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Bluebeard's Egg

by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)

3.71 of 5 stars 3.71 · rating details · 3,359 ratings · 135 reviews

By turns humorous and warm, stark and frightening, Bluebeard'S Egg glows with childhood memories, the reality of parents growing old, and the casual cruelty men and women inflict on each other. Here is the familiar outer world of family summers at remote lakes, winters of political activism, and seasons of exotic friends, mundane lives, and unexpected loves. But here too i...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published January 20th 1998 by Anchor (first published 1983)

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Aug 26, 2012 Arun Divakar rated it 4 of 5 stars

There was once a request for a day's absence from office that went like this :

My wife delivered baby. As I am the only father, I request you to declare holiday today !!

This at a moment of insane happiness is what a father wrote to his boss asking for a day off ! What should ideally have been written as :

I am now a proud father. I would like to take a day off and spend time with my family in this time of happiness.

This became something totally different in the hands of another English user...more There was once a request for a day's absence from office that went like this :

My wife delivered baby. As I am the only father, I request you to declare holiday today !!

This at a moment of insane happiness is what a father wrote to his boss asking for a day off ! What should ideally have been written as :

I am now a proud father. I would like to take a day off and spend time with my family in this time of happiness.

This became something totally different in the hands of another English user didn't it ? While totally exaggerated and off the mark, I somehow found this to be true in the case of Atwood for her usage of the English language is what sets her apart from most writers. The prose she employs is way different in eloquence and articulation from what another writer might have used in a similar circumstance.

This book is a collection of short stories which are not quite earth shaking in their content. Women who mull over why their marriages are crumbling apart around them, a man who tries to reconnect with an old flame and fails at it, a teenager who for the thrill of the moment gets herself involved with a guy for whom she barely feels any passion thereafter and so on. Looking at them all, I can say that it is about human beings trying to figure out what went wrong in the rhythm of their lives. Into this humdrum of common place and bland situations, Atwood pours the brilliance of her prose. The outcome is what would otherwise have been downright boring anecdotes become well crafted stories. My favorites from the collection were the stories Hurricane Hazel and Uglypuss which were to me easy to identify with in some way. The other good one which I very much felt a connect with was Spring Song of the Frogs but it did not have an ending that left me satisfied.

After all this praise, you might be wondering where the one star vanished to. The reason for the 4-star rating was that none of the stories themselves appeared exceptional to me and while the prose was brilliant, the content was weak. It's like a luke warm thriller with a brilliant set of action sequences and no story to drive it onward.

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Aug 04, 2012 Κατερίνα Μαλακατέ rated it 3 of 5 stars

http://www.diavazontas.blogspot.gr/20...

Ο λόγος που αγόρασα κάποτε το «Bluebeard’s Egg» της Άτγουντ χάνεται στη λήθη, πιθανολογώ πως θα είχα πρόσφατο το «A Handmaid’s Tale» και θα μου γυάλισε. Εγώ τώρα άνθρωπος του διηγήματος – όσον αφορά το διάβασμα, γιατί το γράψιμο είναι άλλη ιστορία- δεν είμαι. Όμως δέκα μέρες στο κρεβάτι με οξεία οσφυαλγία, χιλιάδες αναλγητικά, ενέσεις στο τέλος πρωί-βράδυ (όχι δεν είμαι γκαντέμω που το έπαθα στις διακοπές μου, μην το σχολιάσετε καν) και το βιβλίο που έμει...more
http://www.diavazontas.blogspot.gr/20...

