The Edible Woman, Atwoods brilliant first novel, is clever, subversive, and utterly original. Marian, a willing member of the consumer society around her suddenly finds herself identifying with the consumed, from the rabbits her fiancee shoots to the food on her plate. When she feels too moved by the pangs of an uprooted carrot to eat it, she knews shes off the deep end. Marians deceptively simple solution marked Atwoods debut as a consummate observer of the ironies and absurdities of modern life.