Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth

Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth By Margaret Atwood Anansi; 230 pages

In the teeth of a global recession, there are a lot of people thinking and writing about debt. But few of them are Booker Prize–winning novelists, and that’s what makes Payback–equal parts philosophical essay, literary criticism and historical narrative–a compelling project from the start. The author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin examines the science of give-and-take, from evolution (studies of chimpanzees’ innate concept of fair play) to religion (themes of redemption in Christian theology) to literature–where Atwood realizes that debt drives many a plot (Vanity Fair, A Christmas Carol). And what happens when, she asks, “people don’t pay their debts? Or can’t pay their debts? Or won’t pay their debts?” In the answers lie all the woes of humankind: crime, slavery, war, poverty, revenge, environmental destruction. Atwood admits she’s no expert on the subject, but the delight of Payback is in watching a gifted storyteller discover–with impeccable timing–one of her most universal narratives yet.

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