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Mar 25, 2008

EllenB rated it:

It's me, not you, I want to apologize to Margaret Atwood. One of my all-time favorite authors, who I consider one of my oldest and best friends, although we've never met. I have fallen out of love with her. I confess to not having finished the book. This is unheard of, like not having a second slice of pizza. I won't go as far as to say there is a sense of stagnation in the stories. Perhaps she has all too successfully evoked the ennui of average life. Attempting a committed and thorough r More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I noticed some reveiws are not so favorable for this book.
As an avid Atwoodian, I was struck by the similar themes running through this collection of vignettes about girlhood and growing up, childhood perception, adulthood reflection, memory and aging that appear in her earlier work (Cat's Eye, Edible Woman, Wilderness Tips) because it seems like a return to previous ideas but from a different vantage point informed by the deaths of family members and one's own aging. At times the stories More...

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May 12, 2010

Marigold rated it:

Margaret Atwood = writer I am most intimidated yet inspired by. These short stories form a semi-autobiographical sketch about a woman, Nell, from childhood through into her 60's, but are not in chronological order. The stories focus on her relationships with her parents, husband, sister, husband's ex-wife, and more. It's like getting a box of really cool photographs of someone you don't know, & their family, & you're trying to piece together their story from the photos & figure out which order t More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Steffi rated it:

I am not a big fan of short stories in general. And I didn’t even know this was a collection of short stories because the blurb on the German edition (which I bought at a bargain!) did not make that very clear. After reading this I know why it failed to do so. This doesn’t feel like a collection of short stories at all. All stories deal with the same protagonist and her family. It has the feel of an episodic novel to it.

This was the first work by Atwood in a long time that wasn’t sp More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 04, 2008

Marissa rated it:

Margaret Atwood is of course, as we all know, awesome sauce. This was definitely a work in a different vein than her science fiction stuff, but it has the same dark, menacing tone that she does so well. You can feel her subconscious twisting these stories out, which are unsettlingly mundane. The book reminded me about the vague, intuitive terror of adulthood and the passing of time that I feel the edge of almost all the time these days. Here's a quote:

"I would have to go into th More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

May 12, 2010

Laurel rated it:

This is a collection of intertwined short stories providing a view into various moments in the ups and downs of one woman's life and family over a 60 year period. These brief, random snapshots give a somewhat disjointed feel to the overall picture, yet they also add depth to the main character as we traverse with her along her life-long journey.

As always when Atwood is involved, this book is both well-thought-out and well-written. There are no wasted words. Still, while I enjoyed More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 01, 2009

Stephen rated it:

Does anyone write crisper, cleaner English than Margaret Atwood? A few hundred of her sentences per day might help all of us write better. So, on the level of language, no complaints! In other ways, though, this is an uneven collection. It begins brilliantly and ends well, but the middle sections about the narrator and her life with Tig in the countryside just did not engage me. The problem may arise in part from the somewhat ambiguous nature of this book. Is it a collection of short stori More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2009

Evanston Public added it

Margaret Atwood has a clever way of moving through the decades in this collection of related stories. The recurring main character, Nell, is a little girl anxious about the impending birth of a sibling in the 30s, a teenager just realizing that she's miles ahead of her boyfriend in intelligence and maturity in the 50s, a slightly rootless young woman in the 90s.
Somehow this all works with Atwood's smooth handling, and as we read of the mostly trivial trials and tribulations that Nell face More...

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Nov 10, 2011

Jason rated it:

*beautiful stories that add up to a little less than the sum of their parts*

What's the difference between a novel and a collection of short stories? When the stories are interconnected, and gradually tell the life of one woman, the difference becomes hard to describe. The sections in this book could have been chapters in a novel, but somehow, they clearly aren't. There is something self-contained in each one, a complete focus on each new story's subject. Perhaps one reads a novel mor More...

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Jul 31, 2011

Emily rated it:

Atwood has a beautiful way of describing life and its experiences so accurately. On the first page she writes,

"I think of bad news as a huge bird, with the wings of a crow and the face of my Grade Four school teacher, sparse bun, rancid teeth, wrinkly frown, pursed mouth and all, sailing around the world under cover of darkness pleased to be the bearer of ill tidings, carrying a basket of rotten eggs, and knowing- as the sun comes up- exactly where to drop them. On me, for on More...

