Alias Grace

Book Title: Alias Grace

Author: Margaret Atwood

Date Started: August 27th 2017

Date Completed: September 6th 2017

Genres: Historical, Mystery
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

Alias Grace is my third Atwood novel, and while I enjoyed it and appreciated it at least to some level, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. It is the story of a woman incarcerated and scrutinised and with few remorses left herself, but one that is unbiased in its directness, but of course fuelled by the injustices its protagonist has faced.

It's true when they say that Atwood is almost like a different writer with every book, but her humour is still the same and the voice consistent. I was worried people meant that her books are hit and miss down to your preferences, but just because they cover different time periods, different topics and different tenses doesn't mean that they don't all have her signature style.

What made Alias Grace interesting was how it kept you on your toes. We never really know if our narrator is reliable or not, nor do we know if we can trust the other characters around her. You aren't sure if you're being lied to and your reaction is just sympathy and outrage, or if you should be more suspicious and risk being cruel. It's the game the characters are playing and it feels like you're caught in the middle of it.

As with most books in this vein, the pacing is slow but you do feel the progress as you go. It's a thoughtful book over excitement. The crime mystery genre feels somewhat misleading, as it's much more of a literary fiction novel. Things play out and the reader is right in the middle of it, but also watches them with some distance. I enjoyed the way it looked at misogyny and the 1800s culture in early America. It's not a period I'm that familiar with, but the text is thorough enough to make you feel at home even if you don't know the setting.

Of course, because we begin with the awareness that Grace was involved in the murders of Mr Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, there's a momentum that pushes the whole story through. We know that the narrative is building up to something, and although I wouldn't say that expectation of a reveal is dealt with in the most satisfying way, there's a definite feeling of closure even when things turn sour for many of those involved.

Though it wasn't my favourite novel by Atwood that I've read, Alias Grace was again a brilliant book from her works. Quite unlike anything I've read so far, it plays with your expectations and suspicions and puts a bare woman in front of you and piles you with accusations and sympathies, and asks who you believe.