The novel's organization and narrative style employ strategies familiar to readers of Atwood's fiction. Using alternating third person limited point of view to delineate the thoughts of her three protagonists gives the reader a marked intimacy with their efforts to make sense of their experiences. Reliance on the present tense throughout, even in sections recapitulating the past, gives the unfolding narrative a cinematic immediacy that reinforces the fact that for these women the past is a continuing and palpable reality shaping their outlook and explaining the dread of upheaval which dogs them even in moments of seeming tranquility. The trio share the narrative in alternating segments, emphasizing their mutual importance as centers of consciousness, and although Atwood's characteristically flat and ironic tone makes for a certain sameness of voice among them, the vocabulary, attitudes, and subjects of concern expressed by each underline their distinctive personalities and thought processes...