Ο λόγος που αγόρασα κάποτε το «Bluebeard’s Egg» της Άτγουντ χάνεται στη λήθη, πιθανολογώ πως θα είχα πρόσφατο το «A Handmaid’s Tale» και θα μου γυάλισε. Εγώ τώρα άνθρωπος του διηγήματος – όσον αφορά το διάβασμα, γιατί το γράψιμο είναι άλλη ιστορία- δεν είμαι. Όμως δέκα μέρες στο κρεβάτι με οξεία οσφυαλγία, χιλιάδες αναλγητικά, ενέσεις στο τέλος πρωί-βράδυ (όχι δεν είμαι γκαντέμω που το έπαθα στις διακοπές μου, μην το σχολιάσετε καν) και το βιβλίο που έμεινε στον πάτο με τα αδιάβαστα κοντά μια τριετία μου φάνηκε δελεαστικό. Απλή ατόφια αναγνωστική διασκέδαση, χωρίς απολύτως καμία δέσμευση συγκέντρωσης.
Λοιπόν, όταν ένας άνθρωπος έχει το χάρισμα της γραφής, ό,τι και να γράψει θα το κάνει καλά. Εδώ μιλάμε για απλές καθημερινές ιστορίες, που δεν δρέπουν δάφνες πρωτοτυπίας, ούτε καν λογοτεχνικού ύφους, απαιτούν όμως και πετυχαίνουν την ταύτιση. Ένα από κείνα που θα είχαν επάξια τον όρο «γυναικεία λογοτεχνία», αν αυτός τα τελευταία χρόνια δεν είχε φριχτά κατακρεουργηθεί. Γιατί ταυτίστηκα σχεδόν με όλους τους κεντρικούς χαρακτήρες των διηγημάτων, θυμήθηκα πως είναι να είσαι έφηβη, θεώρησα τον εαυτό μου ριψοκίνδυνο, ένιωσα πως είναι να αγαπάς δυο άντρες, να είσαι χωρισμένη, παντρεμένη, με παιδιά, άκληρη, μεγάλη, μικρή, νοικοκυρά, χειραφετημένη. Για όποια κατάσταση κι αν μιλούσε η Άτγουντ, μιλούσε για μένα, κι ας μην είχα υπάρξει ποτέ μέσα της.
Εν ολίγοις, το βιβλίο με συντρόφεψε καλά, στάθηκε στο ύψος της δύσκολης περίστασης, κι εγώ θα το βάλω εκεί στο ράφι με τα δικά της, κάπου ανάμεσα στην «Κλέφτρα Κίσσα» και τον «Τυφλό δολοφόνο». Και που και που , ίσως και με κάποια ντροπή, θα το κοιτάω και θα χαμογελάω.(less)

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May 30, 2012 Wordwizard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Good! Lots of good moments. Obviously I liked some stories better than others--didn't really like anyone or see much point in the story about the street performer, his girlfriend, and the stolen cat. I think all the interesting thoughts in that could have been put into a story that was going someplace, not just sitting. Much the same reaction to "Sunrise," although I liked that one more. I think Atwood is great at writing these meditations and reveries and sometimes her stories are little else--...more

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May 25, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a book of short stories by Atwood, who is one of my favorite authors. I haven't finished the book, but after reading a few stories, I wanted to talk about them. So far I've read: Bluebeard's Egg, about a woman whose marriage is failing and echoes the eponymous fairytale; Uglypuss, which is about the disastrous aftershocks of a relationship; The Search for the Rattlesnake Plantain, a small story about a daughter and her aging parents; and The Sunrise, about an unusual artist.

None of the s...more

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Oct 12, 2012 A.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-challenge-list, literary-fiction

Don't be fooled by the title, for these short stories aren't exactly reinterpretations of classic fairy tales - at least not in the same style as, say, Anne Sexton's Transformations. Atwood's collection is modern, and each story centers on male/female relations - often failed ones. "Puss in Boots" becomes "Uglypuss," with all of the sexual connotations such a name implies. Bluebeard's secret lies behind a door we don't wish to open.

Atwood's writing is so well-crafted. Perhaps it's the poet in he...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The life she's led up to now seems to her entirely crazed. How did she end up in this madhouse? By putting one foot in front of the other and never taking her eyes off her feet. You could end up anywhere that way."

Questa interessante raccolta di racconti più o meno brevi costituisce il mio primissimo incontro con la canadese Margaret Atwood che, probabilmente, circa due terzi della popolazione mondiale dei lettori conoscerà per il ben più noto romanzo “L’assasino cieco”. Avrei accettato di buon...more The life she's led up to now seems to her entirely crazed. How did she end up in this madhouse? By putting one foot in front of the other and never taking her eyes off her feet. You could end up anywhere that way."

