A review by james1star
Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces 2004-2021 by Margaret Atwood

informative medium-paced

4.0

I would really recommend this essay collection by one of the world’s greatest contemporary minds and to give it a read soon before Atwood’s Burning Questions turns to ash. In this book, she provides us with over fifty essays, book and general author reviews, speeches, notes, and other pieces of writings from the previous twenty years. Like her fiction, Atwood addresses an array of topics such as: woman’s rights (or lack thereof) and the current backtracking in regards to them, the state of the environment, politics and law, race, gender, sexuality and other societal aspects, literature and her own writing and many more. Most are very well presented and written but a couple go on maybe a bit too long, a little wordy and there are repetitive thoughts, ideas and messages as well. 

It’s clear the author is very educated in many facets of life which she so eloquently shared here which I thoroughly enjoyed. I would argue this book would be better to come back to over a week maybe instead of reading in one go like I did so this was my fault but I was listening to this as an audiobook. The narrators were split into around twenty people I’d guess (give or take) which was a little strange where more consistency would’ve been preferred I’d say. Overall, I’d certainly recommend this book but maybe take your time with it.