Rating: 
Summary: Dazzling, a haunting story
Review: _The Robber Bride_ is one of my favorite books of all time, perhaps because I have one had a Zenia in my own past. The plot of the book revolves around the view points of 3 different women who have had their lives and weaknesses betrayed and violated by the charismatic, beautiful, unforgettable and greedy creature known as Zenia. Throughout the book, though you'll meet Zenia many times, she will ultimately remain a mystery with only subtle hints to help you grasp at a truly deep understanding of her motivations. However, Zenia is not the point of the story - Zenia ia merely a catalyst, an /event/ which changes the lives of people around her. We are drawn into three varient viewpoints during this story - those of Roz, Toni, and Charis. Roz is whipsmart, wealthy, and strident while on a more hidden level quite insecure and naive. Toni is highly intelligent, watchful, anti-social, unique in her personality quirks. Charis is an aging hippie, true, but her spirituality is true rather than false. Something within Charis is very pure, innocent, and will never be anything different. Each woman has different talents of insight, and each woman has blind spots about herself which the phenonmenon of Zenia will leave exposed and in some ways, damaged. The point of this book is the tale of the three woman rather than Zenia herself, though I completely admit that Zenia is a fascinating character you won't soon forget. It is within the fabric of the characters that M. Atwood truly shines, I have rarely met three characters who were so *real* or complex, nor have I read a book which is so richly layered with subtle meanings. I think that the Robber Bride should be taught in school, as the more you probe into the book the more fascinating it becomes - in the end you might have more questions than answers, but that's what makes the book so haunting. You'll think about it for years afterwards, considering events, characters, subplots, meanings, language, quotes, and more. Lastly, this book is quite quotable. Atwood has an amazing talent for metaphors which are so accurate and unique that you're startled and delighted when you trip over them by the mental images they provoke. This book also features my favorite opening paragraph of all time, which features a metaphor about fabric. The consideration of fabric is central to this book - the weaving of a story, and it's unravelling. Creating a story, and dismantling it to find the meaning. You'll enjoy the depth of this book, you'll enjoy the characters in this book, and you'll enjoy the phenomenal writing in this book. I'd force all of my friends and my mother to read it, and I wouldn't leave you out either.
Rating: 
Summary: You won't be able to put this one down!
Review: This is the third Margaret Atwood book that I've read and, once again, Atwood fails to disappoint. Much like The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin, I simply could not put The Robber Bride down once I started reading it. The story of these four women is engaging, and is so multi-faceted that any reader would be able to relate. The main flaw, as some other reviewers have previously noted, is that the characters seem all too stereotypical, and thus a little unreal. Charis is the delussioned hippie, Tony is the academic and Roz the busy career-woman. Perhaps Atwood selected these personas to show the universality of Zenia's "wrath" but each character seems to fit their respective stereotype to a T. All in all though, this is an excellent book and well worth reading. Pass it on to your friends!
Rating:
Summary: My second time reading it
Review: I read The Robber Bride when it first came out and didn't like it. I think I'd just read The Handmaid's Tale and had such high expectations for the new Margaret Atwood that I was disappointed by this modern day, relatively mainstream novel. Picked it up again a few weeks ago and liked it much better the second time around. It's no Handmaid's Tale - but it is engrossing and the characters are well drawn. The only aspect of the book that was still disappointing to me was the trouble I had believing that Zenia could still exert such force over three women whose lives she had derailed. As compelling a character as Zenia was - I think these women would be smart enough to never believe a word she said. And yet... A good read with just a touch of mystery. Guess the second time was the charm.
Rating:
Summary: Atwood at her scathing funniest
Review: Wow, this author can write so much different stuff. She writes novels, short stories, poems, and is a literary critic. Her novels range from highbrow literary, to mystery, to sci-fi. Talk about diversity.
The Robber Bride is a very funny book, which you might not expect if you've read The Handmaid's Tale or Cat's Eye, both quite dark. In this book, Atwood creates a hypnotically attractive woman named Zenia who wreaks havoc everywhere. The other 3 main characters are women drawn together by their suffering at Zenia's hands and their attempts to forget her, now that she's dead. They meet occasionally for lunch - and on one of these lunch dates, in walks Zenia - quite alive, thank you.