Questa interessante raccolta di racconti più o meno brevi costituisce il mio primissimo incontro con la canadese Margaret Atwood che, probabilmente, circa due terzi della popolazione mondiale dei lettori conoscerà per il ben più noto romanzo “L’assasino cieco”. Avrei accettato di buon grado di iniziare la conoscenza di quest’autrice attraverso il suddetto romanzo, ma il fato non ha certo agito a mio favore, dal momento che l’unico libro della Atwood che sono riuscita a scovare tra gli scaffali impolverati del mio charity shop di fiducia era proprio Bluebeard’s Egg (tradotto in italiano col titolo “Le Uova di Barbablù”, ma guarda un po’!). Per circa due mesi se n’è rimasto là, solo e dimenticato, tra gli innumerevoli volumi che – a discapito del mio portafogli – continuo ad impilare di buona lena, uno dopo l’altro, nonostante sospetti che la torre pericolante possa cedere da un momento all’altro.
Circa una settimana fa, per via di una sfida indetta dai meravigliosi utenti di Anobii, mi si è presentata l’occasione giusta per iniziare – finalmente! – la lettura di Bluebeard’s Egg, una raccolta di dodici racconti che, barcamenandosi tra i terrori di donne avventurose che scivolano lungo le rapide del Niagara e uomini alla ricerca di gatti dispersi – affrontano uno dei problemi primordiali dell’umanità, offrendone rappresentazioni tragiche, esilaranti e spettacolari: il rapporto uomo-donna, con tutte le infinite problematiche che, inevitabilmente, racchiude e porta con sé.
Una meravigliosa danza di ricordi ed emozioni che ha inizio con una rievocazione di momenti persi nella notte dei tempi, di epoche in cui le moderne tecnologie erano un lontano miraggio e si era costretti a “costruire” il proprio divertimento ( “You made your own fun”); storie e aneddoti che fanno luce su verità universali, verità che albergano nella nostra mente, ma di cui riconosciamo la cruda esattezza solo quando la penna di un genio come la Atwood riesce a comporre in frasi precise sciami di pensieri che, altrimenti, rimarrebbero incerti e confusi. Racconti che affrontano il tema della crescita e del disorientamento che l’accompagna, del senso di ribellione ai pregiudizi e agli standard che alberga nell’animo di ogni adolescente,
di gesti impercettibili che nascondono verità inaspettate e di donne che, con l’abilità di artigiane, modellano il destino dei loro uomini.
Tra voci dall’aria fiabesca e rappresentazioni di donne irriverenti, audaci, belligeranti, sognatrici, visionarie e sollecite, Margaret Atwood dipinge con pennellate nette e sicure un universo dalle sfumature ora intangibili, ora estremamente – forse più di quanto vorremmo – terrene e mortali.
Se mi fosse richiesto di individuare un filo conduttore, un filo che attraversa e lega tra di loro i vari racconti, direi certamente che – al di là del rapporto uomo-donna – l’intenzione della Atwood è quella di trasmettere un messaggio ben preciso: le donne sono la solida roccia su cui il mondo intero è fondato, e mai terremoto alcuno sarà in grado di raggiungere potenza tale da abbatterla e inabbissarla.

”My secret is that I get up every morning to watch the sunrise.”
(The Sunrise)
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Jun 17, 2012 Sanni rated it 4 of 5 stars

En ollut aikaiseemin lukenut Atwoodilta novelleja, mutta mielestäni tämä novellikokoelma on toiseksi paras, mitä Atwoodilta olen lukenut. Heti Sokean surmaajan jälkeen tietysti.

Novellit ovat yhtä aikaa absurdeja ja arkisia ja ehkä sen takia onnistuvat tavoittamaan oudompia samaistuttavia tuntemuksia. Esimerkiksi Betty-novellissa kertoja tuntee huonoa omatuntoa siitä, että pitää karismaattisesta, tosin ilkeästä miehestä enemmän eikä tämän aina ystävällisestä ja herttaisesta vaimosta. Mikä tekee i...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Chaitra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: margaret-atwood, short-story-collection, anthology, contemporary-fiction, literary-fiction

Margaret Atwood is a favorite novelist, but her short stories are hit or miss with me. This collection of stories is also a mixed bag. Atwood has lovely prose, that is not my qualm about this collection. It's just that her stories fizz out before making any cogent point. It still has a couple of lovely stories that are still with me: the titular Bluebeard's Egg being one of them. The heroine of the story is way too complacent about her slow but cute husband, and in the course of a party she real...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Harini Padmanabhan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I never thought short stories could convey so much. Convey a world, paint it, make you a part of it and make you feel so much. Atwood's collection has done just that. I loved some stories more than the rest but in one way or the other they touched a chord. Be it the complacent wife thrown off balance by her husbands suspected adultery or the cat that means more to a man than anything else could or the slightly eccentric artists. The way Atwood plays with prose is a beautiful experience and I enj...more

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May 19, 2010 Jordan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have only read the short story "BlueBeard's Egg" so far, here is what I thought.

Within the pages of “BlueBeard's Egg” by Margaret Atwood we are introduced into a world of metafiction and intertexuality. Atwood spins the retelling of the fairytale of BlueBeard's Egg for the reader. Atwood does this through the narration of the man character Sally. Atwood wanders down the path of the complexities of the ordinary life, through the inner narration of the main character Sally. Atwood's main lite...more I have only read the short story "BlueBeard's Egg" so far, here is what I thought.

