Alias Grace

 

This is one of those stories that gives you an impression of life. The actual events in the story are not really important. It's more of an explanation or exploration of different characters and their motivations. It's almost a dark Gothic example of magical realism. There are things-significant parts of the story that do not make logical sense. But it raises a few philosophical and moral questions. The first is the question if brutal violence is acceptable because you have been subjected to it yourself. The second question it raises is about the almost eroticization of suffering - especially the suffering of women. The last question it raises is about storytelling - what is real versus what is unreal. You could interpret the main character as being mad due to her intense suffering, or you could interpret her as being an extremely opportunistic person who took advantage of the situation to rescue herself from a very dismal fate. My own interpretation is that perhaps none of the events that Grace relates actually happened, and she might have been living her entire life in a mental Asylum.