Life Before Man explores the lives of three people imprisoned by walls of their own construction and in thrall to the tragicomedy we call love.
Elizabeth, with her controlled sensuality and suppressed rage, has just lost her latest lover to suicide. Nate, her gentle, indecisive husband, is planning to leave her for Lesje, a perennial innocent who prefers dinosaurs to men. Hanging over them all is the ghost of Elizabeth's dead lover, and the dizzying threat of three lives careening inevitably towards the same climax.
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[I DON'T KNOW how I should live]***
(@vintagebooks, 15 May 2012, first published 29 September 1979, 370 pages, ebook, #popsugarreadingchallenge 2020, a book by an author with flora or fauna in their name, bought from @AmazonKindle)
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I found this to be an incredibly sad book. I liked the way the chapters alternated between the POV of all three characters so you really get to know their individual take on what was happening. The characters are well written and really fleshed out, though not always sympathetic. I really didn't warm to Elizabeth, married with lovers as well. I didn't blame Nate for his cold disregard of her. Lesje appears to be an innocent at first but gradually becomes fully rounded and fleshed out. I enjoyed the way Atwood explores the complex and often messed up bonds between them. There will always be a connection between Elizabeth and Nate due to their shared history. Lesje is caught in the middle of it all. I also felt for Nate and Elizabeth's children. Life before Man is an illuminating exploration of the complexities of marriage, affairs and love. I found it disturbing at times.