Within the pages of “BlueBeard's Egg” by Margaret Atwood we are introduced into a world of metafiction and intertexuality. Atwood spins the retelling of the fairytale of BlueBeard's Egg for the reader. Atwood does this through the narration of the man character Sally. Atwood wanders down the path of the complexities of the ordinary life, through the inner narration of the main character Sally. Atwood's main literary weapon that she uses to take the reader down this path is through the retelling of the fairytale. We are lead down the path with Sally into her inner universe that is in contrast within her own reality, which is the reality within her own mind. Sally's own fairytale is spun for the reader. Through the text we as readers must become active readers. We must try understand within the text the blurred lines of writer and reader.
In “BlueBeard's Egg” we as readers exist within the center of the multiple identities of Sally. Sally as the storyteller, the wife, the puzzle solver, and Sally as the princess.

Sally's mental universe is a creation of her own making, just like the tales she has spun. A major theme in “Bluebeard's Egg”, which correlates with the work of postmodern literature. The theme of whose reality is actual reality. The reality that we read within “Bluebeard's Egg” begins to blur. Are we reading the authors reality? Are we reading the inner reality of Sally? Or are we reading the reality of a retold fairytale? Perhaps all three questions can be answer with a yes, if so where does this leave us as readers? Atwood is very subtle within her use of breaking the fourth wall in “Bluebeard's Egg”, to address the reader, a very traditional postmodern trait. Atwood address the reader though the musing of Sally, as Sally sits down to retell a traditional fairytale. Sally is trying to figure out how to rewrite her fairytale: “What would she put in the forbidden room, in her present-day realistic version. . . She wanted to do something more clever.” (175). As readers we can see this message from Atwood, she wanted to be clever in her retelling of BlueBeard.

Atwood wants the reader to understand that they are reading fiction, and constantly reminds the reader of this as we read “Bluebeard's Egg”. Being a postmodern story, the writing of “Bluebeard's Egg”the reader receives direction from the author. Atwood uses metafiction as a theme of irony throughout “Bluebeard's Egg,” to make sure the reader is never unaware that they are reading fiction, the questions of whose reality the reader is reading constantly be questioned. Atwood plays with the reader in pushing at the readers mind, pushing at the traditional method of how the reader views a central narration in a story: “But how can there be a story from the egg's point of view, if the egg is so closed and unaware?”(176). The reader can not help but think that Atwood is poking fun at her audience and at the traditional concept of reading fiction. Atwood wants us to be active readers in our understanding of the fairytale that she has laid out before us. The concept that we are reading fiction is never forgotten, as the theme of metafiction in “Bluebeard's Egg” is ever persistent.

Another aspect that makes “Bluebeard's Egg” postmodern is the ending that Atwood has created for her reader. Perhaps it would be more accurate to state the lack of an ending in “Bluebeard's Egg”, makes the piece postmodern. We are left with a question at the end the story: “ . . . the egg is alive, and one day it will hatch. But what will come out of it?” (184). The active readers has to almost wonder if Atwood is speaking to her audience in the ending. As readers will we one day hatch from our traditional concepts of reading literature. Will we one day hatch from our inner egg?

We are lead down the path with Sally into Sally's inner universe that is in contrast within her own reality, which reality is true, Sally's own fairytale is spun for the reader. We must try understand within the text the blurred lines of writer and reader. The theme of intertexuality and metafiction are every present with “BlueBeard's Egg” and from central narration of Sally. As active readers we must escape from the traditional ideas of how as readers of literature, we must break free of our mental egg.

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Jun 08, 2010 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Manny by: Jordan

Shelves: blame-jordan-if-you-like, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, well-i-think-its-funny, life-is-sex-and-the-city, older-men-younger-women

How I saw Sex And The City 2 after reading Bluebeard's Egg

Carrie wonders why she's so unhappy. She's spent her life pursuing excess, and now she's acquired everything on her list. She's a famous writer. She shares a beautiful apartment in the best part of Manhattan with the handsome, successful man she spent years snaring into marriage. She's got a walk-in closet full of expensive designer shoes. She eats out most evenings at the city's finest restaurants, and attends its most exclusive parties....more

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Oct 13, 2012 kate added it

sigh. this book is why there is a tv show about 1960s ad agencies in new york and not a tv show about 70s era canadian hippies. canadians aren't always terribly exciting and the me generation wasn't necessarily as earthshatteringly special as books like this would like you to think.

