Rating: 
Summary: A haunting and powerful read.
Review: Searching for her missing father, a young woman is forced to confront a series of repressed memories and gradually plunges into delirium.This novel combines culture/nature binarisms, post-feminism and mental illness with a highly descriptive writing style. A penetrating character study, Surfacing overflows with clear eyed observations and bizarre lysergic riffs, it's a haunting and powerful read. This is, in my opinion, Atwood's best book; far superior to the wildly overrated and dull Handmaid's Tale.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment for a huge Atwood fan
Review: SURFACING by Margaret Atwood
2/22/04 SURFACING by Margaret Atwood is a short novel that starts out as a story of a young woman who is in search of her missing father. Taking place in a wilderness area on an island in Quebec, the main character brings with her 3 friends (a boyfriend and another couple) and the four of them live on her family's old property, now rundown and in need of a lot of love and care. While the four spend their time "roughing it", she goes about plotting on how to figure out where her father is, or whether he is still alive. This was a very difficult book for me to read. I'm going to say this straight out, that SURFACING by Margaret Atwood was a disappointment for me. Although I'm not going to give it a rating lower than 3 stars, coming from an author that I consider my favorite, it was difficult to read such a book that I found was not her best work. Some may disagree with me, but I found this book somewhat lacking, and that because this was one of her earlier novels, I felt that Atwood was still figuring out her style of writing. The attention to detail to the Canadian wilderness was wonderful, however, and I could imagine myself there with these four adults, scrounging for food and fishing for dinner. I'm having a hard time describing how I feel about this book, as I had so much hoped for something better from Atwood. I don't think any fan should dismiss this book. It is a must read, if one would like an overview of Atwood's entire literary collection. However, I would recommend that any new reader not read this book first, as it might disappoint and prevent one in picking up another Atwood book. I still find that THE BLIND ASSASSIN is by far her best novel so far, followed closely by THE HANDMAID'S TALE.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment for a huge Atwood fan
Review: SURFACING by Margaret Atwood
2/22/04 SURFACING by Margaret Atwood is a short novel that starts out as a story of a young woman who is in search of her missing father. Taking place in a wilderness area on an island in Quebec, the main character brings with her 3 friends (a boyfriend and another couple) and the four of them live on her family's old property, now rundown and in need of a lot of love and care. While the four spend their time "roughing it", she goes about plotting on how to figure out where her father is, or whether he is still alive. This was a very difficult book for me to read. I'm going to say this straight out, that SURFACING by Margaret Atwood was a disappointment for me. Although I'm not going to give it a rating lower than 3 stars, coming from an author that I consider my favorite, it was difficult to read such a book that I found was not her best work. Some may disagree with me, but I found this book somewhat lacking, and that because this was one of her earlier novels, I felt that Atwood was still figuring out her style of writing. The attention to detail to the Canadian wilderness was wonderful, however, and I could imagine myself there with these four adults, scrounging for food and fishing for dinner. I'm having a hard time describing how I feel about this book, as I had so much hoped for something better from Atwood. I don't think any fan should dismiss this book. It is a must read, if one would like an overview of Atwood's entire literary collection. However, I would recommend that any new reader not read this book first, as it might disappoint and prevent one in picking up another Atwood book. I still find that THE BLIND ASSASSIN is by far her best novel so far, followed closely by THE HANDMAID'S TALE.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book!!!
Review: Surfacing was an excellent book. For me, the pages just seemed to turn by themselves.
The main character who remains nameless goes on an
excursion, with a married couple and another male friend, to find
her father. They stay in his cabin, where memories haunt the main character, and adventures follow them, one after another.
If you've never been camping, this is the book to read.
It'll take you there!!!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Book!!!
Review: Surfacing was an excellent book. For me, the pages just seemed to turn by themselves.
The main character who remains nameless goes on an
excursion, with a married couple and another male friend, to find
her father. They stay in his cabin, where memories haunt the main character, and adventures follow them, one after another.
If you've never been camping, this is the book to read.
It'll take you there!!!
Rating:
Summary: Not the best I've read
Review: Surfacing, written by Margaret Atwood takes place in the late twentieth century. It talkes about a week in the lives of a young talented artist and her lover (Joe) and another couple (Anna and David). When the artist is told that her father has dissapeared, she decides to go back to her hometown, Quebec, to look for him. She asks her lover, Anna and David to accompany her in her search. She not only goes to this place to look for her father but to seek answers about herself. When she arrives to Quebec, she goes and looks for her Uncle to tell her what happened and he says he believes her father is dead. Not convinced of his words at all they go to the last place they didn't search. The island where the artist used to live when she was young. There they planned to stay for 3 days and ended up staying 7 days. In those 7 days she discovers the heights and depths of the human character and also discovers some truths about her past.She also discoveres her most inner fears and how she can hurt people as well as making them happy. This book is a little long and the chapters are very long too, though rich with detail. They are not what you could say page gripping and exiting but they are but they are interesting. Margaret Atwood has done a great job deciphering life in the late twentieth century, and getting well inside the character of the artist.
Rating:
Summary: ok
Review: the vivid imagery in this book alone make it worth the effort. this is a little dissapointing compared to the handmaid's tale, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: Bizarre and vivid
Review: This book is sublte and psychological in nature, as most of Atwood's work is. She takes you deep in the mind of a woman who has returned to the island of her childhood. The woman has returned because her father has gone missing from the little house on the island. But this event is a mere footnote in the book, the real meat of the story is all very much about memories and the inner transformations of the main character. As always, Atwood's words explode into vivid and lingering images in the reader's mind. The changes that occur in the character and her actions on the island are so charged with emotion and so complicated, and I found myself thinking about the book for days after I finished dispite the fact that I was initially a bit baffled and even disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre and vivid
Review: This book is sublte and psychological in nature, as most of Atwood's work is. She takes you deep in the mind of a woman who has returned to the island of her childhood. The woman has returned because her father has gone missing from the little house on the island. But this event is a mere footnote in the book, the real meat of the story is all very much about memories and the inner transformations of the main character. As always, Atwood's words explode into vivid and lingering images in the reader's mind. The changes that occur in the character and her actions on the island are so charged with emotion and so complicated, and I found myself thinking about the book for days after I finished dispite the fact that I was initially a bit baffled and even disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting imagery, weak plot.
Review: This book reads more like someone's journal - a bunch of random, deep observations about the world. You really can "feel" the main character's emotions as she goes on her inner journey, but the journey itself is somehow not very intriguing.
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