The Edible Woman

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant Surprise
Review: After many unfortuanate instances of having CanLit forced down my throat in high school, it took a lot of pursuading to convince me to read this. The result? Thank you for it.
I can't compare this to any of Atwood's other books, but what I can say is that it is worth the read and that it has encouraged me to read more of her work. The characters are entertaining and quirky. Yes, they are odd, but they aren't so strange that you can't picture them living next door. {In fact, my fomer flatmate had an obsession with ironing and would always iron during exams when he got stressed out.}
Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who wants a good, amusing read. It would be a great read during long, cold, and dark Canadian winters.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Read--I couldn't put it down
Review: I first read this when I was 11, and thought it was pretty good. Then, at 16, I have decided to reread many books I read when I was younger to see if I could get more out of them. Boy, did I get more out of this book. It's hilarious and written in such a light manner, but can also get serious at moments. Atwood has done the book in an odd, rather creative style. The first fifty pages or so are written in first person, then it switches to third person as Marian unwittingly becomes prey to her own lifestyle, then back to first person again at the end. Throughout the book, Marian seems overly concerned with being percieved as "normal", yet it innately attracted to Duncan, the very opposite of normal. She has a bit of a double life going for a while, where on one end she has Peter, who at one point she describes as elevated ordinariness.
As Marian slowly loses her ablity to eat, she also becomes consumed by her life with Peter and her life with Duncan. Peter loves her, Duncan doesn't even like her that much. They are both extraordinarily selfish individuals, though Duncan is a bit more overt about it.
Marian sees the different choices she can make as far as her life is concerned in her female friends. Clara has tons of babies already, and Ainsley is convinced that she has to have a child alone in order to fully experience her feminimity. There are also the "office virgins", who are restless to snag the life Marian has with Peter. They want normalcy.
Marian doesn't know what she wants, so she lets Peter take over and make most of the decisions. But really she isn't satisfied with this and turns to Duncan. She kind of drifts, not really ever concerned with making a decision between the two, not really sure that she has to.
Atwood is one of my favorite writers because she creates such complex situations in her stories and her characters are all so dimensional. This story is a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it as well as any of her other novels.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Read--I couldn't put it down
Review: I first read this when I was 11, and thought it was pretty good. Then, at 16, I have decided to reread many books I read when I was younger to see if I could get more out of them. Boy, did I get more out of this book. It's hilarious and written in such a light manner, but can also get serious at moments. Atwood has done the book in an odd, rather creative style. The first fifty pages or so are written in first person, then it switches to third person as Marian unwittingly becomes prey to her own lifestyle, then back to first person again at the end. Throughout the book, Marian seems overly concerned with being percieved as "normal", yet it innately attracted to Duncan, the very opposite of normal. She has a bit of a double life going for a while, where on one end she has Peter, who at one point she describes as elevated ordinariness.
As Marian slowly loses her ablity to eat, she also becomes consumed by her life with Peter and her life with Duncan. Peter loves her, Duncan doesn't even like her that much. They are both extraordinarily selfish individuals, though Duncan is a bit more overt about it.
Marian sees the different choices she can make as far as her life is concerned in her female friends. Clara has tons of babies already, and Ainsley is convinced that she has to have a child alone in order to fully experience her feminimity. There are also the "office virgins", who are restless to snag the life Marian has with Peter. They want normalcy.
Marian doesn't know what she wants, so she lets Peter take over and make most of the decisions. But really she isn't satisfied with this and turns to Duncan. She kind of drifts, not really ever concerned with making a decision between the two, not really sure that she has to.
Atwood is one of my favorite writers because she creates such complex situations in her stories and her characters are all so dimensional. This story is a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it as well as any of her other novels.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating and Consuming
Review: I just finished The Edible Woman a few minutes ago and felt compelled to write a review. This is only the second novel by Atwood that I've read and look foward to reading from her.
Very rarely do I ever finish a book without wanting to take a "break" from reading it. Atwood has a way of captivating the reader through her use of irony, character development and symbolism. Marian represents any woman who feels consumed by societal ideals--enough to ultimately reject it. But it is obvious that she still craves someone to escape with her. Peter is her answer to fit into what the world belives she should become while Clara seems to foreshadow what she would turn out to become if she were to be with Peter. Duncan is the antithesis of this, which attracts Marian. His gaunt figure seems to show his refusal to accept reality or consumption of ideals. Everything that I've only dreamed I could do (run away on a whim) is done, or merely attempted by Marian.
I know I'm rambling, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and cannot wait to read more of her works.

