The Diviners (Manawka) (New Canadian Library S.) (Phoenix Fiction S.) (New Canadian Library, #146)

by Margaret Laurence

[clementine]

This book reminded me a lot of another Canadian favourite, Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. They have a lot of structural and thematic similarities. Both are about middle-aged female characters looking back at their lives, from childhood to present, and how their experiences have shaped them. Both main characters are strong and independent, both are artists (Elaine from Cat's Eye is a painter, and Morag is a writer), both had unhealthy relationships with older men, both had failed first marriages... Both books have a feminist slant and both grapple with the theme of abortion in a time when a woman could not simply go to the doctor for the procedure. (As a result, both produce some pretty disturbing mental images.)

I also found both books incredibly, almost painfully, immersive. This might be the first book I've felt that way about since I read Cat's Eye five years ago. Laurence's writing is absolutely incredible: so lush and real yet unobtrusive. The characters feel very real and their pain became mine. Morag's relationships are so utterly tortured and complicated. Her relationship with her adoptive father, Christie (who she refers to as her stepfather), is especially painful to read. She is a deeply flawed character but it's hard not to root for her when she is coming into her own at a time when options for women were so very limited.

This has definitely inspired me to check out more of Margaret Laurence's work!