This was Margaret Atwood’s first novel written in 1969. She writes about Marion, a young woman who gets engaged to a man named Peter and starts dealing with questions related to her own identity and gender roles. As she starts feeling less like herself she finds that many of the foods that she is used to eating, she is no longer able to eat because she can picture where they came from.
During this time Marion befriends a unique male friend who she feels needs her and offers a very different image then her fancy, perfect fiance. Marion also has a roommate who decides that she is going to have a child on her own and begins her pursuit for the perfect father.
Margaret Atwood ends with Marion baking a cake in the shape of a woman which she uses as an analogy for herself and her relationship with Peter. I first read this book in the late 90s and it was obvious that it was written in a different time just as some of the stereotypes or expectations don’t apply in the same way that they may have then. However, this book does an excellent job examining the changing image that people have of themselves and the way we all adapt to fit different molds.
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