The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood Tony, Charis, and Roz are friends who live in Toronto, lived in the dorms in McClung Hall College at around the same time, and have very few other common grounds. Except that all three have been hurt by another woman, who also went to college with them, Zenia. The storytelling begins with an account of the day on which the friends find out that Zenia is not dead, as they had believed. The day is recounted first from Tony's perspective, then Charis', and them Roz's. The table of contents really explains the format of the book. It looks like this:
Onset 1
The Toxique 5
Black Enamel 121
Weasel Nights 219
The Robber Bride 323
The Toxique 445
Outcome 515 Onset and Outcome are what they say. The Toxique is devided into six parts, each friend's story twice, telling parallel stories. The friends are at the restaurant The Toxique telling each other their stories for this part. The middle three chapters are their histories, their childhoods and how Zenia wronged them. Since they were hurt in order, there is little repetition in this part of the book. Watching the story come together, from Now to Then to Now is awesome.
But although the manner in which this storytelling is performed is awesome, the prejudices of the story are not. Most glaringly, the only male characters in this book with any backbone are gay. Even those characters are somewhat excluded. From this book, we could come away with the impression that all guys who are not gay are misogynistic ^$%*$@*$&s, with the exceptions of those who are stupid. I don't like that. I also don't like the stereotypical representation of gay. If the male characters in this book had had more character, I could have sympathised more with the women who care about them. It is nonetheless a powerful story.
Happy reading.