Rating:
Summary: Captivating and Consuming
Review: I just finished The Edible Woman a few minutes ago and felt compelled to write a review. This is only the second novel by Atwood that I've read and look foward to reading from her.
Very rarely do I ever finish a book without wanting to take a "break" from reading it. Atwood has a way of captivating the reader through her use of irony, character development and symbolism. Marian represents any woman who feels consumed by societal ideals--enough to ultimately reject it. But it is obvious that she still craves someone to escape with her. Peter is her answer to fit into what the world belives she should become while Clara seems to foreshadow what she would turn out to become if she were to be with Peter. Duncan is the antithesis of this, which attracts Marian. His gaunt figure seems to show his refusal to accept reality or consumption of ideals. Everything that I've only dreamed I could do (run away on a whim) is done, or merely attempted by Marian.
I know I'm rambling, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and cannot wait to read more of her works.

Rating:
Summary: A tasty treat!
Review: I will have to admit that curiosity is the prime reason for reading this book. The back cover blurb doesn't give much by way of details of the actual storyline, just that the main character feels like she is being eaten. I couldn't stop myself from reading this book after reading that! However, the story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, although it was still pretty good.

Set in Canada in the late 1960s, the women's role in life is slowly trying to break free from the 50s television version of the housewife that vacuums in pearls and heels. Marian, a recent college graduate, considers herself a pretty independent woman. Even her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter, doesn't get in the way of her independence. She lives on her own with her roommate and best friend, Ainsley, and she makes her own living as copywriter for a survey service. But when, out of the blue, Peter proposes marriage, strange things start happening. Marian begins to feel consumed with making plans, quitting her job, moving in with Peter, and settling down for her role as housewife. All of a sudden she can't eat certain things and she has strange panic attacks that come from nowhere. Her freedom is being threatened, but Marian sees no way out. Or is there?

While Marian's story is the core of this novel, the host of supporting characters intrigued me the most. Ainsley decides she wants to have a baby and begins her search to find the lucky man to help her out. Marian's friend, Clara, and her husband, Joe, provide a stunning example of what married/family life will be like (and not always in a good way). Then there's Duncan, a man who answers the door when Marian is out doing surveys, who has his own issues. All of these storylines are full of feminist symbolism, and I believe it is important to know this before you read the book. It will definitely help you understand the novel more clearly.

I'm a new Atwood fan, having read and loved The Handmaid's Tale just a month ago. And while The Edible Woman is not as exhilarating or fascinating like Handmaid, I still found it to be very well-written with an interesting storyline, despite its heavy symbolism that mostly went over my head (I'm not too good at picking that stuff out!). I have two other Atwood books on my shelf and I'm looking forward to reading them. I believe that imagination and originality is Atwood's forte, and I have high hopes that the rest of her novels will provide a healthy dose.

Rating:
Summary: A tasty treat!
Review: I will have to admit that curiosity is the prime reason for reading this book. The back cover blurb doesn't give much by way of details of the actual storyline, just that the main character feels like she is being eaten. I couldn't stop myself from reading this book after reading that! However, the story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, although it was still pretty good.

Set in Canada in the late 1960s, the women's role in life is slowly trying to break free from the 50s television version of the housewife that vacuums in pearls and heels. Marian, a recent college graduate, considers herself a pretty independent woman. Even her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter, doesn't get in the way of her independence. She lives on her own with her roommate and best friend, Ainsley, and she makes her own living as copywriter for a survey service. But when, out of the blue, Peter proposes marriage, strange things start happening. Marian begins to feel consumed with making plans, quitting her job, moving in with Peter, and settling down for her role as housewife. All of a sudden she can't eat certain things and she has strange panic attacks that come from nowhere. Her freedom is being threatened, but Marian sees no way out. Or is there?

While Marian's story is the core of this novel, the host of supporting characters intrigued me the most. Ainsley decides she wants to have a baby and begins her search to find the lucky man to help her out. Marian's friend, Clara, and her husband, Joe, provide a stunning example of what married/family life will be like (and not always in a good way). Then there's Duncan, a man who answers the door when Marian is out doing surveys, who has his own issues. All of these storylines are full of feminist symbolism, and I believe it is important to know this before you read the book. It will definitely help you understand the novel more clearly.

I'm a new Atwood fan, having read and loved The Handmaid's Tale just a month ago. And while The Edible Woman is not as exhilarating or fascinating like Handmaid, I still found it to be very well-written with an interesting storyline, despite its heavy symbolism that mostly went over my head (I'm not too good at picking that stuff out!). I have two other Atwood books on my shelf and I'm looking forward to reading them. I believe that imagination and originality is Atwood's forte, and I have high hopes that the rest of her novels will provide a healthy dose.

