The robber bride

by Margaret Atwood

No cover — Margaret Atwood: The robber bride (1993, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday)

863 pages

English language

Published Oct. 6, 1993 by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday.

ISBN:: 978-0-385-47216-6
OCLC Number:: 29486060

(15 reviews)

Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride is inspired by "The Robber Bridegroom," a wonderfully grisly tale from the Brothers Grimm in which an evil groom lures three maidens into his lair and devours them, one by one. But in her version, Atwood brilliantly recasts the monster as Zenia, a villainess of demonic proportions, and sets her loose in the lives of three friends, Tony, Charis, and Roz. All three "have lost men, spirit, money, and time to their old college acquaintance, Zenia. At various times, and in various emotional disguises, Zenia has insinuated her way into their lives and practically demolished them.

To Tony, who almost lost her husband and jeopardized her academic career, Zenia is 'a lurking enemy commando.' To Roz, who did lose her husband and almost her magazine, Zenia is 'a cold and treacherous bitch.' To Charis, who lost a boyfriend, quarts of vegetable juice and some pet chickens, Zenia is a kind of zombie, maybe 'soulless'" (Lorrie Moore, New York Times Book Review). In love and war, illusion and deceit, Zenia's subterranean malevolence takes us deep into her enemies' pasts.

7 editions

Pentapod reviewed The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The Robber Bride' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The Robber Bride is a sort of gender reversal of the Brothers Grimm story "The Robber Bridegroom," in which an evil bluebeard type character lures three brides to their doom and eats them. Three very different women (Tony, Roz, and Charis) all meet a fourth dark, mysterious, and compelling "robber bride" character (Zenia) while they're all at university. Zenia befriends them all separately, preys on their various weaknesses, and tricks them out of money, and finally seduces then throws away each of their significant others. She then vanishes and the book picks up in the 90s, some decades later.

Through the book we flash back to each of the three friends, learning about their troubled childhoods, how they met and were manipulated by Zenia (apparently a pathological liar), how each of the men in their lives left, obsessed with her, and then how each of the three have dealt with the aftermath. It doesn't sound extremely gripping but it's very well written and I had trouble putting the book down once I got into it. The three women are very well described and all have interesting, unique personalities and backgrounds. Zenia herself remains a mystery; she tells every character in the book a different story about her origins and background so it's never clear what's real about her and what's not. The book is mostly about how the three friends react and deal with Zenia, rather than the direct actions of Zenia herself.

I liked the characters of the three friends; I did find them a little dated feeling, particularly in regard to the marriages/partnerships however. The three men in the book who Zenia captivates seem very shallow and lifeless and it's hard to feel that the three friends should be particularly sorry to lose them; and none of the couples seem to have any ability to communicate with their partners at all, which makes these relationships seem very shallow. Still, an interesting read.

There's also a short story in "The Stone Mattress" collection that follows up on the three friends some time after the end of this book.

settingshadow reviewed The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The Robber Bride' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I had trouble getting into this book - I picked it up and read a page or two and then abandoned it more times than I can count. But, all of a sudden, by about page 20 it was compulsive reading.

Each of the three main characters, Tony, Roz and Charis teeters on the edge of being a cliche, and the contrast between the three of them pushes them further into familiar territory; however, each of them is written so realistically that I forgave the slightly worn feeling of the tropes.

Each character gets a story in three parts - childhood, emerging adulthood and maturity with Zenia a constant, toxic presence; a measuring stick, by which growth is charted.

Sharyl reviewed The robber bride by Margaret Atwood

Review of 'The robber bride' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Margaret Atwood is SO good. This one is an intriguing novel about three women and their stories and thoughts about the one thing they have in common: Zenia, a mysterious woman who has wrecked havoc on all of their lives.