, but inevitably, damaged by her treacherous charm. We come to know these women well, as Atwood dives deep into their uniquely bleak histories, and witness how Zenia charms her way into the life and trust of each of them, only to slip away in broad daylight with their men, one after another.
Margaret Atwood is a supreme female author. She creates sensational female characters that entrap you in the moment and glue you to the page you’re reading. One of the most interesting aspects of her novels is that one character is never like any other. Atwood delves directly into what makes each character unique—even seemingly boring ones—and brings them to life. In this novel, we have Zenia, a seductive and ruthless antagonist who always gets her way; Charis, a gentle free spirit and flower-child; Tony, a petite but distinguished and brainy history professor who packs a punch; and Roz, a determined, maternal, and insecure businesswoman.
Margaret Atwood’s writing compels you to understand there are writers and then there are writers. She fabulously hooks readers and endears them to her and her stories, despite the lurking darkness. Atwood has the rare talent of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Her female character portrayals are not perfect people, but she crafts their personalities and dispositions so cunningly, that you feel the secret desire to meet even the most horrible of them. Her characters are romantically described, but grounded in strength and will-power. They are intense and dangerous, and she brings out both the wicked and the virtue in each.
What I think is refreshingly, and controversially, honest about The Robber Bride is that it is not heartbreak and a failed romance ruining a woman’s life— it is one woman pitted against one another. Atwood explores how women build one another up and tear one another down. We do both, and that’s the honest truth. Atwood impressively and poignantly addresses this natural tendency that many other feminists fail to discuss. If you love an author who keeps it real, try Margaret Atwood. She heralds female triumph, weakness, strength, vice and virtue. There is no unrealistic portrait of unity, coordination, or cooperation; no angelic glow about any of these characters. They are very real women.
You should read this book if you love a greatly compelling story line, intense and intriguing character portraits, and strong female figures. If you thrive on mysterious, dark, and miserable dramas, or if you need a break from sappy romance novels this gruesomely love-filled month, look no further.
Margaret Atwood is one of the most celebrated female authors of our time. We also recommend her celebrated novel,The Handmaid’s Tale.
We will leave you with a testimony to Margaret Atwood’s inspiring articulation, from The Robber Bride.
““Time is not a solid, like wood, but a fluid, like water or the wind. It doesn’t come neatly cut into even-sized lengths, into decades and centuries. Nevertheless, for our purposes we have to pretend it does. The end of any history is a lie in which we all agree to conspire.””
More Books by Margaret Atwood:
The women of Swift would also like to invite you to join our Book Club discussion!
We have an ongoing Book Club discussion on our Facebook page if you would like to share your thoughts, praise or admonish the author, and otherwise vent about this novel. At the end of the month, we will hold a live discussion thread, where we hope to chat with any bookworms like you.