Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

I've been a fan of Margaret Atwood's for several years now. It started when I read The Blind Assassin several years ago. I loved that book. Definitely one of my all time favorites. Since that time, I've been slowly reading all of her other books (that are available at my local library). I've enjoyed them all, but none has come close, in my opinion, to The Blind Assassin. Neither does Surfacing, but it is quite good.

The book is told in the first person by an unnamed twenty-something female narrator. She has been notified that her father has disappeared from the country house in Quebec where she grew up. She travels to the house with her boyfriend and a married couple with whom they are good friends. The book focuses on how these young people from the city adapt to country life and the interaction within and between the two couples. The narrator tries to piece together what happened to her father through some mysterious drawings she finds in the house and other clues that she feels have been left for her. As she follows these clues, she begins to fall apart mentally. She feels that everyone is becoming American and evolving into machines. When it comes time to leave, the narrator decides to go "back to nature" and live off the land. She soon runs out of food and realizes that she must make peace with society.

This book was not an easy read. I found that as I read, the narrator's depressed state of mind rubbed off on me. The jealousies and insecurities between the male and female characters and between the two female characters were very true to life. As the book progresses, it is revealed that something the narrator said about her past was untrue and that she created that story to protect herself from what had really happened. Strangely enough, this is something that I myself experienced fairly recently. Although this book was somewhat painful and depressing to read, I think it is worthwhile.