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Apr 05, 2011

Sian rated it:

Sometimes, it seems true that certain writers are novelists and certain writers are short story writers, and in the case of Margaret Atwood, she seems to me to be more comfortable in the expansiveness that novels allow her. This collection is a case in point -- it's a linked series of non-chronological stories about a single woman, strongest when it acts like the novel it wants to be.

Some of the stories as stories are reasonably strong by themselves. The last two stories, "The More...

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Mar 26, 2010

Kate added it

This book is, to my mind, a model of what a linked short story collection should be. 1. Each of the stories can stand on its own. None read like fragments of a larger story. 2. Yet, the collection as a whole has a sense of continuity and wholeness. The whole is something more than the sum of its parts. 3. Finally, there’s a reason why it’s a short story collection rather than a novel. It focuses on the life of a single character (Nell), but in tracing that life through short stories, Atwood is a More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 20, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I chose to read Moral Disorder for my next Atwood book because it was a book of short stories. I thought it would be a good decision as it would be easy to read during my sporadic down time. I will not go so far as to say that Atwood deceived me, however after the third story I realized how truly misinformed I had been. The picturesque narrative of a woman’s life bounds along seamlessly with ever-changing perspective from first to third person views and makes the book impossible to put down.
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Sep 02, 2010

Aerin rated it:

I'm finding it difficult to convey why I loved this book so much. Sometimes when I get stuck like this, I'm tempted to write a one-word review, or maybe just a litany of superlative adjectives: Extraordinary. Heart-rending. Inspiring. Incisive. Illuminating. Because when I try to explain in complete sentences how this book affected me, I find myself sounding hollow, like one of those paid blurbs by other authors on the back of the book: "Atwood's incomparable storytelling and beguil More...

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Jun 23, 2009

Dale rated it:

I like Margaret Atwood a lot, even though she messes with my head. Usually when I read a collection of short stories, especially on the commute, I have to remind myself to put the book down between each story, to take a few breaths and clear my mind and let each tale stand on its own. I was doing fine with that in this collection, and it seemed even more necessary than usual because Atwood was occasionally reusing character names in different contexts. Then in the middle came three or four st More...

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May 10, 2009

Laurie rated it:

Sadly, this is the first book I have finished in a while because I have let other life obligations take a greater role than my love of the written word. Shame.

It figures that it is Ms. Atwood that gets me back into the swing. I finished this in two days; she has that way of casting a spell. I even told myself that I need to take a break from her, explore other options and talents. But she is impossible to resist.

That being said, this wasn't her best. The description is More...

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Sep 09, 2009

Ingrid rated it:

As usual, I find myself struggling to articulate exactly why I enjoyed this book so much. The NYTimes review on the inside flap seems to fit my sentiments: "The reader has the sense that Atwood has complete access to her people's emotional histories, complete understanding of their hearts and imaginations." Indeed, the author describes her characters' feelings and situations with lovely but not overbearing detail.

I also very much enjoyed the format of the book. It took me a More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

Margaret Atwood has expressed her social vision, played with narrative form, and written about enigmatic women, sexism, and family in more than 40 books, including the acclaimed The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye, and The Blind Assassin. Her newest collection contains the same dazzling intellect, writing, and suspense as her previous fiction, but critics call this semiautobiographical effort more compassionate, rich, and emotionally resonant. The stories embedded in this novel of sorts, far from bei

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Mar 05, 2011

astried rated it:

Where would I be without Atwood. There's always something that saves me from being down in the dump&makes me feel someone does understand what I'm going through. This time it's in her story "My last duchess" with the following quote:

"bye-bye love, as in songs. All alone now. It was so sad. Why did such things have to disintegrate like that? Why did longing and desire, and friendliness and goodwill too, have to shatter into pieces? Why did they have to be so thoroughfully More...

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May 21, 2009

Kathryn rated it:

Atwood writes about women as Graham Greene writes about men. These stories were at times heartbreaking but each rang true. I rarely read a book without some type of fantasy element. Though I enjoy Atwood's sci/fi more than her fiction, she just has a way with words that I can easily relate to and this book is a perfect example of fiction worth reading, regardless of your normally preferred genre.

