Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts

by Margaret Atwood

How does one of the greatest storytellers of our time write her own life? The long-awaited memoir from the author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, one of our most lauded and influential cultural figures.

‘Every writer is at least two the one who lives, and the one who writes. Though everything written must have passed through their minds, or mind, they are not the same.’

Raised by ruggedly independent, scientifically minded parents – entomologist father, dietician mother – Atwood spent most of each year in the wild forest of northern Quebec. This childhood was unfettered and nomadic, sometimes isolated (on her eighth 'It sounds forlorn. It was forlorn. It gets more forlorn.’), but also thrilling and beautiful.

From this unconventional start, Atwood unfolds the story of her life, linking seminal moments to the books that have shaped our literary landscape, from the cruel year that spawned Cat’s Eye to the Orwellian 1980s Berlin where she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale. In pages bursting with bohemian gatherings, her magical life with the wildly charismatic writer Graeme Gibson and major political turning points, we meet poets, bears, Hollywood actors and larger-than-life characters straight from the pages of an Atwood novel.

As we travel with her along the course of her life, more and more is revealed about her writing, the connections between real life and art – and the workings of one of our greatest imaginations.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing images and drawings from the book.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Canada, Autobiography

599 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2025

About the author

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.

Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth ­ in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.

Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.

Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.

Reviews

[Nien Carstens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m sat madam president 🫡

MARGARET I LOVE YOU

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I close this lovely book, Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, I am in awe of one of my favorite contemporary writers, Margaret Atwood. This was said to be a literary memoir, but in the end it is more an autobiography of her eighty-five years with unforgettable passages as she worked on her most acclaimed books, my favorites being Alias Grace, The Robber Bride and The Blind Assassin. The book is filled with many beautiful color photographs as well as drawings throughout the text, maps, diagrams, and such. The poetry throughout is beautiful.

To quote Kirkus Reviews: “A literary life infused by humor, grace, and devotion to craft.” and “Engaging, wise, and marvelously witty—illuminating both the craft of writing and the art of living.”

Margaret Atwood was raised by independent and scientifically minded parents. Her father was an entomologist and her mother a dietician both from Nova Scotia. Atwood spent most of each year in the wild forests of northern Quebec, much of this nomadic childhood spent in isolation. From this unusual start in life, Atwood gives us the story of her life as she links seminal moments to the books that have shaped our literary landscape. As we accompany Margaret Atwood on her journey, more and more is revealed, one begins to see the connections between life and art. Thank you for sharing your most inner being, Ms. Atwood.

[Henk]

Margaret Atwood is always a good idea, looking forward to this memoir! She looks so fashionable as well, love how she is leaning into her aesthetic and brings bold colours!

[Valerie Book Valkyrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 So-Much-More-Than-A- Mere-Memoir Stars!
I'm not usually one for reading memoirs or biographies. Although I've been a decades long fan of Atwood's work, I was not inclined to read any kind of memoir or biographical tome, even one penned by the esteemed author herself. It was really after receiving replies from gr Friend, Alan Teder, to my comments on a few of his status updates while he was reading this, and after reading all his status updates, that I became interested in reading 'A Memoir of Sorts'. Thank you very much Alan!
(I encourage you to read Alan's review of this bon-bon of a biography here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).

At a visit to our local library I spied a brand-spank'n-new hard cover edition prominently displayed on the "New Books" carousel. I'm delighted to be the first library patron to physically check it out at the circulation desk 🤗.
And.....at 596 pages it easily qualified for reading in the Long Books Challenge (LBC) 🤸🏼!

There is so much of interest in this brick of a book that choosing what to highlight, emphasize, or discuss becomes very challenging. From the start Atwood is well aware of her "aura" of sorts:
"Witches, of course, unbound their hair in order to cast spells, unleash tornados, and seduce men: perhaps some of these beliefs lingered among male cultural commentators of the mid 20th century, contributing to my witchy reputation. Or the connection may be leftover from the 1950s-60s, a time when a female person who wrote anything but the ladies' pages was considered not only unnaturally powerful but also a borderline lunatic." page 105

There are several anecdotes about her misspent youth in the 1960's, one of my favourites:
After a fiendly young man spiked the author's gingerale with vodka at a party Atwood recalls,
"I've never encountered vodka before, didn't know what I was drinking and downed the lot. Then I blacked out. I woke up on a couch in the cellar with a boy on top of me. Then I threw up. Vomit is a damper of lust." page 275 🤭🤫

Atwood apportions more than a few pages to politics and activism.
The quote "The Personal is Political" derives from a 1969 essay of the same title by Carol Hanish. You can read this 2.5 page seminal essay along with a 2pg introduction added in 2006 by Ms. Hanish for free here: https://webhome.cs.uvic.ca/~mserra/At...

