Product Description

Ever since her engagement, the strangest thing has been happening to Marian McAlpin: she can't eat.  First meat.  Then eggs, vegetables, cake, pumpkin seeds--everything!  Worse yet, she has the crazy feeling that she's being eaten.  Marian ought to feel consumed with passion, but she really just feels...consumed.  A brilliant and powerful work rich in irony and metaphor, The Edible Woman is an unforgettable masterpiece by a true master of contemporary literary fiction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270485 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-16
• Released on: 1998-03-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
"Margaret Atwood takes risks and wins."
--Time

"Throughout her literary career...Margaret Atwood has impressed and delighted readers with her wit, lyric virtuosity and imaginative acuity."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"One of the most intelligent and talented writers to set herself the task of deciphering life in the late twentieth century."
--Vogue

"Chock-full of startling images, superbly and classically crafted...Kept me in stitches half the time."
--Saturday Night

"Atwood has the magic of turning the particular and the parochial into the universal."
--The Times (London)

Review
"Margaret Atwood takes risks and wins."
--Time

"Throughout her literary career...Margaret Atwood has impressed and delighted readers with her wit, lyric virtuosity and imaginative acuity."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"One of the most intelligent and talented writers to set herself the task of deciphering life in the late twentieth century."
--Vogue

"Chock-full of startling images, superbly and classically crafted...Kept me in stitches half the time."
--Saturday Night

"Atwood has the magic of turning the particular and the parochial into the universal."
--The Times (London)

From the Publisher
New in this edition: a Reader's Companion to The Edible Woman--ideal for discussion groups

"Margaret Atwood takes risks and wins."
--Time

"Throughout her literary career...Margaret Atwood has impressed and delighted readers with her wit, lyric virtuosity and imaginative acuity."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"One of the most intelligent and talented writers to set herself the task of deciphering life in the late twentieth century."
--Vogue

"Chock-full of startling images, superbly and classically crafted...Kept me in stitches half the time."
--Saturday Night

"Atwood has the magic of turning the particular and the parochial into the universal."
--The Times (London)

Customer Reviews

Surreal
Edible Woman / 0-385-49106-9

Probably one of Atwood's most surreal novel, the main character finds that just as she is being 'consumed' by wedding plans, she herself cannot consume certain foods without becoming violently ill. Her mysterious and lamented aversion to certain foods start with the standard vegetarian fare (she cannot to eat animals which were once alive) to vegan fare (she cannot eat products of animals, such as milk and eggs) to complete abstinence (she cannot eat vegetables, as they were once alive, too).

The symbolism within the novel is incredibly heavy, and revolves around women eating and being eaten by the world around them. The main character is being consumed by her demanding fiance and the wedding plans; her roommate is being consumed by the infant inside her, and the fetishes of the infant's father (he is only attracted to very young, 'unspoilt' girls); her best friend from college is being consumed by multiple pregnancies and a desperate, clinging husband. Though the novel is feminist in tone, the men are just as consumed as the women, in their own ways - in typical Atwood fashion, nearly everyone here is a victim of something, with few villains to point at. The ending is neither happy nor tidy, and will likely lead the reader to feel disappointed and sad, but the disappointment is with reality, and not with the author or her writing.

Recommended, but not Atwood's best work
I have read and enjoyed many of Margaret Atwood's books, especially Oryx and Crake and The Robber Bride. The Edible Woman was Atwood's first published novel. It's definitely not her best, but I recommend it.

The setting is late 1960s Canada. Marian, our protagonist, is on the trajectory that society expected of her at the time. She's going to get married, leave her job and, well, be a housewife.

Is she fulfilling expectations, or are expectations consuming her? Is she on a path to self-realization, or will she subsume her own identity and desires to those of her fiancé and society at large?

The Edible Woman uses food metaphorically, as the title would suggest. Marian's relationship with food reflects her journey as she teeters on the edge of living the life that is expected of her.

There were some truly funny, insightful moments. Marian's voice was effective and her character well-realized. But I found the other characters in the novel to be vague, shapeless caricatures. They didn't seem like real people, each of them being too specifically defined by their quirks and their purpose in the story. The food metaphor, too, while effective, was way too front-and-center for my, er, taste. I've read reviews that praise this food metaphor as an early, prescient look at eating disorders as tied to gender roles and expectations, but I'm not sure I believe that Atwood had eating disorders, as a disease, in mind. Perhaps I'm not giving her enough credit.

All in all, I appreciated The Edible Woman, but it really did have the feeling of a first novel. Read it, and then go on to read Atwood's other and better works!

(Almost) a contemporary novel
This is the first book I read by Margaret Atwood, it was written in 1965 but I believe that the only aspects giving away the years depicted are the absence of modern technolgy in the narrative (i.e. mobile phones, computers etc. -not that this is a "technological" read anyway, just the opposite) and perhaps, only perhaps, -that's the way I perceived it- a certain candour in some of the characters/situations which conveys "something" dated.

It's the tale of Marian, a quiet, well-brought up girl in her early 20s who's struggling to conform to the demands and unwritten rules of society. This is not because she does not want to, in fact, she would like to, but she realises that her inner self craves more than a proper, suitable and predictable routine (a good job, a respectable marriage, children in due time etc.), as it was expected -and often still is, if you think about it-. Something in her rebels, in a subtle but undeniably determined way. Will she manage to tackle and overcome her gnawing uneasiness, consistently on the rise, rapidly becoming a true torment and assailing her inner being? (A fact that her "cool" but obtuse boyfriend completely fails to see). That's for you to find out if you get this book.

Bearing in mind the year in which it was written, some considerations about our modern society arise. Have women's -and men's- roles changed much since then? Of course they have, in many ways. Still, could and can a demanding society have such an impact in the configuration of our lives -or, in what we thought/think our life should be like- that sometimes we felt and feel crushed under the pressure? Has the vortex of speed in which the world has changed in this past century -with its good and bad consequences- changed the core of human nature? These are questions which came to mind as soon as I turned the last page.

I'm glad I read this book, but at the same time I cannot honestly place it among my favourites. For instance, in the beginning it almost completely failed to engage me and I kept on only because I always do (as a principle). Thankfully the tale got more interesting later on, which helped, even though I think the author was overly-descriptive especially, but not only, in connection with Marian's issues, rendering the read a bit tedious. Still, and it may sound like a contradiction, I do think it was worth reading it, because it triggers questions and comparisons with today's Western society, and it was certainly worth it for the quality of its prose, essentially studied and quite elegant.