Book of LivesA Memoir of Sorts
Raised by scientifically minded parents, Margaret Atwood spent most of each year in the wild forest of northern Quebec: a vast playground for her entomologist father and independent, resourceful mother. It was an unfettered and nomadic childhood, sometimes isolated but also thrilling and beautiful.
From this unconventional start, Atwood unfolds the story of her life, linking key moments to the books that have shaped our literary landscape, from the cruel school year that would become Cat’s Eye to the unease of 1980s Berlin, where she began The Handmaid’s Tale. In pages alive with the natural world, reading and books, major political turning points, and her lifelong love for the charismatic writer Graeme Gibson, we meet poets, bears, Hollywood stars, and larger-than-life characters straight from the pages of an Atwood novel.
As she explores her past, Atwood reveals more and more about her writing, the connections between real life and art—and the workings of one of our very greatest imaginations.
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Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born 1939) is a Canadian author, poet, critic, feminist and social campaigner. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias award for Literature, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, winning once, and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award seven times, winning twice.
While Margaret Atwood may be best known for her work as a novelist, she is also an award winning poet, having published 15 books of poetry to date. Many of her poems have been inspired by myths, and fairy tales, which were an interest of hers from an early age.
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Reviews and Comments
Margaret Atwood’s autobiography, Book of Lives, is far more colorful and vivid than its dull title suggests. Atwood’s youth with her family in Canada is filled with adventures and experiences in nature, which continued into adulthood with her life partner and children. The details of country life in old farmhouse with farm animals make for some amusing reading at times. The stages and background of her book publications are also interesting, though I wasn’t necessarily interested in every single detail. At the same time, however, the book offered a glimpse into the entire Canadian literary and publishing landscape.