This book focuses on one woman, providing snipits of her life, from a young girl, throug More...

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Apr 27, 2011

Becky rated it:

Well, this was my first time reading Margaret Atwood, and I think this book and I were star-crossed from the start. First thing against our pairing: I am not a short story person. I like novels. It's just my orientation and I can't help myself. Which is not to say I don't enjoy a good short story collection now and then. I certainly do (see, for instance, Interpreter of Maladies). But this wasn't it.

Partly because of reason #2: I am never convinced by books that try to condense an en More...

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May 12, 2010

Michael rated it:

I find that for me Margaret Atwood's non-speculative fiction work always takes more time to get into, like getting used to a new pair of shoes; once I'm in, and comfortable with the style, I enjoy them greatly. Much like The Edible Woman, when I started reading Moral Disorder it took some time for me to get into the book, but as soon as I did I could barely put it down and finished it too soon.

Moral Disorder is a series of shorts stories that knit together the life of a female protag More...

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Jan 23, 2011

Elaine rated it:

Although this was marketed at a collection of short stories, all the stories are interconnected. The majority of them involve the same characters, and all of them probably connect to these characters more subtly. Looking at the book in that sense-- chapters instead of short stories-- it is a typically brilliant Atwood endeavor. Looking at it in the sense of separate short stories, however, you may feel that something is lacking-- more concrete endings, for instance. The difficultly of short stor More...

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Jul 31, 2011

Jodie rated it:

This is only my second Atwood book. I have had at least a half dozen false starts with The Blind Assassin, and still have failed to finish it. For some reason I feel like I should really love her work, she is a wonderful writer, yet somehow it holds me at a distance. This book I believe is commonly held to be somewhat autobiographical. It is a set of short stories told over a 60 year'ish period. As with most books in this style, I connect more with some stories than others, and that is true for More...

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May 28, 2008

Yulia added it

I picked this up with interest, but felt lectured about American politics by the narrator/Atwood, whom I didn't even disagree with but who came off as too preoccupied to write fiction. I don't like to be lectured by my fiction. Tell me something I haven't read in the news.

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Dec 10, 2009

Michael rated it:

This book should have been subtitled: "Sh!t happens."

A collection of short stories about a woman from childhood to old age, this book touches into Nell's life at odd, disjointed moments, usually as she is going through the worst periods of her life. Dealing with fear, pain, anxiety, depression, sickness, we miss out on all the good moments of falling in love and joy. Without that connective tissue, it's hard to care what happens to her.

Which is not to say that More...

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Jan 16, 2011

Anna rated it:

I found this collection to be a bit frustrating as I do may of Atwood's short story collections. The appearance of a vaguely frustrated main character stuck in a sort of happiness void with no idea how she got in or how to get out is played out repeatedly by different characters. At least in her novels it's the same character over a longer timeline and the reader can see where the characters went wrong and how they may be able to change things.

Some characters reappear in stories th More...

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Dec 05, 2008

Charity rated it:

I'm thinking that the people who don't like this collection of stories are just too in love with Margaret Atwood's other stuff. I think maybe if they didn't start the book expecting "typical" Margaret Atwood fare, they may perhaps be able to see the beauty and tenderness in these stories.

As for myself, I am a huge short story fan, and for some random reason love Canadian writers, too, and especially Margaret Atwood. For me this book was like heaven. It's like, she's telling More...

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Dec 15, 2011

Danielle rated it:

This is classic, vintage Margaret Atwood. I loved most of it. A woman's life story. Her relationship with her anxious sister, born when she was 11 years old. Her unconventional relationship with Tig, their time as city folks trying to make a rusty old farm work. Lots of great livestock (or "dead-stock") stories. Her real estate karma. Her step sons, her lover's wife Oona. It only slows down when getting to her aging parents.

My favorite line:
"All that anxiety and More...

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Oct 08, 2010

Stephanie (The Night Bookmobile) rated it:

Moral Disorder and Other Stories follows one woman named Nell through different periods of her life. In the form of several short stories we see her as a child taking care of those around her, as an adult finding her way on her own, as a mistress, and a wife and mother and everything in between. We glimpse at quirky pieces of furniture that come to define a part of her life, at a mattress on the floor of her lover's home and how knitting a cover for it can quickly become an agreement, a choice m More...

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