Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Cat's Eye

This novel has Atwood’s signature beautiful prose and lovely recurring imagery. Like many of her other books, the protagonist is angry at a lot of things, mostly other women. Probably 250 pages too long.

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dearbhlanoonan's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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missmarycrawford's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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pagesfromhome's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Oof. This one just did not do it for me.

While Atwood’s writing is, as usual, gorgeous, I just couldn’t get past such a deeply character-driven novel based around characters that I just didn’t enjoy spending time with. I found myself spending more time trying to figure out what it was Atwood was trying to do/show me and couldn’t get lost in the story the way that I wanted to.

There were absolutely points I enjoyed, especially Elaine’s relationship to her art and how she contended what she thought with what others thought (not unlike a writer and her readers), but I just couldn’t get lost in the story the way I wanted to.

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gvstyris's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The world is being run by people my age, men my age, with falling-out hair and health worries, and it frightens me. When the leaders were older than me I could believe in their wisdom, I could believe they had transcended rage and malice and the need to be loved. Now I know better. I look at the faces in newspapers, in magazines, and wonder: what greeds, what furies drive them on?

After trudging through Cat’s Eye and DNFing Oryx and Crake, I think it’s time for me to accept that The Handmaid’s Tale is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to my taste in Atwood's novels. While I picked up on the social commentary hidden amongst Cat’s Eye's depressing tone and unlikeable characters, Elaine’s internalised misogyny (and straight-up cruelty!) rendered this novel pretty insufferable for me. Perhaps I’m just a couple decades too young to appreciate it properly -- I can see where the portrayal of female bullying would’ve been revolutionary in the 1980s.

My main highlights were Atwood's writing style, as always, and Elaine's relationship with her art. Atwood also portrays childhood both realistically and with sensitivity, which is difficult to pull off. I'm curious about the autobiographical elements of this novel, and will definitely be doing some digging.

Primarily, though, I've come away with an increased fear of one day being a middle-aged white woman myself...

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lay_kone's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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floralfox's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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