alias grace + fiction based on real events
some thoughts on the book and its genre in general
I’ve been wanting to read Margaret Atwood for a while, but I didn’t want to start with The Handmaid’s Tale. I’ve watched some of it on Hulu, but I wanted something fresh as my introduction to Atwood. After hearing the description for Alias Grace, I decided that was the book I wanted to read by her. Although occasionally a little dull, I really liked this book. The story was intriguing, and the narrative style was fairly unique as it followed around different characters. The basis of the novel, which is the true story of an infamous murder in mid-1800s Canada, was fascinating on its own, and I enjoyed Atwood’s embellishments. I find these types of stories super interesting because of the constraints they can apply on the author.
Historical fiction based on true events is a captivating genre as both a reader and a writer.
As a reader, it’s cool to get to know a true story while also getting the drama and details that are more often found within fiction. I appreciate when authors leave a little note at the end describing what was true and what they sometimes had to embellish to fill in gaps they had in their research. Especially when an event occurred over a 100 years ago, it can be hard to know everything you’d want to put into a story. Some people may be annoyed with the fluff and the little white lies that keep the plot going, but I think it’s a fun way to spruce up a story and make your specific retelling worth hearing. Through interviews and such, I find that a lot of writers try hard to think of creative ways to find a new angle or story that’s worth hearing. This sort of genre can be a way to find that new angle and present something to your audience that they may already be familiar with. It’s still fun to read though even with no background on the subject.
As a writer, I think it shows a lot of skill to be able to mesh your research with your own writing. I took a class where I wrote a long piece about Princess Diana, and it takes a lot of effort to sift through different sources and find the truth. Stories may contradict each other, people may create untrustworthy accounts, and some things are lost to time. You have to try to get into the heads of the people you’re writing about and know their different qualities. At the beginning of my class, we did an exercise where we wrote as our subject in first person POV, and it was both difficult and super helpful. It’s important to understand character dynamics, background, motivations, and more. I’m not sure if this is harder or easier to build when you’re doing this for a real person compared to a made up character, but each has their own challenges. If you yourself are a fiction writer, it could be a good exercise to write historical-fiction-based-on-real-life to force you to find ways to answer questions about your characters and discover things that could be useful in your story.
From both of these perspectives, I truly respect when a writer can do justice to a piece of fiction about a real event, especially when a person is the focus. You have to juggle your research and decide which accounts you believe, you have to find ways to put in your own made-up parts to fill in gaps and do it seamlessly, and you have to really understand the context and the people you’re writing about. When done right, like in Alias Grace, it can lead to a rich story that is filled to the brim with detail. It can also be a fun way to read or write historical fiction, especially if the writer tries to emulate the style of the time period for which they’re writing.
I’d recommend Alias Grace if you enjoy historical fiction, unreliable narrators, various point of views throughout the story (for example, being first person for Grace, then first person for her doctor, then third person, etc.), and darker subjects. I’m not sure if the writing style is Atwood’s typical style, or if she wrote that way to mimic 19th-century writing, but you will have to get used to long, periodic sentences. I don’t mind it at all, and even enjoy it, but I will admit it can be a bit more challenging than normal contemporary styles. Once you get used to it, though, it makes a lot of sense that the characters would think or speak in the ways that they do. You get inside the heads of a few people in this book.
Thanks for reading another post from Back in the Pulse! As usual, let me know what you think in the comments. It’s always fun to see how people react and have the posts be a little less one-sided.
Very interesting perspective. I’ll have to look for Margaret Atwood next time I’m at the bookstore!!