The Edible Woman

The Edible Woman, a novel that helped to establish Margaret Atwood as a prose writer of major significance, is the story of a young woman whose sane, structured, consumer-oriented world suddenly slips strangely out of focus. As a result, Marian McAlpin finds herself unable to eat: first meat, then eggs, and finally even vegetables become abhorrent to her. In this novel, Atwood presents a condemnation of contemporary society and of the rampant consumerism that she believes deprives people of both soul and sustenance.