Product Description

Rennie Wilford, a young journalist running from her life, takes an assignment to a Caribbean island and tumbles into a world where no one is what they seem. When the burnt-out Yankee Paul (does he smuggle dope or hustle for the CIA?) offers her a no-hooks, no strings affair, she is caught up in a lethal web of corruption.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109675 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

About the Author
Margaret Atwood is Canada's most eminent novelist, poet and critic. Her books include The Edible Woman, Surfacing, Lady Oracle, Alias Grace, Cat's Eye, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and The Handmaid's Tale, which won both the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction and the Governor-General's Award, was short-listed for the Booker Prize and made into a major film. She lives in Toronto with the writer Graeme Gibson and their daughter.

Customer Reviews

A disappointing novel from an otherwise brilliant writer
I would consider myself a 'fan' of Margaret Atwood, but not of this novel. The protagonists in her other works, while humanly flawed, usually have redeeming qualities, and draw you into their lives. There is nothing in any of the characters in this book that enabled me to care about them. Its only redeeming feature was, for me, the description of the political instability of the island, which had great contemporary comparisons. Those who, like me, embraced works such as 'The Handmaid's Tale', 'The Robber Bride', et al, should not take this as a guarantee of enjoyment. I guess it's her ability to write about completely different subjects, and in completely different styles, that make her such a great writer, but this one did very little for me, I'm afraid.

This is pretty morbid stuff
If you like a story with a beginning a middle and an end you may be disappointed with this work. Despite Atwood's accepted prowess as a teller of tales, she is a Booker Prizewinner, I was less than satisfied with this one. It is the story of a travel journalist who is on assignment in a small country not far from Barbados and Grenada. While Rennie is on the island there is an attempted coup to overthrow the government. Rennie is involved with the insurgence who claim the president is corrupt, which he probably is. Atwood uses flashbacks to explain what makes Rennie who she is. This is expertly done though the book seems to be more a profile of a damaged lady than the promised thriller.

Disappointing.
I guess I made a bad choice - I have not read anything by this author before. The book was good enough to finish (just), but not good enough to make me want to read another one. Surprising, given all the plaudits she gets. Perhaps the emperor has no clothes?

Well crafted in the technical sense, yes, but I didn't see much else to the book. The humour was insufficient to keep me amused and I could not identify at all with the damaged central character. The chaotic background of a Carribean island in political turmoil was well enough done - but that's nothing new.