Comment

Nov 29, 2014
“Alias Grace” is about Grace Marks, a young woman who lives in Victorian Toronto. After leaving behind her unfortunate past, Grace goes to work for a man named Mr. Kinnear. Once employed Grace quickly realizes there are tensions between the servants and Mr. Kinnear and his mistress. A stable hand and Grace ultimately end up murdering Kinnear and his mistress. The stable hand is hung, but Grace is simply imprisoned in a mental asylum to spend the rest of her days. Enter Doctor Simon Jordan, a young, blustering psychiatrist from the United States. Dr. Jordan agrees to treat Grace, as she seemingly has become amnesiac towards (and only towards) the murder. As the novel continues, both Grace and Dr. Jordan’s pasts are revealed, and a solution seemingly arises. This book is, quite unfortunately, extremely uninteresting. It is obvious that a great deal of research was put towards “Alias Grace” but that alone will not satisfy readers. The characters are extremely unlikable, and while they go through symbolic character development, this is simply lost in the sheer dullness of the rest of the novel. The plot of “Alias Grace” is boring and simply drags on for no reason. The novel consistently back tracks and repeats itself, and then promptly throws a ridiculous curveball ending in the final chapters. The ending of “Alias Grace” seems forced and rushed, and does not flow well with the rest of the novel. “Alias Grace” does have a great deal of symbolism in it, and makes use of many literary devices. However, it is such an incredibly disappointing novel for so many reasons. This novel is suitable for ages fourteen and up due to sexual content.