April Group Read - "Alias Grace" (SPOILERS)

By request...

...have at it!

Thanks!

I finished the book this morning and I'm still mulling it over. I'm still not sure exactly what Grace did and didn't do. Or was it Mary Whitney? And just what happened to the Major? I think Atwood has recreated what Grace's contemporaries must have felt, and it seems right that we should have to draw our own conclusions just as they did.

I finished Alias Grace today. I enjoyed the story, it held my interest and I was surprised at how easily it read. Was Grace Marks innocent? I have drawn my own conclusion. I think she was either insane or incredibly clever, but either way I think she was involved in the murders.

I finished last night. I really enjoyed the read, but it wasn't nice and tidy, all questions completely and satisfactorily answered, was it?! I still haven't decided if I think that Grace was a murderess, but your thinking, DeltaQueen50, makes sense to me. I think I'll have to let this book "stew" for a while in my brain. And I'm thinking that this is the mark of a great book--there are no pat answers, no spoon-feeding of the reader.

Karen O.

I love books that actually encourage the readers to do some thinking on their own. That was my favorite aspect of Alias Grace, I can certainly see that this book is going to linger in my mind for some time.

Blind Assassin did that to me. I must have read it five years ago and I still think about it and wonder.

I also just read this, and really enjoyed it. I do wish Atwood would have set her up with Jeremiah, though, rather than Jamie, since that part was all fictional anyhow. He'd have been a much better match and they obviously cared about each other.

As to whether she was involved at all, actively or passively for fear of life, it's quite impossible to say. She could easily have changed her story due to the lawyer telling her things to say, thinking they'd want to hear certain things, that they wouldn't believe some things, trauma causing actual blank spots, etc. There's definitely legit reasons. Or she could have done so because she was guilty and trying to come up with the best-sounding thing. We'll never know, unfortunately. I certainly do not at all believe she was insane. They used to think every woman was insane/had "hysteria," it was ridiculous. To me, it would seem either she passively complied with McDermott for fear of her life, or else she was one of the smartest most vicious in-control of herself people, that she expertly manipulated him, planned it all, and then remained a calm passive servant, except (apparently) planned episodes of hysteria to further some unknown means of hers, for 30yrs. Which seems a bit unlikely, though not impossible.