Title: The Edible Woman

Author: Margaret Atwood

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 358

Rating: 3.5/5

I’ve been working my way through Atwood’s back catalogue for a little while now, although I’ll admit I’ve been doing it slowly but surely. She’s one of those authors where I tend to either love or hate her books, and so this one was interesting because it sat somewhere in the middle.

It was also written early on in her career, and the introduction that accompanied this edition was cool because it taught me a little bit more about its back story. She came up with the idea and wrote the thing in her twenties and while it was later assumed to be written in support of the women’s liberation movement, it came about before that – or at least before Atwood knew about it.

That makes for an interesting little piece of social history, because it could definitely be considered a feminist read. At the same time, it’s not that branch of “all men are terrible” feminism that can be so off-putting and instead just does a great job of raising some serious societal issues and asking the reader for their take on it. It foreshadows The Handmaid’s Tale in that respect.

But it’s also just a solid story with some impressive prose along the way, as well as a reminder of why Atwood is such an important writer to read. Even with this being towards the start of her career, she writes with assurance and you can clearly tell that she was a star in the making.

There’s also the fact that I’m predisposed to books like this which do a great job of highlighting the ordinary, a little bit like Joseph Heller did in Something Happened and John Williams did with Stoner. It’s a testament to Atwood’s skills as a writer that she was able to do this while simultaneously taking on a social justice topic and telling a cracking story to boot.

This thing was so good that it’s not a bad choice for your first Atwood, although The Handmaid’s Tale is better.

Learn more about The Edible Woman.