Review - Cat's Eye

[wilderthan]

The writing in Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye reminds me quite a lot of her writing style in The Handmaid's Tale: it feels contemplative, half-dreamy, slower than life. It also reminds me a bit of The Bell Jar, somehow.

The way this book was structured was the most interesting thing for me: the past blending with the present, the present fading back into the past. Another interesting thing was the handle Atwood has on people -- specifically, little girls. I knew a Cordelia, a Grace, a Carol. An Elaine.

It's not a novel in which things happen, really. It's thoughtful, quiet, realistic. Some people would find it boring, others would find it deep and transforming. I have no particularly strong feelings about it, myself.

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

Cat's Eye was easily one of my favorite 'required reading' books in high school. Although I'm male, that story's depiction of life as a teenager is dead-on what I lived. My Cordelia was a guy, but was no less dangerous.

[sleepflowered.livejournal.com]

I was among those who found it "transforming".

[wilderthan.livejournal.com]

I think if I were a little younger, and closer to my memories of the Cordelia types in my life, I would've done too. Or maybe if I were a little older and closer to the grown up Elaine!