📖 Alias Grace

Grace Marks has been convicted of two murders: those of her employer Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper and lover Nancy Montgomery. In the hopes of getting her pardoned, she is hired to work as a maid in a governor's home. Grace can't remember what happened on the day of the murders, and was exhibiting symptoms of what then was called hysteria. Dr. Simon Jordan is a psychiatrist assigned to Grace's case in hopes that she'll be diagnosed with hysteria and avoid charges. Dr. Jordan asks Grace to start at the beginning of her life and continue until the murders. Grace was born in Ireland to a drunkard father and a struggling mother. Her mother was pregnant very often, so Grace took care of her little siblings for a long time. When they moved to Canada, Grace's mother didn't make the journey and was buried out at sea. In Canada, her father kept spending money on alcohol and left their family without money. At one point, her father started to abuse her as well, while everyone was starving. Dr. Jordan sees this depiction of Grace's early life irrelevant to the murders, and asks her to continue her story from when she started being a servant to the deceased. During this time, Grace met Mary Whitney, her soon to be best friend and roommate. Mary taught Grace a lot on how to be a good servant, and how to avoid trouble while dating. Mary soon becomes pregnant herself but dies due to a botched abortion, and Grace laments that on the day of Mary's death, she didn't open the windows in Mary's room to let her soul escape. Grace continues this story with details on James McDermott, a stablehand at the Kinnears', who has made advances on Nancy. Thomas Kinnear also had been secretly having an affair with Nancy. Dr. Jordan's landlady then tried to make advances on him, after her alcoholic husband left. A neuro-hypnotist by the name of Dr. DuPont wants to try something out on Grace: to put her in a trance to uncover some of her unconscious memory. How will this play out? I heavily recommend this book since it's actually based on real events! Grace Marks and James McDermott were convicted of the double murder of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery in the 19th century, but Grace's role in the murders has been heavily contested. Atwood writes her own version of the events that could have happened, but fictionalizes it. It's important to note that a lot of the information in the book is historically accurate. All in all, this book is a sensational read that discusses a lot about whether Grace Marks was actually guilty, as well as the social and gender roles of the time.

格蕾丝·马克斯(Grace Marks)因两起谋杀案被判有罪:她的雇主托马斯·金尼尔(Thomas Kinnear)以及他的管家兼情人南希·蒙哥马利(Nancy Montgomery)均死于她手。为了希望获得赦免,她被安排到一位州长的家中做女仆。格蕾丝无法回忆起谋杀案当天究竟发生了什么,而且当时她表现出了那个年代所谓的"歇斯底里症"(hysteria)的症状。心理医生西蒙·乔丹(Dr. Simon Jordan)负责调查格蕾丝的案件,希望能够诊断她患有歇斯底里症,从而帮助她免于承担刑事指控。 乔丹医生要求格蕾丝从自己出生开始讲述人生经历,一直讲到两起谋杀案发生为止。 格蕾丝出生于爱尔兰,父亲酗酒,母亲生活困苦。由于母亲经常怀孕,格蕾丝很长一段时间都要照顾年幼的弟弟妹妹。后来一家人移民加拿大,但格蕾丝的母亲没能完成这段旅程,而是在途中去世,并被葬在海上。 到了加拿大之后,她的父亲仍然把钱花在酒上,导致一家人陷入贫困。有一次,父亲甚至开始虐待格蕾丝,而当时全家人都在挨饿。乔丹医生认为格蕾丝对童年生活的这些描述与谋杀案没有直接关系,于是要求她从自己开始为死者家里当仆人的时候继续讲述。 在这段经历中,格蕾丝认识了玛丽·惠特尼(Mary Whitney),后者很快成为她最好的朋友和室友。玛丽教给格蕾丝许多如何成为一名好女仆的技巧,也教她在与男性约会时如何避免惹上麻烦。 不久之后,玛丽自己怀孕了,却因为一次失败的非法堕胎而去世。格蕾丝对此一直感到悲伤。她还遗憾地认为,在玛丽去世的那天,她没有打开玛丽房间的窗户,让她的灵魂离开。 接下来,格蕾丝讲述了詹姆斯·麦克德莫特(James McDermott)的事情。他是金尼尔家的一名马夫,曾经对南希展开追求。而托马斯·金尼尔本人也一直在秘密地与南希保持情人关系。 与此同时,在丈夫酗酒离家之后,乔丹医生的女房东也开始向他示好。 一位名叫杜邦医生(Dr. DuPont)的神经催眠专家想在格蕾丝身上尝试一种方法:让她进入催眠状态,以此挖掘她潜意识中隐藏的记忆。那么,这一切最终会如何发展呢? 我非常推荐这本书,因为它实际上是以真实事件为基础创作的!19世纪时,格蕾丝·马克斯和詹姆斯·麦克德莫特因谋杀托马斯·金尼尔和南希·蒙哥马利而被判有罪,但格蕾丝究竟在这两起谋杀案中扮演了什么角色,一直存在很大的争议。 阿特伍德(Atwood)在真实历史事件的基础上,构想并创作了一个"可能发生过的版本",但同时进行了小说化处理。值得注意的是,书中的许多信息都具有历史真实性。 总的来说,这是一本非常精彩、引人入胜的小说。它不仅探讨了格蕾丝·马克斯究竟是否真的有罪,还深入讨论了当时社会中的阶级、社会规范以及性别角色。