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reflexandresolve's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
mehitabels's review against another edition
5.0
"It was the heart, the too-small heart, the too-small devious heart, the lopsided heart, the impoverished heart, the heart someone dropped, the heart with a crack in it. It was the heart that thought it needed to kill. To show them all. To feel. To heal. To become whole."
claritybear's review
5.0
Goodness gracious I love Margaret Atwood and this collection was such fun. Her dark humor, political and social observations, and ability to play with ideas of history in novel (no pun intended) ways resonate throughout these stories. And they're almost not even stories, just bits and pieces of lives and thoughts. I ate it up in days.
nearfutures's review
3.0
Atwood's books tend to really be hits or misses for me. This collection was more of a hit than a miss, and a thematically sound. Good Bones and Simple Murders is a phenomenal title and encapsulates the spirit of the stories. But for every story I really enjoyed, there was a story that exemplified what often frustrates me about Atwood's work.
My favorites were "Stump Hunting," "Making a Man," and "Poppies: Three Variations." "Stump Hunting" and "Making a Man" are both how-to guides. "Stump Hunting" is eerie and fun, and "Making a Man" is tongue-in-cheek and incisive. "Poppies" is an expansion on the John McCrae poem of the same name, and it is both beautiful and haunting.
My least favorite stories were, to my surprise, those that Atwood wrote from the perspective of women who are barely given voices in famous works. "Unpopular Gals" is told by various "evil" fairytale women: Cinderella's stepsister, the witch in Rapunzel, the stepmother in any number of fairytales. "Gertrude Talks Back" is a Hamlet refutation. As apt as both of these works are about the unfair treatment of women in literature, I didn't feel they suggested anything new or interesting about patriarchy. Additionally, the women she writes are dismissive and condescending of other women. Case in point: Gertrude tells Hamlet, "A real girlfriend would do you a heap of good. Not like that pasty-faced what's-her-name, all trussed up like a prize turkey in those touch-me-not corset of hers." There's something intensely depressing about a "woke" Gertrude belittling Ophelia.
This collection was first released in 1983, over thirty years ago. Maybe back then it was revolutionary to just say "men suck, the patriarchy sucks" and leave it at that, but these days it's not subversive and when poorly executed reads as prescribing certain kinds of femininity. That said, Atwood's writing is always very technically impressive, and I learn something about writing every time I read her work.
My favorites were "Stump Hunting," "Making a Man," and "Poppies: Three Variations." "Stump Hunting" and "Making a Man" are both how-to guides. "Stump Hunting" is eerie and fun, and "Making a Man" is tongue-in-cheek and incisive. "Poppies" is an expansion on the John McCrae poem of the same name, and it is both beautiful and haunting.
My least favorite stories were, to my surprise, those that Atwood wrote from the perspective of women who are barely given voices in famous works. "Unpopular Gals" is told by various "evil" fairytale women: Cinderella's stepsister, the witch in Rapunzel, the stepmother in any number of fairytales. "Gertrude Talks Back" is a Hamlet refutation. As apt as both of these works are about the unfair treatment of women in literature, I didn't feel they suggested anything new or interesting about patriarchy. Additionally, the women she writes are dismissive and condescending of other women. Case in point: Gertrude tells Hamlet, "A real girlfriend would do you a heap of good. Not like that pasty-faced what's-her-name, all trussed up like a prize turkey in those touch-me-not corset of hers." There's something intensely depressing about a "woke" Gertrude belittling Ophelia.
This collection was first released in 1983, over thirty years ago. Maybe back then it was revolutionary to just say "men suck, the patriarchy sucks" and leave it at that, but these days it's not subversive and when poorly executed reads as prescribing certain kinds of femininity. That said, Atwood's writing is always very technically impressive, and I learn something about writing every time I read her work.
ula_j's review
4.0
This collection of short stories is full of contemptuous, sarcastic, outright feminist and borderline misandrist gems that I absolutely adored. I don't know if goodreads reviews support emojis but if it does
caitmarie24's review
5.0
I love short stories and these very short stories are exceptional. Tongue-in-cheek and slightly depressing, they are wonderfully written observations on life. Reminds me a lot of Sum, only about this life and not the afterlife.
kipahni's review against another edition
2.0
I think I just don't like her short stories because I always feel left wanting.
Gimme Gimme Gimme my name is Jimme
Gimme Gimme Gimme my name is Jimme
anaiira's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Some really stellar short stories and novel storytelling.
Poppies: Three Variations was distractingly layered, I found it difficult to focus on the mundane, menial story, knowing that the McCrae poem was lurking behind it in italics.
I had read Happy Endings once, and it had always stuck with me, that the story is always and has always been about the middle. And that a Happy Ending isn't always happy for everyone. And that ironically, in a short story about happy endings, the only true end is that people die.
The perspective of My Life As A Bat is a new one, at least to me, and the line that had struck me was "if sanity is a general consensus about the content of reality, who are you to disagree" and "Whoever said that light was life and darkness nothing? For some of us, the mythologies are different." Some of us are different and it's easy to not understand that.
Poppies: Three Variations was distractingly layered, I found it difficult to focus on the mundane, menial story, knowing that the McCrae poem was lurking behind it in italics.
I had read Happy Endings once, and it had always stuck with me, that the story is always and has always been about the middle. And that a Happy Ending isn't always happy for everyone. And that ironically, in a short story about happy endings, the only true end is that people die.
The perspective of My Life As A Bat is a new one, at least to me, and the line that had struck me was "if sanity is a general consensus about the content of reality, who are you to disagree" and "Whoever said that light was life and darkness nothing? For some of us, the mythologies are different." Some of us are different and it's easy to not understand that.
eososray's review against another edition
4.0
My favorite stories were Unpopular Gals, the evil fairy tale characters explaining things from their point of view. Simmering, because how could you not like a world where men are judged by their cooking and carving knives. Happy Endings, an adventure into marriage and all the kinda happy endings you might get. Liking Men, for it's honest portrayal of rape. And Simple Murders just because.