Surfacing

By: Margaret Atwood

Narrated by: Kim Handysides

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the author of The New York Times best-selling novels The Handmaid’s Tale - now an Emmy Award-winning Hulu original series - and Alias Grace, now a Netflix original series.

Part detective novel, part psychological thriller, Surfacing is the story of a talented woman artist who goes in search of her missing father on a remote island in northern Quebec. Setting out with her lover and another young couple, she soon finds herself captivated by the isolated setting, where a marriage begins to fall apart, violence and death lurk just beneath the surface, and sex becomes a catalyst for conflict and dangerous choices. 

Surfacing is a work permeated with an aura of suspense, complex with layered meanings, and written in brilliant, diamond-sharp prose. Here is a rich mine of ideas from an extraordinary writer about contemporary life and nature, families and marriage, and about women fragmented...and becoming whole.

©1972 O. W. Toad Ltd. (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

w t f Margaret?

I am a diehard Margaret Atwood fan. I think she is one of the most remarkable writers of the century, so to use the word terrible to describe a story she has written… Can I call it a story? I kept checking the chapters to see if it was almost over.. at one point I asked myself has she fallen in love with her own voice? Has she gotten lost in the beauty of her words to the point where she just twirls around inside of them and goes nowhere with them? This was one of the most self absorbed obtuse pieces she's ever written. I didn't love it, nor did I like it. It was depressing, the character of David was so insanely annoying that I couldn't understand why he remained in the story. Everything about this story moved like molasses. It was thick and slow and murky and hard to understand. The main characters relationship with her parents whatever that was supposed to be was confusing. The back-and-forth timeline was confusing. The reveals of the characters past realities were confusing. It's not that you don't get it, it's more like do you even want to get it after a certain point. If I were in that cabin with those four other people, I think I would've set fire to the cabin. The idea that the main character wrote children's books? Is that what we were supposed to think she did back in the city? Oh look more confusion.. I think you're beginning to get the idea. Was Margaret drunk when she wrote this book? What the actual fuck Margaret? Did you blackmail your editor? How did you get this published? OK I won't say terrible. I will say immensely disappointing. You can do better.

Not sure where this book was going

I won’t say it was a waste of time. Mostly I was sitting in traffic as I listened. No where as superlative as the handmaid‘s tale, and left me wondering what the great mystery was all about.

Engaging, but not her best work.

She spent a lot of time getting into the details of each character, but very little time about her searching for her father and the outcome.

YAWN!

The most boring book I have ever encountered. I kept waiting for something to occur. Nope. Start to finish was a snoozer. Save your 8 hours!
**Narrator had a lovely voice :)

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Very confusing..

I found myself very lost throughout the book. I really wanted to like the story as I had with Margaret’s other work, but I found that this book never really reached a climax. My first thought at the end was... “What was the point of all of this?!”

5 hours too long

This book was so frustrating, waiting for something,anything to happen. Did not like at all

Atwood always delights

I’ve read many of Atwood’s novels and loved all of them. This may be the most “plotless” (as one reviewer called it) but I enjoyed that. Atwood takes you deep into the Canadian landscape, her descriptions fauna, lake, swamp, and forests make me feel I have been there.

The main character’s self discovery and what “surfaces” midway through the novel is beautifully executed.

My second time reading and I may read again!

Glorious writing

Thoughtful, intelligent and beautifully written. Descriptions of nature and human relationships with nature sensitively observed.

I made need to listen another 5 times and even then…

I’ve no idea what this was about - I’ve re listened to sections - nope that didn’t work and if it’s supposed to be clever - at least give the average reader something to go on. I don’t like giving up on books, so I persevered- but really wished I hadn’t started it.

An excellent listen !

Beautifully crafted and written. Really enjoyed this multi layered audiobook. Very well read too.

Well worth a listen to

Really enjoyed this, especially towards the end. Ends in typical Atwood style, leaving you guessing! Narrator is very good too.

Disappointing

I think this maybe dated now. Interesting environmental and feminist views but not really working as a novel, at least not for me.