![]() ![]() In love and war, illusion and deceit, Zenia's subterranean malevolence takes us deep into her enemies' pasts. To Charis, who lost a boyfriend, quarts of vegetable juice, and some pet chickens, Zenia is a kind of zombie, maybe "soulless" (Lorrie Moore, New York Times Book Review). To Roz, who did lose her husband and almost her magazine, Zenia is "a cold and treacherous bitch". ![]() To Tony, who almost lost her husband and jeopardized her academic career, Zenia is "a lurking enemy commando". Then Zenia dies, or at any rate the three women - with much relief - attend her funeral. Over the three decades since, she has damaged each of them badly, ensnaring their sympathy, betraying their trust, and treating their men as loot. At various times, and in various emotional disguises, Zenia has insinuated her way into their lives and practically demolished them. She entered their lives in the sixties, when they were in college. All three have lost men, spirit, money, and time to their old college acquaintance, Zenia. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends: Tony, Charis, and Roz. Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride is inspired by "The Robber Bridegroom", a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them one by one. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |