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The Robber Bride by: Margaret Atwood

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Rating: - Connections and Relationships

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.

Rating: - 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. This was not the case, and I have since had to purchase another copy since it was no use, but I am aware that as I bought a used copy it might not be the same.

Apart from that, delivery fine. Many thanks.

Rating: - 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 vanishes again leaving a trail of devastation. It's an unusual, interesting story with a strong plot and good pace that holds together well. Zenia makes an excellent villainess, and the other central female characters are well developed. The supporting roles are less so, but that's a minor criticism.

Atwood writes so well that she would make a shopping list rivetting, and throughout the Robber Bride is entertaining and readable. It's a long novel, weighing in at over 500 pages, but it never feels too long. Atwood is a master at writing relationships - not just romantic ones, but between women friends and rivals, business people, children and parents. The interactions between charaters are sometimes painfully real. Just in parts the plot is a little bit far fetched - there's a bit of hocus pocus towards the end that stretches the credibility rather - but generally it's a perfectly believable tale.

Overall, it's a good piece of literary fiction and a book that I'm surprised hasn't had more 'hype'.

Rating: - 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. (Much better than 'Alias Grace')

Reading this, i was really caught up in the tension the characters feel by the fraught memories and possible reunion with Zenia. For me this novel really captured the betrayal and hate that can seep into female 'friendships', much in the same way that Atwood captures the child bully relationship in 'Cat's Eye'. Atwood perfectly articulates the desperate loathing that women will feel for each other, when betrayed by those closest to them, with whom they have shared their deepest feelings.

A really great read that will leave you breathless and desperately waiting for the 'revelation'

Rating: - 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 and the characters are so un-engaging that it’s impossible to really get stuck into the story.

I found it difficult to feel anything for the characters, other than thinking they are all exceptionally irritating. There was also so much time devoted to overdrawn descriptions & recounts of the past, instead of actually putting meat into the plot and bringing the story alive. The only character who was anyway interesting was Zenia, yet she was the one with the least told from her point of view. I understand this is deliberate, but the three characters telling the story were so irritating, it would have been refreshing to hear another point of view.

I convinced myself to keep reading as I thought it could only get better as I got through the book, but in the end I finished it just for the sake of finishing. To get through the last two chapters, I ended up skimming over anything that wasn’t dialogue - not a good sign.

There are so many engrossing books out there, that I would definitely recommend leaving this one aside.

Review Pages: 1 2 3 Next »