The Robber Bride.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE+/FINE.No owner inscrptn,and no price- clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,colour pictoial artwork ('Portrait of the Late Mrs Partridge') by Leonora Carrington,illustrated upper panel of dw/dj with b/w lettering,b/w critics' reviews to rear panel; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present - front,upper corner minisculely rubbed with reciprocal loss.Top edges minimally and imperceptibly dust-soiled,but still bright and clean,fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,solid and sound,clean and near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip,dark maroon+white striped headband,sewn-in dark maroon, silk bookmark and immaculate,plain dark maroon endpapers.UK,8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,3-470pp [paginated] includes 7 parts/sections comprising 57 chapters; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,prose extracts reverse of which has acknowledgements,a dedication page,a contents list/table and parts/sections separator pages.
In her captivating new novel (then 1993),Margaret Atwood reports from the farthest reaches of the sex wars.The group of women and men at the centre of this wise,unsettling,drastic,funny and wholly involving story all fall prey to a chillingly recognisable menace,which is given its power by their own fantasies and delusions. Set in Canada in the 1970's,'The Robber Bride' explores several of Atwood's favourite topics - sex,the empowerment of women,the nature of violence,and the nescapable binding of women's fates to the men they know.Loosely based on 'The Robber Bridegroom' by the Brothers Grimm,where an evil groom lures three unsuspecting women into his lair and devours them,the story follows the lives of three women who have been injured by a mutual friend,Zenia,a sociopath whose only joy is hurting people.In Atwood's charateristic style, each of them - Tony, Roz,abd Charis - is in some way weak and vulnerable. Beautiful and arrogant,Zenia befriends each woman long enough to determine what would hurt her most deeply,then steals,seduces,and casts aside the man each woman loves.The course of the novel spans less than a week, beginning at a moment of revelation for each woman,when she finds out Zenia is not,as she had believed, dead.Each is forced to deal with the threat Zenia poses to her sanity and relive her defeat at her hands.Driven to act,the three women each arrive on their own at Zenia's hotel to seek retribution but they each, independently,reach the decision not to kill her.
On the surface,this is a bleak tale that wallows in the destructive side of human emotions - envy,hatred,and retribution - but by the end,a warmer message emerges: the consolation offered by shared companionship and affection. [EF.]
Magnificently written and conceived,'The Robber Bride' is Atwood's finest novel to date.This is her 8th novel.
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