Response #1 "Bodily Harm"

I have chosen to read the novel "Bodily Harm" by Margaret Atwood. I have never read any material by Atwood before, and this novel I'm sure was not a splendid choice to become familiar with her work. Oh...my...grapic! Within the first 20 pages I became extremely uncomfortable and unsettled by some of her descriptions, characters, and plot lines.



The story has yet to make complete sense, for there are no chapters, only little flower symbols that separate large chunks of story. Also... each chunk of story is different, never following the same plot line. There are so many things happening at once, to one character. I would be o.k. if different scenario's were happening at once, and there were different people involved, but this is not the case. Each bit about the main character Rennie is revealed backwards, even scrambled a little bit, as each new section is a small chunk out of a different part of her life. When you blend them together, though you don't quite know what's happening currently, you get a good description of Rennie's character and who she is and has been. She is a journalist, who is very self preserving and awkward, and I cannot quite relate to her at all, so that's difficult.

The beginning of the novel was very good, giving a good start to a mystery, Rennie comes home to find a rope lying on her bed and police in her kitchen, ready to tell her that some one has broken in to her house. This was interesting, and had my attention immediately, but then she wrecked my intrigue. She strayed so far off the initial plot, into Rennie's history and jobs and friends, that I have no idea what became of the situation, though I will invariably find out, it.s frustrating! I don't want to know about the article she wrote for Owl magazine about a shabby restaurant, or how her friend makes necklaces out of drain chain's, I want to know who was in her room! bah!

Another disapointing aspect to this story, is the way Rennie puts down her home Canadian town, Griswold. She makes it seem like the most boring, dreadful place in all of Canada. A highly religious town of boring people, like the joke Rennie tells her friends, " How many people from Griswold does it take to change a lightbulb? None, if the light goes out, it is the will of God, and who are you to complain?" Griswold is a place where every one where's polyester knits and nothing offensive, so why would I be interested in a place to boring? It makes me feel all weird inside, undercomfortable because I have yet to relate to any aspect of this book.

But the scariest part of this novel so far? The use of third person! Already, the plot has established that some one has been watching Rennie, her abusive, vulgar ex boyfriend is still creeping her, and something bad is going to happen while she's away on her trip. The use of third person, like... "Rennie closed the curtains and began to take off her clothes.." makes me feel like a stalker! Like I am the one watching her, it's so creepy. Not only do the terribley vulgar explainations of strange sex scenes scare me, but I feel like I'm watching from the shadows, its too weird.

The language isn't overly formal, but is still delicate and elegant. She uses no words twice, no expression too often, and I learn a new word probably every few pages or so. I also had to get used to the fact that she used no quotation marks around dialogue, at times it becomes very difficult to pick out speech, especially since the dialogue could start of with "Rennie says..." and then never mention who the other character is that she is speaking with.

I have a feeling that even if there is a huge plot twist, or I finally find out who was in her room and if she will ever get together with her doctor Daniel, I still will not be able to completely submerse myself in the novel, because it makes me uncomfortable. I wish I could relate to at least ONE instance, but I can't. Or maybe... I'm just not trying hard enough to become involved in the story, and maybe I've given up on it already, hmm. I hope not, we'll have to see if the next bit gets me more excited. Good start :)