Unless was this month's selection for my Booker Prize reading group. I have yet to read something off this list that I genuinely enjoyed, and this is no exception, since I usually give at least 3 stars to books I felt compelled to finish. This was more like reading a school assignment against my will. All the drawn-out characters came off very snobby, especially Reta, with her paint-by-numbers ideas on how to write books. She shows her disdain for other writers but her own writing she admits is not great fiction, and frankly doesn't sound very interesting. The letters she never mails complaining about the exclusion of women seems more of a self-perpetuating manifestation of her own isolation and dissatisfaction, but as a whole didn't make sense in the context of the book. That entire idea needed more action and exposition. Structurally, thematically, everything about this book is one big mess. I have no clue how this is an award-winning novel, and I'm so disappointed because Margaret Atwood is one of the reviewers on the back cover. I've read a few of her books - some I enjoyed more than others - but hers have the ability to completely absorb me in the story, whereas this fairly short book I kept putting down and looking for other things to do.