48. Moral Disorder--Margaret Atwood

Moral Disorder is a life told in stories (interestingly, quite similar in format to The Company She Keeps, reviewed below). In the first, Nell, the connective character, is a girl of eleven, knitting a layette for her mother's late-in-life baby. In the last, Nell cares for her dying mother. Atwood carries the reader through important passages in Nell's life--first love, independent young womanhood, settling down and creating home and family, downsizing, and finally caring for aging parents. Atwood exquisitely recounts the yearnings and struggles of each stage in Nell's life. This, I believe, is one of Atwood's greatest strengths as a writer--her ability to write incredibly affectingly by reminding the reader of personal and deep feelings and anxieties, but making the struggles seem at once universal and unique. Reading Atwood is a pleasure all should experience. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.