Of lean times the author wrote,"We thought of ways to make ends meet. At one point Graeme (her spouse) proposed a food related money making scheme: he would write a cookbook called EAT CHEAP BUT GOOD. A typical recipe: soup made of old peapods and carrot peels, to which you then added a bottle of champagne." page 443
Of course any bubbly worthy of a toast is not cheap; and any cheap bubbly, well let's just say added to Peapods & Carrot Peels Soup 😖🤢😪.
This may be the book:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Go figure 🤔.

I'd read the majority of her work years, some even decades ago; Margaret Atwood was one of my go-to authors during the 1980's. She comments on some of her novels:
CAT'S EYE, THE PREQUEL
Regarding violations of your trust:
"You might become a detective. You might become a con-artist yourself. Or, a blend of the two: you might become a novelist." page 154

Then there's Atwood's infamous novel THE HANDMAID'S TALE (a must read for EVERY HUMAN BEING!) removed from schools and libraries across the United States in 2022. In fact, it numbers among some of the biggest titles that are not allowed in several states in the country. Canada censored The Handmaid's Tale for the depiction of violence and offensive language. Other countries, including Portugal and Spain, have removed the book from the public's access on the grounds of sexual content, profanity, being anti-Christian, and featuring LGBTQ+ characters. According to writer Sima Sharifi, the Persian translation of the book released in Iran had the text altered to not "put the idea in women's heads that they would be rewarded for activism." Wouldn't you just love to get your hands on this "altered" edition⁉️

"The Handmaid's Tale was originally published in 1985 in England, Canada, & the U.S.; reviews differed among the three:
England - Jolly good yarn. (They'd had their religious civil wars in the 17th century & weren't intending a repeat)
Canada - Nervous, as usual, 'Could it happen here?'
U.S - On the one hand, 'Don't be silly, we're the world's leading liberal democracy, it could never happen here.' On the other hand, 'How long have we got?'"🤷🏼‍♀️ page 521

Yes, this is a memoir of sorts, and it's also a historical account, political commentary, literary criticism, and comedy all wrapped up in the life of one of the late 20th century's most prolific (64 books!) authors.
What a bonus that Atwood is Canadian, such a credit to the Maple Leaf Country💛🧚‍♀️🙋🏼👍!

[Casey Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you expect from the memoir of one of the sharpest minds in literature’s history? This isn’t a straightforward memoir; it’s a mosaic of memories, reflections, and literary breadcrumbs that reveal how Margaret Atwood sees the world, her place within it, and reflections on her career and specific moments. It is detailed, intimate, clever and laced with Atwood’s signature wit! I definitely chuckled out loud while reading it. I also enjoyed learning about her unusual childhood! She invites you to laugh, sometimes to ache or cringe, but always—always—to think.

I will leave you with this excerpt that I enjoyed, to get a taste:

”People have asked me over the years, ‘If you could choose another century to live in, which would it be?’ ‘Too general,’ I have replied. ‘What gender, what age, what country, what social class? A princess of the nobility or a ditch-digger?’ I had little doubt, that without the Age of Print, I’d have been scrubbing floors.”

Thank you so much to Doubleday for sending a free gifted ARC! Book releases 11/4/25.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me preamble this by saying she’s hard-working, prolific, excellent writer. I’ve read many of her novels and have enjoyed all of them. That said, like the women on the train when she was in Ireland this goes on far too long with too many details that are honestly not that interesting. There are moments, but I didn’t need three chapters about her husband‘s history or the family from Nova Scotia.

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Career & CanLit Overview with Humour 🍁
A review of the McClelland & Stewart hardcover (November 5, 2025) released simultaneously with the audiobook/ebook.

