Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood is our September 2024 New School Classic Group Read.

This is the Spoiler Thread.

Hello, so excited for my second read since joining this group.
I haven’t read anything by Margaret Atwood but I’m familiar with the title of her most popular work, The Handmaid’s Tail. I’ll be starting tomorrow- can’t wait to discuss with you all.

I will be starting in about a week, after I finish another two books we are reading. I will be reading and listening.

When you're done with the book, you might enjoy this radio interview Atwood did with Studs Terkel, shortly after the book came out in the States:
https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs...

There are some spoilers, but wonderful to hear her read several passages, and comment on the themes.

I have to admit I haven’t gotten very far yet because I am yet to be hooked. The first few chapters were a little difficult to follow because of the way she switched between past, present, and ??? (Maybe it’s just me).
I have not lost hope yet, I’ve read books that I loved with slow starts and I’m only 10% through.

Oh so wonderful. I remember I was in literary love with Margaret Atwood about this time. I probably read this. It feels familiar. But beyond that, it is so true about time and friendship and change 👏👍💛🌼

Cynda wrote: "Oh so wonderful. I remember I was in literary love with Margaret Atwood about this time. I probably read this. It feels familiar. But beyond that, it is so true about time and friendship and change..."

I love your thought here. I haven't started, but now I've put this book on top of the next to read list.

I took on this book this month. It was a heavy book that poignantly captures petty evil and bullying. Overall enjoyed it very much !

I reached half way and this was doing nothing for me so I DNF'd.

funnily enough, the most recent book I finished was Flannery O'Connor's "The Violent Bear It Away" which, like Cat's Eye, featured an MC who had been messed up in childhood, a mundane storyline, and mostly unsympathetic characters, but I happily finished/3.5-starred VBIA helped by the writing style being unusual/atmospheric, my at least being interested in how things turned out for the characters, and its being relatively short(!)

I finally picked up this book again after a few weeks of avoidance and I can say it has grown on me.
This is not the kind of book I enjoy, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad book. I think any book that can get you to feel exactly how the main character feels is worthy of recognition— Cat’s Eye does that.
Margaret Atwood wrote a character that is deeply relatable- I think everybody even in their deepest self can connect with a piece of Elaine.

I am 35% through and I’m hoping to finish it before the end of the month 🤞

I read this book this week and I agree with Lilly that we can connect with Elaine at some point. But even with that small connection that I occasionally felt, I can't say I enjoyed most of the book. At about the point that Elaine went to university, I got quite bored with the story. Her search for her artistic identity and her affair with Josef should have been interesting but it wasn't. I'm sure most readers would like to know what happened to Cordelia. I know it may have made the story more realistic not to know, but I would like to know anyway.

Mostly what this book confirmed for me is that Margaret Atwood's books aren't for me. I have read six so far and I only really liked two. None were bad but the rest were just mediocre. I'm not sorry I read this, but it was another mediocre book for me.

I feel like Elaine’s character got less relatable as she got older because she remained the same apathetic person the whole way through, even after she left her oppressive situation with her friends. It was understandable for her character to seem detached when she was younger but 400 pages of her life story told in monotone is too much for me.

Laurie, it’s funny that you say that you lost interest with her when she goes to university because that’s about where I am right now. I’m giving in to the boredom and marking this one as a dnf.

Elaine cannot see the characters in a play/determine who is who, and she cannot determine who is friend, who is not. This novel seems to be a meditation on the nature of what we call frienenemies. Since the concept is a new one, the narrator is free to meditate on the dishonesty and other misdirections in relationships.

How telling it is that Cordelia is a weasel in the play version of The Wind in the Willows and that she is insignificant undiffentiated spirit accompanying Prospero. . . . That Cordelia does not know that playing a witch in the Scottish play is playing a minor role.

Good contrast between Cordelia and Elaine. Cordelia decided to just drop out of life while Elaine worked and thought and reached conclusions in thoughts and actions.