The Next Best Book Club discussion

It's a new month and that means we start a new book discussion! This month, Olivia will lead the conversation around Margaret Atwood's Moral Disorder!

Hi all! I hope you all enjoyed this book as much as I did. I felt particularly enamored with the farm chapters, since aspects of that relate to my current life, and I really loved the "My Last Duchess" chapter because her classroom descriptions felt like looking through a mirror into my past.

So that aside, I will dive into some questions.

Atwood bookends this book of stories with the subject of age. She begins with the description of her married life and aspects of growing old with another person, " there are little things going wrong with us- a knee here, an eye there-" she also makes a point of describing her old cat Drumlin, who became so senile in old age that she began to eat fruit instead of meat. Age is examined again in the last chapter with the descriptions of her mother at 92. Her body is slowly failing her, but the whole of her life is still within reach through her memories.
Why do you think Atwood chooses to begin and end with age? Do you feel there is resentment, resignation, or hopefulness in these age stories? What was most striking to you about her descriptions of her father and mother aging?

Oona is the closest thing to a villain that we see in this book. Though not a true villain, she is just a flawed human like the rest of us, as a reader I could not help feeling disdain for this "first wife". Nell's repeated acquiescence to the various demands and whims of Oona seem to be more than an average person could bear without snapping. Why do you think she obliges so much? Is she just avoiding confrontation, is it out of love for Tig? Or is there something else at play?

And lastly, what was your favorite story out of this collection and why?

Feel free to pick just one question to answer, or as many as you want to answer.

Atwood is a master at this she has a knowledge of human relationships and also puts a family comical spin to the dialogue making the reader feel like their right there. I suspect age is sort of the demo-graphic that were in, with so many able to relate to this aspect of life with someone whom they know who has aged. I believe that she takes a life almost like a picture, like highlighting parts that reflect most of the persons life. Returning to the theme of age ties the life to the person.

THE description of Oona is one that was ironically realistic as a real person. She was of course the Villian, as she was the competition for Tig in Nell's life...sort of. Although there is a bit of irony in her being the instigator of there affair. Then in the end it comes back to bite her, as her own jealousy and suspicion, creates an apparently unhappy, unsatisfied woman.
I think Nell is simply obliging out of her self felt to be in life as it is happening, as the story goes, after leaving home, she ventures through many small lives, that don't offer her much other then a place to live or a job, so I think she feels like a sense of connection to family, as she finds herself taking on the responsibilities of a help-hand and through the times she is with Tig, I think this feeling deepens. I think she has a feeling of both loyalty to Tig but also to Oona which is sort of a weird although relatable feeling, so she simply thinks that by acting the good in trying to oblige both, this is the situation she is faced with. I thought this was an intriguing plot line, though, not sure of all the funny parts which was my fav. story.

I liked the chapters with what was it, riding the horse about the farm they bought. With her sister coming to visit, and the weird doctor who decides she is schizophrenic. Whoa. Also enjoyed reading the Oona chronicle, meeting the realtor Lily, whom Nell becomes friends with.
I also liked the part about dressing up at halloween, being the headless horseman, and the childhood description, with her sister growing up together.