Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

Published by Virago, 1997, softcover, 187 pages, condition: as new.

Part detective novel, part psychological thriller, Surfacing is the story of a talented woman artist who goes in search of her missing father on a remote island in northern Quebec. Setting out with her lover and another young couple, she soon finds herself captivated by the isolated setting, where a marriage begins to fall apart, violence and death lurk just beneath the surface, and sex becomes a catalyst for conflict and dangerous choices. Surfacing is a work permeated with an aura of suspense, complex with layered meanings, and written in brilliant, diamond-sharp prose. Here is a rich mine of ideas from an extraordinary writer about contemporary life and nature, families and marriage, and about women fragmented... and becoming whole.

Nothing good ever comes from two couples locking themselves in some cabin in the woods. (See "Evil Dead," "Cabin Fever," "Cabin in the Woods"... well, actually just the first one [for I do think the latter two suh-uck!]) Ehh-verr.

But Margaret Atwood is not a horror writer. This is her take on the isolation that begets thoughts too deep to describe other than in her language. With a lyrical poetic voice, we see here precursors to the also extraordinary "Alias Grace" & "The Blind Assassin" (as well as nods to her previous & first novel, "The Edible Woman").

I never had the pleasure of meeting her or even attending one of her jam-packed conferences. Huge regret...! But reading her is like falling atop a velvet cushion, too placid to notice the bugs infesting it, getting under your skin, creeping you out. Her themes are like insects that burrow, give you a terrible virus, & never let go.