Book 29: Finished.

I loved Alias Grace. I mean, I loved the writing, the characters, the story, the situations that Atwood created. It was beautiful. I especially loved that she developed all of this from a murder that occurred in the 1840s.

The material surrounding the actual murders is included in pieces throughout the novel. Atwood adds snippets of trial transcripts, as well as Grace's confession to add depth to the story she weaves. Every time I finished a section and came to one of those pages with real material, I had to remind myself that this actually happened. Atwood made me forget with the beauty of the tale.

But where she wins is the character of Grace. Rather than focus solely on the murder and devote most of the writing on the actual event, she alludes to it. Grace is recounting her story to Dr. Jordan throughout all of the novel. She takes it so slowly, and develops every detail that the murder seems secondary. When it finally does happen, it is over and done with and hard to accept. It is hard to connect the sweet Grace telling her story to a hardened murderer who has spent 20 years in prison.

That is the skill of Atwood's writing. She made me forget that I am not supposed to like Grace. Grace is not a person I should be feeling sympathy for if she did, in fact, murder her master and the housekeeper. But I did feel for her, and I felt for her so deeply that I desperately wanted a different ending. It was hard to know that even while I felt I knew her, as Dr. Jordan thought he did, she was still a convicted murderer.

That is great skill.

I also want to touch on the side story of Dr. Jordan. The perspective switches from Grace to Dr. Jordan and to letters written between characters. While I saw some critiques online about the side-story of Dr. Jordan and his landlord, I loved it. Essentially, Atwood sets up a similar scenario for Dr. Jordan as to what happened to Grace before the murders. I loved that she did that, to make Jordan and the reader question what they would do in that situation.

So yes, Atwood is a greatly skilled writer.

I loved this novel. It was truly excellent and beautiful. It makes me want to dive into the rest of Atwood's work so I can soak up her genius, but that will have to wait for another time.

Book 29: Details and Grace,

I forgot how good Margaret Atwood is at developing her characters and plotline. She manages to not only deliver a moving and touching story, but does so with every intention of creating characters that are memorable.

I suppose you aren't supposed to genuinely like Grace Marks. As a historical figure, she was a convicted murderess. At the time, she was written about as a conniving woman who was well-aware of what she was doing when she partnered up with McDermott to murder her master and the housekeeper.

However, Atwood slowly draws the reader in to Grace's story. Through the guise of a doctor studying Grace's history, Atwood allows us to get to know Grace from the moment she can first remember, all the way to the day of the murder and beyond. In Grace's words, we learn about her life.

Atwood does it slowly. We learn about her childhood in Ireland and the plight of her family. We learn that her father was an alcoholic and her mother sickly. We join them on the boat as they come over to Canada, and the tragedy that seems to follow them everywhere. We watch as Grace is attacked by those around her who are pretending to help her. She tells us how she earns a place in a good home as a servant and befriends a girl named Mary Whitney. We then learn about Whitney's demise and how Grace ended up at Kinnear's farm, where 2 weeks later she committed murder with McDermott at the age of 16.

Atwood takes us slowly so that we can understand Grace, and love her and she loves herself. The doctor who is studying her in the novel, Dr. Simon Jordan, also falls in love with her and forgets that he is supposed to remain apart from Grace's narrative. It reminds us, the readers, that we too need to step away.

While I know that much of this is fictionalized, I cannot help but feel for Grace as a person. Whether or not she actually committed the murders is still a question that will remain without an answer. And while Atwood is trying to give us the details of the story, you cannot help but wonder-did she really do it?

I think Grace seems to say it best in the novel, so I will leave it to Atwood:

"When you are in the middle of a story it isn't a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It's only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or someone else," (298).

Book 29: Alias Grace.

I enjoy well-done historical fiction. I can appreciate it when an author stays true to the time period and facts of a certain era while creating a new story, or elaborating on facts to make a story come to life.

However, when it is done badly, it makes me want to throw the book against the wall-something I have done a few times in the past.

For those authors who do create beautiful fiction set in historical settings, I commend them. Writing good historical fiction is extremely difficult. There is that threat of a history buff finding something at fault in the novel and ripping it to shreds (I have been known to do that). That is why I can appreciate work like Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. While she certainly takes some liberties in what she is writing, she does it well and for the most part, only tweaks history when she needs to. It is also clear from reading her work that she did her homework.

So I am looking forward to Atwood's novel, which could also be classified as historical fiction. Alias Grace is centered on the true story of the deaths of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery in 1843. The two other servants in the house, James McDermott and Grace Marks, were convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. Somehow, Grace was saved from her death sentence and spent many years in prison before being released (not a plot spoiler, merely what happened).

In Alias Grace, Atwood attempts to fill in the questions that so many people had at the time. Taking place years after the murders, Atwood creates a fictional doctor who is trying to learn the truth from Marks through interview. Atwood also throws in excerpts from newspapers published during teh time of the murders, observations from the wardens and guards where Grace was kept, court transcripts, as well as poems, etc that all highlight the characters.

Now, while I am only about 50 pages in, I can tell you this. Atwood is creating GREAT historical fiction. She is remaining true to the facts that are known, while creating a story to fill in the gaps. It is riveting. And while I already know what happens to Grave Marks based on historical fact, I am still anxiously turning each page to see if I am right. That is the mark of a great writer. She is turning a story I already know into something much more powerful and emotional.

