Readers of The Robber Bride will no doubt be most eager to discuss their responses to Zenia first — the kind of villainy she represents, the sources of her effectiveness, the real targets of her animosity, and the quality of the fantastic that surrounds her and which differs so markedly from the realist technique used to create the three protagonists. The end to which Atwood brings Zenia at long last invites comparison to Atwood's own closing remarks in the novel regarding the arbitrary structures of all narrative. The fairy tale origins of the central metaphor should be discussed in terms of Atwood's penchant for revising and parodying old paradigms. Tony's decision that in addition to all her other traits Zenia was also "courageous" might provoke some lively analysis as well.

The witty evocations of fifties beat culture, 1960s counterculture, and the competition in the 1980s between...