You were such a sensitive child!
- My Mother
But I'm quite flinty now.
- Me
Yes. You are.
- My Daughter
One of these days that smart mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.
- My father, when I was a teenager

I hadn't actually planned on reading this for the 2025 Long Books Challenge with several GR friends, but when I was at the library there it was on the New Releases shelf and I went for it on impulse. I can't even say that I'm a huge Atwood fan, sticking mostly to her breakout hits & and several of the shorter works. After reading Book of Lives I'm definitely ready to tackle more though. There is even a nice omnibus edition The Margaret Atwood 4-Book Bundle: The Handmaid's Tale; The Blind Assassin; Alias Grace; The Robber Bride available as a bargain eBook if you are looking for a possible starter pack.

Book of Lives tells Atwood's own life story, starting with her younger years with her parents and siblings which was often spent roughing it in Northern Ontario and Quebec where her father worked as an entomologist. That early life prepared her for the later years with life partner Graeme Gibson (1934-2019). whether exploring, farming or viewing bird life in the wilderness. Gibson's own life story is interspersed throughout, including those years before the two ever met.

The main course is the story of Atwood's writing career and development from a poet at a young age to the dominant figure of Canadian literature she is today. The book is full of trivia on the backstories of the novels and many of the short stories. This often entails quirky encounters with other writers and the publishers and editors of her works. The book is enhanced by a generous number of photographs and several of Atwood's own quirky cartoon drawings.

This was overall a Canadian bibliophile's delight with an emphasis on Atwood's self-deprecatory humour and gossipy bits about the history of Canadian literature. One of my top reads of 2025!

Trivia and Link
Nothing to do with the book itself, as Estonia is not mentioned, but 10 years ago Margaret Atwood was in Estonia for a literary festival and bought a knitted Estonian cat hat, probably from one of the arts & crafts vendors who have their stalls around the old city wall.

Image sourced from Margaret Atwood's twitter here.

[jocelyn • coolgalreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

love u margaret (ty to the publisher for my gifted copy)

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful though dense with detail and historical context. Although Atwood effortlessly recreates her experience at any age, her perspective is salted with hindsight. She grew up between the wilderness and the city because of her entomologist father’s seasonal fieldwork. She was called “Little Carl” due to how much she resembled her handy father, who built the cabins and houses they lived in as well as most of their furniture. With her beloved older brother, Harold, she was free to explore and later, as a camp counsellor, was known as “Peggy Nature” for her zoological expertise. She could easily have become a scientist but fell in love with crafts and the humanities, sewing her own clothes and writing an opera for Home Economics class. By the end of high school, she’d decided she was going to be a poet.

I did get a little bogged down in the names and details of decades worth of publishing, but there is some tasty gossip, such as the fact that Margaret Laurence spread mean rumours about her (and was a drunk) but later changed her ways. It’s been a lucky window of time for Atwood to live through: she has known simplicity and the need for do-it-yourself practicality, but has also experienced privilege, even luxury (multiple homes and worldwide travel). Mostly, she had the good fortune of being at the start of Canada’s literary boom. In the early 1960s, only five Canadian novels were published per year. Through her involvement with literary magazines and House of Anansi Press and her books on Susanna Moodie and the tropes of Canadian literature, she helped create the scene.

There are frequent mentions of how people or events made their way into her fiction and poetry. Coyly, she writes, “I just have a teeming imagination. Also, like all novelists, I’m a kleptomaniac.” The page or two of context on each book is illuminating and it never becomes the tedious “I published this book … then I published this book” that she mentioned wanting to avoid in the introduction. Rather, these sections made me want to go reread lots of her books to appreciate them anew. I was also reminded how often she’s been ahead of her time, with topics and details that seem prophetic (she proposed Payback before the financial crisis hit, for instance). Some elements felt particularly timely: she experienced casual misogyny and an alarming number of near-misses – she says things like “I won’t give his name … you know who you are … though you’re probably dead” – and, through her involvement in bird conservation, she’s well aware of the disastrous environmental trajectory we’re on.

For a memoir, this is not especially forthcoming about the author’s inner life and emotions. Where it is, she masks the material in a layer of technique. So when she’s confessing to having an affair while married to Jim Polk (whom she met at Harvard), she writes it like a fairytale scene in which she went into the woods with a wolf. When she was fretting about Graeme Gibson’s reluctance to divorce her first wife and marry her, she imagines letters to her ‘inner advice columnist’. (Note: Gibson was her long-time partner and his sons were like her stepchildren but they never did marry – and he only ‘allowed’ her the one child, though she wanted two of her own. One ‘Jess Gibson’ has a speculative short story collection, The Good Eye, coming out in May 2026. No doubt her work will be compared with her mother’s, but bully for her for not using the name Atwood to try to ride her coattails.)