Oh boy. Read it yourself and see what happens. In Atwood's hands, what might have been a light romance turns into a catty and witty tale of human frailty and moral choices.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Writing by Atwood
Review: I'm never disappointed by Atwood's writing. She is able to create a page-turner in every single work that I've read, and The Robber Bride was no exception. In this lengthy, delicious story, Zenia becomes the ultimate bad guy and interferes with the love relationships of three college buddies, Tony, Roz and Charis. All three women have their lives ripped apart and virtually ruined by Zenia, and after attending a somewhat mysterious funeral for the evil woman, meet monthly for lunch almost as a therapy session. Twenty years later, they are at their meeting, when, of course, in walks Zenia. What happens next is unbelieveable but almost inevitable. This woman, who has haunted Tony, Roz and Charis for so long cannot expect to return without a fight. Extremely well written and a treat for all Atwood lovers!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and frustrating
Review: Atwood is an enormously frustrating author. She is obviously very intelligent and imaginative; she picks fascinating subjects and explores different writing techniques for each of her novels; she is hugely entertaining. However..."entertaining" doesn't often go hand-in-hand with "substantive," and sadly I think "Robber Bride" is more of the former and not much of the latter. This wouldn't be a problem if I thought that entertainment was what Atwood was aiming for (and there's nothing wrong with that -- I love a good read). But too many of her readers seem to be looking for some feminist "message" in her books, and unfortunately this book is about as "feminist" as "Gone with the Wind." Yes, both novels feature "strong" women, but women who are still defined largely by their sexuality in extremely limiting either/or scenarios. In this novel, Atwood puts women in two categories: sexual (Zenia) and nonsexual (Tony, who looks like a child; Charis, who sees sex as a duty; and Roz, who feels unattractively large and maternal). Everything else about them -- jobs, personalities, pasts -- is of secondary importance, details used to differentiate them (Tony is the intellectal one; Charis is the "groovy" one, etc.), though ultimately all three storylines are the same: evil, sexual, "active" woman vs. good, nonsexual, passive woman. This is grotesquely, almost insultingly stereotypical (though I'm sure this was not Atwood's intent). I also don't buy the idea that Zenia ultimately "empowers" the women by freeing them of worthless men and/or by allowing them to enjoy sex. Why is female empowerment solely linked to sex? Tony is a respected authority in war, a very "male" area of studies, but she sees herself (and we see her) as weak and passive because she's afraid she can't hold onto West. This is way too simplistic. Moreover, as a great many reviewers have pointed out, why is Zenia so one-dimensional? Atwood seems to be trying to make a point about how Zenia is the embodiment of objectification of women -- she can only be seen as a female "type," victim or femme fatale, by everyone including herself. But by not providing any depth to Zenia, Atwood herself has not given us any challenge to this objectification; rather, she unintentionally glorifies it. OK, that was probably way, way too much analysis. The gist: three stars for entertainment value, but as others have said, Atwood has done better work elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A women's story
Review: I really enjoyed this very funny and well written novel about three quite different women, Toni, Roz and Charise who have all been burnt badly by the same woman, Zenia, a femme fatale and "the robber bride". While the reader comes to know the three women through detailed accounts of their childhood years, Zenia and her motivations remain a mystery, at the very least she is a skilled liar and unscrupulous. One by one Zenia steals their men and their money, and they are all in turn led down the garden path by her, their own inner weaknesses making them easy targets for a predator like Zenia. Some parts of the story were a bit far fetched. All the women seemed like caricatures, Toni the eccentric intellectual, Charise the spiritual New Age type and Roz the rich business woman, though this added to the comedy. It was hard to believe that all three women had only ever had one love in their lives, also Zenia seemed completely soulless and the others completely [abstinate]. Fine literature it is not but a great entertaining read none the less, especially for women who have ever encountered a "Zenia". Descriptions of Toronto were great too, neat to have a place I lived in described so well in a novel.
Rating:
Summary: A bit slow for Margaret
Review: I am a huge Margaret Atwood fan, first off. This book is slow and subtle, and while I wouldn't say it was great, it does have an appeal. I had a hard time getting through the first few chapters, but Atwood is so good at developing a level of depth to her characters that you become attached to them whether there's much of a plot or not. While it's not one of my favorites by this author, the book has her style, with vivid, delicious use of words to conjure up beautiful, lurid images in your mind while you read.
Rating:
Summary: Beatiful writing, great characterisation
Review: Fantastic writing and exquisite characterisation are combined in this novel about three middle-age friends who recall their experiences with Zenia, a common friend/enemy/she-devil they encountered in different stages of their lives. Tony, Charis and Roz are wonderfully developed, but it's Zenia who is the real star here. I would have loved to read a chapter under her point of view, I'm sure Mrs. Atwood would have been up to the task!!! But perhaps this is the whole point, maybe Zenia was a sort of personification of the three friends' most deepest fears and weaknesses. But still, what shines here is the writing, which puts this book a notch above others with similar soap-operaish plots. This is a high-quality page-turner.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: This was the most boring book ever written. The plot was uneventful, the characters were all neurotic and moronic, and there was no theme.
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