Product Description

Joan Foster is the bored wife of a myopic ban-the-bomber. She takes off overnight as Canada's new superpoet, pens lurid gothics on the sly, attracts a blackmailing reporter, skids cheerfully in and out of menacing plots, hair-raising traps, and passionate trysts, and lands dead and well in Terremoto, Italy. In this remarkable, poetic, and magical novel, Margaret Atwood proves yet again why she is considered to be one of the most important and accomplished writers of our time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138276 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-13
• Released on: 1998-04-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"Read it for its gracefulness, for its good story, and for its help with your fantasy life." -The Globe and Mail

"Marvelously funny." -Maclean's

"A wonderfully unpretentious comic romp--a fine novel: inventive--funny, and a pleasure to read," -Mordecai Richler

"Brilliant and funny. I can't tell you how exhilarating it was to read it - everything works. An extraordinary book." -Joan Didion -- Review

Review
"Read it for its gracefulness, for its good story, and for its help with your fantasy life." -The Globe and Mail

"Marvelously funny." -Maclean's

"A wonderfully unpretentious comic romp--a fine novel: inventive--funny, and a pleasure to read," -Mordecai Richler

"Brilliant and funny. I can't tell you how exhilarating it was to read it - everything works. An extraordinary book." -Joan Didion

From the Publisher
New in this edition: a Reader's Companion to Lady Oracle--ideal for discussion groups

"Funny, poignant, and briskly energetic."
--Newsweek

"A rich, subtle, deep, delicate, nourishing book. It's all joy, but it stays with you. She has things to tell us."
--Philadelphia Inquirer

"A really gifted writer...alternately satirical and lyrical."
--Time

"A very funny novel, lightly told with wry detachment and considerable art."
--Washington Post Book World

"Brilliant and funny. I can't tell you how exhilarating it was to read it --everything works. An extraordinary book."
--Joan Didion

Customer Reviews

Atwood's funniest book has a lot more than laughs to offer
"Lady Oracle"'s Joan is one of my favorite of Margaret Atwood's heroines. She overcomes the problem of her body image and an unhealthy relationship with her mother with a great sense of humor and a definite mind of her own. My favorite thing about this book is the way Joan weaves her own story into the historical romances she churns out for money. I also love the cynical depiction of the literary world which creates her accidental cult hit "Lady Oracle" out of an experiment in Automatic Writing. The men in Joan's life don't know what to make of her, and their attempts to fit her into their predetermined roles never fail to backfire with hilarious results. As always, Margaret Atwood is right on target.

Another wild ride from Atwood
I read Margaret Atwood's *Lady Oracle* with a book group at the office, and I am anxious to find out what my co-workers think of it. I've read several of Atwood's novels previously and am used to her unusual plots and characters, and *Lady Oracle* is no exception. If you enjoyed *The Robber Bride*, I think you'll find *Lady Oracle* right up your alley.

Joan Foster might be categorized as having multiple personality disorder except for the fact that all her personalities co-exist rather happily. When the novel opens, Joan has escaped to Italy, reasons unknown as yet to the reader, and she catalogues her various lives chapter by chapter. Her childhood self, an overweight doormat, must reconcile with her adult self, a beautiful, thin redhead. And then Joan has her writer self, a gothic romance novelist writing under a pen name. Unfortunately, her husband Arthur only knows the adult Joan, and she has a devil of a time keeping them separate from her home with Arthur.

As the novel expands to reveal the how's and why's of Joan's disappearance, readers are treated to various anecdotes of Joan's upbringing and married life. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving, Atwood shows once again that she is a must-read author in contemporary fiction.

A Fantastic Satire!
This is most definately one of my all time favourite books. The way Margaret Atwood examines how pre-occupied our society is about body image is both halirious, sad and unbelievably realistic. She is able to demonstrate how we all struggle to find our identity while at the same time are terrified to come to terms with our true selves, past and present. Despite the fact, the protagonist went to ridiculous extremes to hide her past, I felt I could relate to her situation. This is a wonderful book for anyone who has struggled with their self image. It is also a great read for anyone who loves to laugh!