We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(7) Snow Line
It's easy enough to figure out what's going on for most of the novel, but the waters get progressively murkier as we get further in. For example, partway through the book, we learn that a great deal of what the narrator has been telling us about her past (like her marriage and child) is totally false. Then, toward the end, the lines between hard reality, spiritual vision, and pure hallucination get really blurry. So, yeah, the book can be kind of a tough climb (or, to stick with its fondness for water metaphors, a deep wade), but getting to explore the way Atwood plays with memory and the blurring of realism and surrealism makes it well worth the plunge.