My only hope is that she continues to stay true to the story and history, or this book will be fated to hit the wall as well. But I have a feeling it won't go there.

Book 29: Book Stats.

Title: Alias Grace
Author: Margaret Atwood (1939- )
First Published: 1996

Awards Won: 1996 Giller Prize, 1996 finalist for Booker Prize, and 1996 finalist for Governor General's Award

My Edition: Anchor Books
Pages: 468

About two years ago, I read The Handmaid's Tale at the urging of a good friend and absolutely loved it. Even though I went out and bought The Blind Assassin shortly after, I never got around to reading any more of Atwood's work, even though I meant to. This will be the second book I read by Atwood.

I will also be re-reading The Handmaid's Tale as part of my challenge. Because of the length, I am also counting this book towards the Chunkster Challenge as one of my 12 picks (I'm an overachiever).

Sunday Salon: March 14, 2010.

I am so glad that it is Sunday night and I am home at last! The last 4 days have been extremely busy for me. I finally got notice that my substitute teaching paperwork was finished and I was free to get sub jobs!

I managed to get a job for Thursday and Friday in a district a little north of where I live. It was for the same teacher both days. It also happened to be for ninth graders in U.S. History! I was pretty excited and had a great time both days. We got to talk about the 1950's, which is such a fun era. It was also nice to be back in a classroom and it solidified that I just need my own classroom.

I miss teaching.

I also worked Thursday night for the parks. We're going back to full-time hours starting on the 29th, which I am excited for, and I go back to being a supervisor (yay for more pay!). I am hoping I can maintain a balance between subbing as much as possible while still working for the parks as much as possible.

Yesterday I traveled to Battle Creek, Michigan (on the west side) for my best friend's wedding shower. It was a long drive (2 1/2 hours), but I had a blast. I then had to hurry back since Matt, Kyla, and I went to a concert!

It has been a long time since I have been to a live concert, and since it was our all-time favorite band, we had to go! And Muse didn't disappoint! They were amazing live! Matt and I saw them about 6 years ago while I was up at Michigan State. That was LONG before they were ever well-known and that concert had maybe 1000 people there. They were awesome then, but it was cooler to see them in such a large venue last night! The lights were amazing and the energy of the crowd was insane!

Muse is one of those bands that is better live than on record. If you are a fan, I highly suggest you try and catch their show. You will never forget it!

I also worked today for the parks and we tore down some walls at one of the shelters in preparation for the upcoming summer. It is getting warmer and our patrons are getting the springtime itch to have everything up and running again. The park goes back to being open 7 days a week tomorrow and I know everyone will be happy about that. I just can't wait till our other employees come back and summer goes into full swing.

So, to say I am tired is an understatement. I have been on the go since very early Thursday morning, so I cannot wait to go to bed tonight. Especially after losing an hour with the time change. However, I have a book to finish and brackets for March Madness to fill out. Matt told me I have to do them since in the pool he enters, a woman wins every year, and she is usually a wife or fiance of one of the guys. He told me that this year is our turn. So I told him I am going to pick my teams based on literary references.

This has been a great reading week. I finished Wuthering Heights and read all of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. I also started Lord of the Flies by William Golding and am thisclose to finishing it. I told Matt I am not going to bed until I finish it.

I'm not sure what I am going to pick up next. A few weeks ago I attempted to pick out the next 25 or so books to read to give myself some direction, but I already derailed from it. Both O Pioneers and Alias Grace weren't on that list. I'm almost thinking I might read a play (not Shakespeare) for something different, but I am not sure.

Any suggestions?

I will leave you now with a video of a Muse performance of "Time is Running Out," one of my favorite Muse songs! Enjoy!

Sunday Salon...on Monday.

This has been a horrid week. My laptop has some insane virus on it that is driving me crazy and while Matt and I have tried to get it off with a lot of different scans, nothing is working. We decided that we are just going to wipe it and reboot it tonight. Luckily, I got on yesterday and managed to save everything I needed, so I shouldn't lose anything else (I lost my novel in progress back in January when we tried to wipe the laptop-sensing a trend?)

Since I was so upset about not blogging and getting new posts up, reading fell by the wayside for most of the week. I did start Wuthering Heights on Saturday morning and now I only have about 50 pages left. But, reading was not as successful as it could have, and should have been.

I also had my first day of substitute teaching on Friday. I spent half the day in a kindergarten classroom. I was completely out of my element, since I am certified for 6-12, so I don't think I will be taking a job like that again any time soon. I do have a 2-day job lined up for Thursday and Friday at the district that wanted to hire me this past summer and the job is in my age group and subject matter, so it should be a fun 2 days!

I also signed up for the Classics Circuit in April. I am bummed not to be participating in the Zola tour. I read Germinal in December and loved it, but it was the only Zola on my list. To make up for my disappointment, I will be reading two novels for Dumas, which I am eager to read.

I am also disappointed in the lack of entries for my giveaway, so if you haven't already, please enter! And spread the word! There is a link at the top of my blog.

Goals for this week:

• Laptop back up and running.
• Finish posts for O Pioneers and Little Women
• Finish Wuthering Heights
• Read Alias Grace

Happy reading everyone and I hope to be back in the full swing of things soon!