One of the recent books that I read, is The Edible Woman by my favourite author, Margaret Atwood. I bought this book from a new bookstore, Bahrisons book sellers in Park Street, Kolkata. I love to read Margaret Atwood books. The Handmaid’s Tale is an iconic book by Margaret Atwood, that you may read if women’s empowerment fascinates you.
Book Blurb from The Edible Woman
Marian is determined to be ordinary. She lays her head gently on the shoulder of her serious fiancé and quietly awaits marriage. But she didn’t count on an inner rebellion that would rock her stable routine, and her digestion. Marriage à la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can’t stomach…(Source: book backcover)
About the Author
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction. She is best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid’s Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson. (Source: Goodreads)
The Edible Woman Review
Marian McAlpin is a woman like me and you. She is in her mid twenties, has a college degree, a job, a pretty stable relationship and moderate expectations from life. The monotony of her low paying job working for a survey company is a constant thing in her life. She shared a flat with a young girl Ainsley who is a woman ahead of her time. Marian has a stable, predictable boyfriend Peter, an up-and-coming lawyer. The go on regular dates and spend quality time with each other, though Marian often feels a bit bleh about their intimate moments. Very soon the two become engaged after Peter’s last college guy pal gets married.
Surprisingly for Marian, shortly after the engagement she begins to loose the urge to eat certain foods. Gradually this loss of appetite becomes all encompassing and Marian begins to go throw several symbolic identity crises. Despite being pretty accepting of her role as a woman in the 1960’s, her loss of appetite for certain foods is symbolic of her rebellion against patriarchal societal expectations. She finds herself questioning her decisions and the course of her mundane life. Regular, everyday food items become symbolic of her internal struggles and she begins to imagine all her food to be animated and alive. The author talks about Anorexia/ Bulimia without exactly mentioning it in too many words.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
I read a similar Korean psychological fiction, the Vegetarian by Han Kang, in which the female protagonist,a home maker looses her urge to eat meat and other animal products, which is a huge part of the Korean food culture. As a result of this she becomes distanced from her family, and ultimately society. That is another review that I will write sometimes later.
Basically Marian is a woman who gradually feels burdened and weighed down by the rules, expectations and inequalities of societies. She rediscovers herself and finds the strength to take or ask for what she wants through her realigned relationship with daily food items. In the course of her rediscovery, she becomes a braver, independent and self reliant version of herself.
If you like books with interesting female characters and are passionate about women’s empowerment and feminism, then this book is for you. Margaret Atwood has a beautiful writing style that makes reading her books a pleasure.
This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z challenge and this is the T– post