One of the successful literary touches is the recurring “We Nearly Lose Graeme” segments about his risky behaviour and various mishaps. He had dementia and mini strokes before suffering a major one while in London with her for The Testaments tour; he died five days later. Her reflections on his death are poignant, but generic: “We can all believe three things simultaneously: The person is in the ground. The person is in the Afterlife. The person is in the next room. You keep expecting to see him. Even when you know it’s coming, a death is a shock.” At the crucial moment, she turns to the first-person plural and the second person.

I skimmed some of the bits about Graeme’s earlier life and the behind-the-scenes of publishing; I felt that he and many of her literary pals are more important to her than they are to readers. But that’s okay. The same goes for her earlier life; I noted that the account of her time as a summer camp counsellor felt more detailed than necessary. However, with her gift for storytelling, even the smallest incident can be rendered amusing. She looks for the humour, coincidence, or irony in any situation, and her summations and asides are full of dry humour. Some examples:

“Spoiler: Jim and I eventually got married, one of the odder things to happen to both of us.”

“After a while, the hand [at the window of her Harvard student accommodation] went away. It’s what you wish for in a disembodied hand.”

“Eventually the iguana [inherited from her roommate] was given a new home at a zoo among other iguanas, where it was probably happier. Hard to tell.”

It’s not a book for the casual reader who kinda liked one or two Atwood novels; it’s more for the diehard fans among us, and offers a veritable trove of stories and photographs. But don’t expect a tell-all. Think of this more as a companion to her oeuvre. The title feels literal in that it’s as if she’s lived several lives: the wilderness kid, the literary ingénue, the family and career woman, the philanthropist and elder stateswoman. She doesn’t try to pull all of her incarnations into one, instead leaving all of the threads trailing into the beyond. If anything, “Peggy Nature” is the role that has persisted. I probably liked the childhood material most, which makes sense as it’s what she’s looking back on with most fondness. Towards the close, Atwood mentions her heart condition and seems perfectly accepting of the fact that she won’t be around for much longer. But her body of work will endure. I’m so grateful for it and for the gift of this self-disclosure, however coy. (Can I be greedy and hope for another novel?) She leaves this message: “We scribes and scribblers are time travellers: via the magic page we throw our voices, not only from here to elsewhere, but also from now to a possible future. I’ll see you there.”

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Gamze]

i'd order two copies of atwood's grocery list in a heartbeat. may her reign be a thousand years 👑

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a unique experience. I myself am not well versed with Atwood’s novels yet so intrigued. I saw all her books she has written through history and had to pick this book up. The size was intimidating but I dove right it!!! It was exciting how she grew up was so relatable for that time period. I loved how each chapter told of her personal life and focused on a book she was writing at the time. Especially loved the details of her popular book the handmaids tale and the testaments. I now have to read all of her books!!!

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

108th book read in 2025

This is the most excellent author memoir (of sorts) I have ever read. Every page was complete wonder and joy to read. I have been a Margaret Atwood fan since 1996 when I read Cat’s Eye. I have read every one of her novels and now I want to read them all again. I want to have a paper copy of each on my shelves, you know, just in case we can’t get books anymore.

Her signature voice is there, even while she writes about herself and her life and her writing. I had to go to my old reviews notebooks and read what I thought of each one when I first read it. She is so much my kind of person: dead serious, laugh-out-loud funny, contentious, and so human yet so beyond the usual human.

If you have loved Margaret Atwood, you will love this memoir. If you have only ever read The Handmaid’s Tale, you will find out why you should read all the rest. She is the greatest treasure Canada has ever produced.

[All My Friends Are Fictional · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no energy to write a full review, but what a book to start my new reading year with! I am even more in awe of Atwood than I was before, although I know she doesn’t appreciate people being in awe of her. What a woman, what a life. I simply and greedily hope for more writing to come.

[Lyrical · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear...... I so wanted to love this memoir and her narration.
Fail on both desires.

It needed editing down to about half of the book. It drags on forever at times.

Her narration which is a constant drone. It might be useful for insomniacs.....

