Review: Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

I recently revisited Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye by listening to the unabridged audio edition (Random House Audio; 16 h, 31 min) read by Kimberly Farr. Instead of writing a full review of a book I first read about twenty years ago, I thought I'd give you a quick summary and then share some of my thoughts.

Feminist artist Elaine Risley, returns to her childhood city of Toronto for a retrospective exhibit of her work. In the down time between dealing with the logistics of the show, she wanders the city and reflects on her troubled childhood, her difficult young adulthood, and the surprise of finding herself old enough and established enough to put together a retrospective show.

Elaine recalls her life in pieces,

You don't look back along time, but down through it, like water. Sometimes this comes to the surface, sometimes that, sometimes nothing. Nothing goes away. (p. 1)

It is the "sometimes nothing" that is particularly problematic for Elaine. Throughout her life, she is periodically startled by a gap in her memory, a time period that seems lost. What she learns, long after her life has settled into comfort, is that she was the victim of childhood bullies who sometimes acted as friends, confusing the young Elaine who wasn't prepared for how cruel girls can be.

Elaine's current trip to Toronto is not what triggers her memories of that incident. But being back in the city causes her to think of those girls and how her relationship with them hardened her, shaped her ideas of feminist issues, and even informed her art.

As many have said before me, Atwood captured the disturbing truth of many girlhood friendships and how the origin of such meanness and competition was often found in the girls' mothers and in the generations of women before them. Atwood was born in 1939, and when she writes of friendships, sexual relationships, gender, motherhood, religion, and opportunities, she speaks to all women who came of age in the twentieth-century. Cat's Eye would make a great book club read, especially for a group that includes multiple generations.

Cat's Eye at an Indie

Cat's Eye at Powell's

Cat's Eye at Book Depository
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Published by Anchor Books, 1988
ISBN-13: 9780385491020 Source: Audiobook edition: Review (see review policy)
My full audio review was written for AudioFile magazine.
Rating: A
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Weekend Cooking: Movie Review: Julie & Julia

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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Is there anyone left who doesn't know the premise behind the book and movie Julie and Julia? I admit that I haven't yet read the book of the same title but we did watch the movie on Christmas Eve, and I read Julia Child's My Life in France in 2006, soon after it came out. That was before I started blogging, but here's what my reading notes say:

Love, love, loved it. Surprised over her relationship with her family. Surprised she got started so late. Wonderfully told. Sorry we didn't get more insider's information on other chefs besides James Beard and Simca, but nicely personal and the descriptions are terrific. Wow . . . that was a couple!

I listened to the unabridged audio read by Kimberly Farr. While her French pronunciations were not spot-on, I was not bothered by that because I thought she did a fine job with the rest of the narration. Fluent French speakers or those with a better ear than I have may feel differently.

Meryl Streep was absolutely wonderful and believable as Julia Child. The best parts of the book were not portrayed in the movie, and if you are a foodie or just a Julia fan, be sure to give My Life in France a try.

As for Julie Powell, what blogger couldn't relate to the way that blogging can take over one's life? The constant checking for comments, the worry about letting your readers down, the excitement when you realize someone is reading what you write. My mother raved about the book, and I'm going to try to get to it very, very soon.

All in all, a fun movie that should appeal to all foodies and most bloggers. Here's the trailer, just in case you've missed it. (EDIT: The trailer may not work, they keep allowing and then disallowing embedding permission. Try this You Tube link.)

Directed by Nora Ephron, 2009.
Source: Borrowed (see review policy)

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