Surfacing
by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood’s second novel, Surfacing, is clearly a book that was supposed to be read on
Halloween. First, the protagonist is
unnamed, an element of writing you don’t often find. Second, we learn that our protagonist, a
female in her twenties (I think), travels back to her summertime family cabin in
the Canadian wilderness to find her missing father…. Has he disappeared to get
away from something, did someone kill him, or did he kill himself? Our protagonist brings three friends with her
on the journey for her father. The group
is embedded in the 1970's culture of free love, where sex with each other,
across lovers, has no boundaries. We
learn of our protagonist’s past: an abusive husband; losing her child to her
ex-husband; a brother who drowned in the lake where they are now searching for
her father; and some other family tragedies.
As the search continues, the protagonist learns of her father’s death
(he too has drowned) and is challenged to find sanity having lived an insane
life. This journey is one worth
reading. Atwood’s ‘line crossing’ from
real and imagined, finding sanity through devastating life experiences, makes
for a great psychological downward spin.
No wonder I enjoy Atwood’s books so much...
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