Everybody lies

I think, I can finally say that I have fallen in love with Margaret Atwood’s writing. I just finished reading “Oryx and Crake”, which will definitely be on my top ten list for this year (yes, I am aware that it is only February).

We didn’t have an easy start, Margaret and me. The first book by her I tried to read was “The Blind Assasin”. I said tried to read, because I gave up on it not even halfway through. I can’t remember anymore what it was about, only that it bored the pants off me.

But her writing must have had something, or maybe it was only because she is Canadian and I generally like Canadians. Whatever it was, a year or so ago I decided to give her another chance. This time I picked a collection of short stories, “Good Bones”. Incidentally, the book was among the first short story collections I ever read. Luckily for me I liked them quite a lot.

Now last month I checked out another short story collection from the library: “The Tent”. To call these stories strange would be an understatement, but I am beginning to appreciate this special kind of strangeness of Ms. Atwood. I’m not sure I really got the point of some of those stories - I’m not even sure they really had a point. But again, I enjoyed them.

And now “Oryx and Crake”. What can I say? This book is incredible in every possible way. I even liked the ambiguous ending that leaves you free to imagine the following events in whatever way you like. This is the kind of book that Saramago probably tried to write - and failed miserably. Atwood not only went to the trouble to do a lot of research to get her facts straight, she also came up with a compelling and suspenseful plot (with believable characters, who do things that are actually imaginable given the circumstances of the story). And she manages to include lots of sociological commentary on today’s society into the story in such a way that it makes you think without ever pushing the story out of the way. Mr. Saramago could take a few lessons from her, I reckon.

I have to return this copy to the library tomorrow, but I definitely have to get my own copy to re-read soon. I might write a longer review then. For the moment there are just too many pictures still swirling around in my head. Next up will be “The Handmaid’s Tale” as soon as I can lay my hand on a copy. And then, who knows? In a way I am lucky that I discovered Margaret Atwood only so late, because now I have this whole list of books she already wrote to look forward to. I might even end up giving “The Blind Assasin” another try.