I am pretty sure no one was brave enough to tell the Queen of Canadian literature that she needed someone to take control of this endless diatribe.

I am sad.

[Amarah H-S]

read my review here: https://thewalrus.ca/whats-missing-in...

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. She’s a remarkable woman and a phenomenal writer. It was interesting to learn how incidents in her life became parts of her work ie bullying although I did not read Cat’s Eye.

As clever as she is, however, this book was a little too long and a little too detailed for me.

[Bethann · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the first three quarters of this book, I really wasn’t understanding why exactly it was needed. I love Atwood, but didn’t think we needed a play-by-play of her entire life, starting with her dad’s life. Atwood is usually so innovative and this just felt like a book that would be wonderful for close family and friends, but not a particularly meaningful contribution to the literary cannon. This feeling changed when I got to the last chapters of the book. Her story about her life with Graham and their long goodbye and her ability to write candidly and practically about it is incredibly moving; it invokes a lot of contemplation on a life lived and what is it when an old person dies, if not a tragedy?

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The introduction had me laughing out loud, and the rest did not disappoint. Fascinating tales of her highly unusual childhood. Encounters with other literary figures, such as meeting Al Purdy on the street, or singing Anything You can Write I can Write Better as a duet with Robertson Davies are described with a sharp wit. I especially liked that she tells us how her experience of an incident or a person later appeared in her work. The chapter about the death of her husband made me teary eyed. Oh, it’s long and detailed, and I did wonder how some things looked from another perspective, but the life and work of this iconic 86 year old deserves every bit of the 5 star rating.

[Sadie Naughton]

literally so excited for this. sometimes I forget I’ve literally been in the same room sitting 20 feet away from Margaret Atwood.

[Holly]

To be able to say I own a signed Margaret Atwood novel, but not only just a novel, her MEMOIR, makes me so incredibly happy

[victoria marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely LOVE this! I usually don’t go for such lengthy memoirs unless someone I’m obsessed with more than a bit (this audiobook, which awesomely includes a PDF, is over 25 hours & with lovely narration by Atwood too), but so much love & respect Atwood more & more & more. such an amazing human & great talent we can only be grateful for always.

[&&&&, she frequently mentions letterpress, including how she & a friend printed her first poetry chapbook on a flatbed press in a cellar, rearranging type after printing each poem, & the cover being a linocut she had made herself too! LETTERPRESS (& Atwood), FOREVER!]

so many surprises & amazingness, I don’t want to ruin it at all, but definitely recommend.

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF … while there were some good anecdotes and funny stories, this was wayyyyy too long winded. TBH, I really only cared about how she came up with and wrote The Handmaid’s Tale.

[Sembray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning achievement from a masterful writer. Atwood combines unique and fascinating stories from her compelling life with the origins of many of her best-loved masterpieces to create a compelling and highly enjoyable memoir. I particularly enjoyed the sections covering her childhood in rural Canada, with her father's career as an entomologist being responsible for many of her formative experiences in nature. Her relationship with the late Graeme Gibson is relayed in poignant detail, and the entire book is brimming with the wit, insight and humanity which one would expect from one of the finest authors of our time. On the whole a brilliant memoir which will enthral both Atwood obsessives and newcomers to her bizarre and brilliant world.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read for a memoir. Solid 4.5⭐️ rounded up. She spoke so candidly about her life and the people in it. She shared how the people from her life showed up in various books and poems in some capacity. It was a touch long, but I mean, she's lived a long full life. So cant be mad at that.

Listened to this on audio, definitely had to speed it up as Atwood reads it herself and its a bit slow at times. But her inflections and sound effects really made me laugh.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is the case with so much of Atwood’s work, parts of this work are utterly brilliant, other parts overly detailed. Lengthy chapters on Graeme’s life seem unnecessary, for instance. She knows the chapter on the writing of The Handmaid’s Tale will be what most of us are reading for, but it is one of the least detailed chapters. The end of the book just sort of fizzles out. I really wanted more about her writing and fewer digressions about other people’s lives.

[Tara Cignarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book of Lives a Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood
Audio
Writing: A-
Story:A
Narration: A-
Best Aspect: There is so much in this. Full of detail of all parts of her life.
Worst Aspect: I would have liked more on the writing and the writing process than on specifics she did each day of her life.
Recommend: Yes.

