Reviews with content warning for Death - Old Babes in the Wood

This was an okay collection of short stories by one of my favourite authors Margaret Atwood. It is split into three parts with first three and final four stories coming from the POV of an older woman called Nell but each story can be read separately and these sandwich eight unrelated stories in the middle, giving us fifteen stories in total. On the whole there are multiple themes and topics but recurring ones focus on grief and this concept of memory. Like her usual style, Atwood also touches on woman’s rights, relationships, sexism and other social/human condition topics. Ageing and what comes with it are also highlighted, as she herself ages, told through the lens of Nell and so to the idea of grief as, like Atwood, she too loses her husband. I didn’t like all the stories with some being rather mediocre but a couple stood out to me, namely The Dead Interview where the author gets to interview one of her main literary influences George Orwell via a medium and I think this was super clever and done so well. Also Widows shone out to me as quite bittersweet as Nell deals with the loss of her husband Tig alongside other characters who lost their partners. There is quite a bit of inconsistency between the stories where I preferred the shorter ones as they held more impact in my opinion.

This is the breakdown of star rating for each story:

First aid - 3.5

Two scorched men - 3.5

Morte de Smudgie - 3.5

My evil mother - 4

The dead interview - 4.75

Impatient Griselda - 3.5

Bad teeth - 3.25

Death by clamshell - 3.75

Freeforall - 3.75

Metempsychosis: or the journey of the soul - 4.5

Airborne: a symposium - 3

A dusty lunch - 2.75

Widows - 4.75

Wooden box - 3.25

Old babes in the wood - 3.75

This averaged to 3.7 ⭐️ overall and I will certainly continue to read more of Atwood’s works as I really love her writing style and imagination.

Content Warnings

ealasaid_sch's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

So I know semi recently Atwood was sharing and defending a transphobic article, which was really disappointing to see. I decided to read this anyway, while knowing I was probably going to be more critical of her work in light of that, rather than being inclined to read her more generously. And I do think I would have liked this more if she hadn't done that, because I've liked other works I've read of hers in the past, and used to probably be biased towards thinking whatever she wrote was good.

That said, overall I did like this collection. Some of the stories were more engaging than others, and the one that's just an interview between her and Orwell was by far my least favorite. But I liked both the ones about the "main character" of sorts, though her grief hit a little too close to home at times (for one of them I wrote "fuck. This one is good but I hate it. It would be good to read if. If. I don't want to ever want to read this"), and the ones that were entirely standalone (my favorite was the alien one). I'm not the biggest fan of short story collections in general, if only because it takes me longer to get through them when I'm constantly having to readjust to an entirely new story/world/premise. But overall I did like this book, all things considered.

Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Content Warnings

kimveach's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed the stories in the first and third sections (Tig & Nell, Nell & Tig). I liked some of the stories in the middle section but didn't understand a few. I'm afraid my classics background is weak, and some of these tales were based on mythology.

Content Warnings

lanternheart's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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tinamayreads's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

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thewordwitch's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

As with any collection of short stories, you are sure to receive a mixed bag with some that you love, and some that fall short of the mark. What was interesting about this collection is that the first and third sections focus on a pair of characters. The second acts as an interlude, a cadre of stories both thought-provoking and humorous by turns.

The first and the third section are more meditative, and perhaps it is a way for Atwood to process her own grief at the loss of Graeme Gibson. Slowly, little moments in the life Nell and Tig had are reflected upon as Nell processes the loss of Tig. We glimpse her current life in fragments, moments in time that are snatched out and held up for our inspection in these different short stories.

Overall, I found it an interesting collection, both bittersweet and tender in their telling.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. In exchange, I have provided an honest review.

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