Friday, April 18, 2008

A book review and a plea: Atwood! Stick to adult fiction!!!

Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda by Margaret Atwood

I swear this was the most horrible children's book I've ever read!

Having been accidentally abandoned in a shoe store as an infant, I was prepared to like Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda.

Bashful Bob was accidentally abandoned outside a beauty parlour by his mother and is subsequently raised by dogs. He's a little shy around humans as a result. Doleful Dorinda is raised by abusive distant relatives after her parents disappear in an accident. They meet, Dorinda teaches Bob to speak, and they rehabilitate a buffalo who thinks he's a begonia. After this hits the news both sets of parents show up and reclaim their children.

Yeah.

Add in PAINFUL alliteration and I wanted to vomit ... or "bomit" as Atwood would have written to keep the flow going.

3 comments:

krista said...

whoa. i'm glad you reviewed this. i love margaret atwood.
it's kinda like judy blume: she should stick to adolescent fiction. have you read her adult fiction? bad. real, real bad.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed this book by atwood. I will use it in the classroom. i love the alliteration.

Sarah said...

Especially after her commentary in the Globe and Mail on the Anne of Green Gables (near and dear to my heart) anniversary... I'll attach a link, but she almost threatens to write a book about the way Anne's life would've really turned out for an orphan of the period (dead of syphilis or some other VD before 35 because she would've had to become a prostitute).
Link:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,2269001,00.html