[Stella]

I laughed, I didn't get some name dropping, I cried and I don't rate memoirs.

[Marva Hutchinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Nonfiction November began with a memoir from one of my favorite authors. This is not for a casual, curious or selective Atwood fan, certainly not someone who just wonders about writing or even The Handmaid's Tale. This for a diehard fan, and maybe someone who has at least dabbled in the coursework of a traditional English major to get all the references and dry humor. The story of Atwood's childhood was long but relevant. The long discussions about Graham and Shirley and Canadian publishing industry sometimes left my mind wandering. In fairness, I don't know what I expected, and I guess it is somewhat exciting to realize that one of the greatest feminist minds also spent much of her life worrying about the same banalities as the rest of us. My favorite parts came from a discussion of her history paired with a poem inspired by that time. And the discussion of Cat's Eye is fabulous. If you have savored all of her poetry and prose, you will likely enjoy this as well.

[Anjali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is “It’s not you, it’s me” DNF. Atwood’s writing is wonderful in this autobiography, witty and wry and well-executed, but there’s a difference between autobiography and memoir, and the former rarely interests me. This is very long, as expected with Atwood’s full and productive life, but I had an unexpected break from the audiobook due to life events and I just can’t muster any interest in picking it up again.

[Come Musica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Atwood, con “Le nostre vite. Una specie di autobiografia”, è tornata in libreria, presentando un memoir monumentale e poliedrico, che attraverso oltre 700 pagine ripercorre le molteplici sfaccettature della sua esistenza, con l’arguzia, la precisione e l’ironia che contraddistinguono la sua prosa.

Cresciuta nelle foreste del Québec da genitori scienziati, un entomologo e una dietologa, Atwood racconta un’infanzia avventurosa tra insetti, serpenti e libri, passando per un’adolescenza creativa dedicata a fumetti e commedie musicali, fino agli anni da dottoranda ad Harvard, dove scrive poesie e studia astrologia. Il libro si snoda come un collage di vite: quella di una pioniera della letteratura canadese, di un’intellettuale femminista negli anni Settanta, di un’ambientalista impegnata, di una madre e compagna del carismatico Graeme Gibson, e di un’osservatrice acuta della società contemporanea. Atwood intreccia aneddoti personali con riflessioni su temi cari come l’ecologia, il potere, il genere e la creatività, rivelando incontri fantastici, svolte politiche e il dietro le quinte di opere iconiche come “Il racconto dell’ancella”.

La traduzione di Federica Aceto e Chiara Manfrinato cattura fedelmente il tono vivace e introspectivo dell’originale, rendendo accessibile un testo che non è solo autobiografia, ma un’indagine profonda sull’identità umana e sul ruolo dell’arte nel mondo.

“Sono un incubo per i miei traduttori. Uso allusioni, faccio battute – sempre difficili da tradurre – invento nomi di marche che non esistono. Di recente sono stata in Norvegia, dove ho conosciuto la traduttrice di Vecchi bambini, Inger Gjelsvik. Il titolo in norvegese era: Ryper i solnedgang. Le ho chiesto che cosa significasse e lei mi ha inviato alcune note informali: un esempio del pensiero e della cura che i traduttori letterari mettono nel loro lavoro.”

Pubblicato in contemporanea mondiale, questo volume, definito dalla critica un “grande evento letterario”, appaga la curiosità dei fan offrendo uno sguardo intimo sulla mente visionaria di una delle scrittrici più influenti del nostro tempo, senza mai scadere nel narcisismo ma elevando il personale a universale.

Un’opera che commuove, diverte e ispira e che, con profondità narrativa, va oltre i confini del romanzo.

“Potrei dire: «Scegli tu, caro lettore. Da una parte sono qui, in viaggio da più di ottantasei anni, dopo aver condiviso con te strani avvenimenti, fantasmi, stupidi errori e catastrofi. Sì, sono ancora con te, proprio qui, sulla pagina». Ma dall’altra parte…
La mia prozia Abbey, che negli ultimi anni della sua vita era diventata completamente cieca, si ammalò. Una giovane parente andò a trovarla. «A cosa pensi, zia Abbey?» domandò.
«Sto scrivendo la storia della mia vita» rispose lei. «E quando sarò arrivata alla fine, chiuderò il libro».”