16 April 2011
Call no: 4 Stars
Genre: general fiction
Setting: Florida
5 Comments
ISBN: 9780701186029 Our mother performed in starlight. Ava Bigtree lives in Swamplandia! with her family. They wrestle alligators in front of tourists for a living. Until recently Ava’s mother Hillola was the star of the show, her moonlight swim through … Continue reading
28 March 2006
Call no: 800
Genre: historical fiction
Setting: 1840s, C19th, Canada
9 Stars
1 Comment
Based on the true story of Grace Marks, an infamous murderer in Canada in the 1840′s, Atwood’s book uses different narrators to tell the story, as well as interspersing the story with extracts from other works. From poems, fiction, newspapers of the time, and other sources. Although this is based on the real story, Atwood has, of course, fictionalised a great deal of the novel.
The two narrators are Grace herself, who tells her story in the first person, past tense, and Simon Jordan, the doctor investigating her claims of insanity or innocence. His parts are told by a third person narrator, and are in the present tense.
3 March 2006
Call no: 800
Genre: general fiction, sff
Setting: contemporary, England
9 Stars
1 Comment
Travelling: the dank oily days after Christmas. The motorway, its wastes looping London: the margin’s scrub-grass flaring orange in the lights, and the leaves of the poisoned shrubs striped yellow-green like a cantaloupe melon.