Moral Disorder

Doubleday

Moral Disorder
Margaret Atwood
2006

The Summary
"Margaret Atwood is acknowledged as one of the foremost writers of our time.  In Moral Disorder she has created a series of interconnected stories that trace the course of a life and also the lives intertwined with it--those of parents, of siblings, of children, of friends, of enemies, of teachers, and even of animals.  As in a photograph album, time is measured in sharp, clearly observed moments.  The '30s, the '40s, the '50s, the '60s, the '70s, the '80s, the '90s, and the present--all are here.  The settings vary:  large cities, suburbs, farms, northern forests.

"By turns funny, lyrical, incisive, tragic, earthy, shocking, and deeply personal, Moral Disorder displays Atwood's celebrated storytelling gifts and unmistakable style to their best advantage.  As the New York Times has noted:  'The reader has the sense that Atwood has complete access to her people's emotional histories, complete understanding of their hearts and imaginations.'

"'The Bad News' is set in the present, as a couple no longer young situate themselves in a larger world no longer safe.  The narrative then switches time as the central character moves through childhood and adolescence in 'The Art of Cooking and Serving,' 'The Headless Horseman,' and 'My Last Duchess.'  We follow her into young adulthood in 'The Other Place' and then through a complex relationship, traced in four of the stories:  'Monopoly,' 'Moral Disorder,' 'White Horse,' and 'The Entities.'  The last two stories, 'The Labrador Fiasco' and 'The Boys at the Lab,' deal with the heartbreaking old age of parents but circle back again to childhood, to complete the cycle.

"Moral Disorder is fiction, not autobiography; it prefers emotional truths to chronological facts.  Nevertheless, not since Cat's Eye has Margaret Atwood come so close to giving us a glimpse into her own life."

The Good
Although I won't call Moral Disorder a favorite, I have to admit that Margaret Atwood made me feel things that I didn't expect.  I couldn't always connect with the stories in Moral Disorder, I couldn't always connect to Tig and Nell; however, when I did connect with one of these stories, I felt it--deeply.

Like when Nell fretted over her mother and sister.  Or when Nell struggled to find her place in the world.  Or when Nell couldn't figure out what to do next with her various jobs.  Or when she suffered for Tig's indecision, his inability to commit and his inexplicable thoughtlessness.  Or when she tried to accept her mother's decline and her father's death.

There are moments--a few, sparse moments--in this book which struck me with all the delicacy of an anvil.  Like I said, I didn't always feel connected to these stories, but when I did, it made an imprint.  It made me feel with the same breadth and depth, as if it had happened to me, which made me appreciate Atwood's skills as a writer even more.

The Bad
I hate to say this, but I was so relieved to finally finish reading Moral Disorder.  I respect Atwood for her work, and I think she is a wonderful writer; however, I just couldn't always connect with this story collection.

Maybe, I felt a disconnect, since it's a time with which I am unfamiliar; maybe, I just haven't hit that point in my life in which these moments in time--these milestones of adulthood and life in general--really strike a chord with me; maybe, I just couldn't connect with Nell, our narrator; or, maybe, I just didn't "get" it.  I don't know.  I just know I was sometimes bored and, more often than not, I didn't like it.

I especially disliked the stories detailing how Tig and Nell met, but I think that was a personal feeling rather than any condemnation of the story or characters or pace.  Stylistically speak, Atwood is wonderful.  It was so easy to follow the story, to trace how Tig and Nell eventually fell in love--did they fall in love?--and to capture the individual grains of their tale, collecting them into cohesive whole.

My problem came as it slowly dawned on me that Tig and Nell were not married; in fact, Tig remained married to another woman for weeks, months--years, actually--while actively living with Nell.  I know I'm going to sound old fashioned when I say I disagreed with this arrangement; however, my reasons aren't prudish.  I couldn't care less if Tig and Nell lived together, married or not, rather I was bothered (perturbed might be a better word) by how Tig refused to divorce Oona, his first wife whom the law recognized as his only wife.

It's weird to say this, but I didn't care that Nell and Tig lived together without being married.  I didn't even care that the relationship Nell and Tig created was essentially built on adultery--which is, as I learned from Nell, an obsolete word that no one really uses anymore and "to pronounce it [is] a social gaffe."  However, I was bothered by how Tig seemed unable to distance himself from his marriage, how he seemed unable to push to have his divorce finalized.

Why couldn't Tig convince his wife--who was, for all intents and purposes, his ex-wife--to have the divorce finalized?  Did he still care too much for his ex-wife to push for divorce, or did he simply not care enough for Nell to get a divorce and marry her?  Or was he too lazy...and, possibly, spineless?  I don't know, I couldn't tell, but I do know that I was not a fan of this situation.

On a personal level, it strikes me as unutterably cruel and incredibly thoughtless of Tig.  I mean, it obviously hurts Nell to be put second next to his ex-wife in their relationship.  She lashes out, she feels an uncertainty and gloom even at the best times; she's trapped, because he refuses to move forward--he refuses to make a change, like he has promised innumerable times--and she's suffocating, she's wavering on a precipice that leaves her wondering if it's worth staying at all.

Admittedly, it hurt my heart to see things playing out between them.  It made me angry, and it made me sad, and it made me sympathize with Nell much more than I expected.

The Ugly
Life is not pretty.  It can't be shuffled into a nice neat pile; it can't be controlled or even managed; it can't even be made to fit, like a square peg trying to fit a round hole.  Life is a mess and, as becomes apparent, Nell's life especially seems messy, which, I admit, sometimes made it difficult to read.