Rating:
Summary: Fun with the world of metaphor
Review: I've got a few Atwood books and this is by far the oldest one, so if it's not her writing debut (as opposed to poetry, which I think she did as well) it's pretty close and I have to say that I was pretty impressed with how strong her narrative voice was and how confident the book feels. Reading it you get a sense that the author knows exactly what she's doing and how to go about it. That sense makes the book that much more fun to read, even if it's not going to be recognized as one of her absolute masterpieces. The story concerns a woman named Marian, presumably in her mid-twenties, who after getting engaged starts to lose her desire to eat most kinds of food. But even that description is a tad misleading because the eating aspect doesn't even come into play until almost halfway through the book. Indeed those looking for a feminist version of "Thinner" should probably go the other way right now. Instead it's an examination of a woman's role in both society and marriage and that gives the story more weight, balancing the often silly and humorous situations Marian finds herself in. It's definitely the lightest book I've read by Atwood, it's hard to believe this is the same woman who did the ultra-depressing Life Before Man. But the main focus isn't even on Marian's quasi-eating disorder but on her interactions with her fiancee, her roommate (the subplot with her wanting a baby is absolutely hilarious in a darkly absurd way) and an odd graduate student she meets while out doing a survey for her job. That graduate student and his monologues was my favorite part of the chapter and probably represents Atwood's poke at the academic world, but definitely shows off her gift for words. But be on the look out for metaphors, just about everything means something else it seems, even the switch from first to third person struck me as odd until I realized even that represented something. In the end the metaphors get stretched a bit too far and the only truly silly moment is right at the end. But it's immensely enjoyable for an Atwood novel and one of the few that you'll find yourself laughing more than feeling glad you aren't the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Too much symbolism for a simple folk like meself
Review: It was ok, but I missed a lot of the "irony and metaphor" that the back cover
assures me was in there! Just "whoosh" right over my head, I guess.

Marian McAlpin becomes engaged... and inexplicably, her eating
habits change - first she can't eat meat, picturing the living
breathing animal it once was. Then eggs. Then everything else! She
knows she should eat, she knows she must eat, but food of any sort
revolts her. Mix in a nutty roommate who decides to get pregnant,
and starts looking for an unwitting "donor" to be the father, and
Duncan, a bizarre grad student Marian meets during work (She works
at a survey service, and had to go door to door doing a survey), and
you have a strange yet amusing story about a woman resisting the
loss of her identity when she marries. I guess that was what it was
about anyways.

Cute but it seemed a bit light to me, as if Marian just "felt" these
things but didn't really state them to the reader. There was some
certain shallowness about the book that I can't quite describe.

Rating:
Summary: Atwood is a genious
Review: Many authors who have risen to the heights of fame and acclaim that Atwood has reached have forgettable first novels, but Atwood is a clear exception to that. The Edible Woman is brazen, thought-provoking,and amusing all at the same time.

Marian McAlpin is a recent college graduate living in an unnamed Canadian city. She began dating Peter, an attorney, just as she started her job as a copy writer at a marketing research firm. Before she even realized that their relationship was serious or "going somewhere", she and Peter become engaged. Strangely enough, it happens after a fit of anxiety that literary causes Marian to run frantically into the night, away from Peter and the possibility of captivity.
The wedding plans are hastily taken over by Marian's family, the plans for the rest of their life are taken over by Peter (plans that included Marian quiting her job and becoming a housewife) and Marian begins to feel consumed.

Marian's onset of food aversions are comical, but also very symbolic--the thought of being coldly and methodically consumed keeps Marian from eating during the weeks leading up to her wedding as she tries to imagine giving up her independence.

Nearly every aspect of this novel is a symbol, a cultural comment of some kind. The most obvious, of course, is about food, but there are others, including the deep pit Marian stares into just days before her wedding. The characters are also neatly compartmentalized into varying degrees of traditional stagnation. They range from the stodgy old sexless landlady; the 3 "office virgins" at Marian's company; Clara, a college friend who is deeply immersed in the doldrums of wifery and motherhood; and the scheming Ainsley, Marian's roommate who plots to become pregnant with the help of an unsuspecting man. Peter, Marian's fiancee, openly balks at marriage at the novel's beginning; however, superb plot development shows that men have nothing to lose and everything to gain. It's the wife-to-be who is expected to surrender everything. Not-so-subtle remarks about uppity women who "trap" men by becoming pregnant (like Ainsley and the wife of Peter's friend Trigger) and about the perils of educating women (it's a risk to allow them to get ideas, you see) make this novel all the more wonderful.

This is not a lightweight novel, in spite of its somewhat silly subject matter and hilarious plot twists. Only those who go in with their eyes wide open will finish this novel having been enriched and satisfied.