disconnected tales of disconnected souls in toronto, a city undesigned in order to be disconnecting and dislocated.

like most things canadian, it bashes capitalism and shies away from being blatantly sexy. I say this b...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Rocktopus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a difficult book to describe well. It is about women in heterosexual environments. Some of the characters are lovers/wives, sometimes they are women regarding the way that their mothers (or other women close to them) handle themselves. Some of them seem like they will be pathetic, but are actually very easy to sympathize with. Some of them are very strong and lovable, like LouLou and Yvonne and Emma. This book is about the frustrating (mainly crappy) relationships that they are in or nea...more

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May 25, 2012 Aparna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Actually its a 3.5 But because its Atwood, I did round it off to the higher star.

My introduction to Atwood was "The Handmaid's Tail" which is hands-down one of the best books I have had the privilege to read. And after that, these stories were somewhere very tedious. Nicely written, but very complex in nature. Her prose is marvellously elaborate, elaborate enough to send you into a dilemma - Do I do justice to this but spending the energy to understand it, or Do I merely try to comprehend it, en...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Ana Mardoll rated it 5 of 5 stars

Bluebeard's Egg / 0-385-49104-2

This collection of Atwood stories includes:

- Significant Moments in the Life of my Mother
- Hurricane Hazel
- Loulou
- Uglypuss
- Betty
- Bluebeard's Egg
- Spring Song of the Frogs
- Scarlet Ibis
- The Salt Garden
- The Sin Eater
- The Sunrise
- Unearthing Suite

Most of the stories revolve around the superb Atwood device of women in comfortable, "correct" lives, yet who are unbearably sad and alone. Many of these women have relationships outside of themselves - husbands, lover...more

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Apr 27, 2010 anonymous rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1m, spl, 2010, 200-300, books-10k-done, 1m-finished

If you're a woman, and you're having a shitty relationship with a man, this book will either depress the hell out of you or it will make you feel better to know that someone else knows how it feels to be a woman in a shitty relationship.

But not every story was centered around relationships between women and men. "Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother" and "Unearthing Suite" focus on parents seen through the eyes of their progeny. It's interesting to note how the entire book which largely...more If you're a woman, and you're having a shitty relationship with a man, this book will either depress the hell out of you or it will make you feel better to know that someone else knows how it feels to be a woman in a shitty relationship.

But not every story was centered around relationships between women and men. "Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother" and "Unearthing Suite" focus on parents seen through the eyes of their progeny. It's interesting to note how the entire book which largely deals with women and their relationships with men, is sandwiched between two stories that deal with parents. There's definitely a sense of a generation gap when you compare stories. In "Unearthing Suite," the parents have their relationship down. They're together. They make it work. The rest of the stories reflect how shitty relationships between men and women are at present.

These stories are harsh and brutal, almost agonizing to read. "Uglypuss" and "Bluebeard's Egg" in particular deal with unfaithful men and their betrayal of their relationships with their significant others. In "Uglypuss," I was thinking it was awesome how Becka was seeking her revenge, but at the same time, it wasn't. It was sad and terrible how it really turned out.

"The Sunrise" was probably my favorite of all the stories. I think I relate to this one the most. Yvonne's an independent female artist who has become so disillusioned with men that she can't love anymore. She just doesn't have the energy. She keeps a razor blade in her paintbox. Her landlords speculate about her personal life. It's really nothing what they imagine.

Margaret Atwood is a stellar writer and this book pulls you into the sights, sounds, and scents of cottages in the woods or disordered urban apartments. I would only say that the stories, while beautiful, are also a bit of a downer (or at least most of them are). Atwood deeply understands with the utmost sensitivity the disappointment and heartache of failed relationships and the lapse in communication between people.

Writing with this much depth of perception, she must have had many personal experiences of her own.(less)

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May 13, 2008 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: thesis, short-stories, fairy-tales

This is only the second Atwood work I've read, though I've got several in the queue for possible use on my thesis. In comparison to The Handmaid's Tale (perhaps cliche, but that's where I got started), this collection of shorts certainly doesn't hold itself up too well. I enjoyed them quite a bit, but they were a bit inconsistent and somehow missing the magic I felt "THT" had. I think Atwood pinpoints the problem in the last story, when her narrator notes that "it will mean action, a thing I avo...more

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Feb 07, 2009 Bridget rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not exactly sure what it was that I expected, but it wasn't it.
The few stories carefully revealed childhood events gone by with summer adventures in wood and beach landscapes. These were full of lush detail, placing the reader in a time of curiosity, youthful angst, and realizations of the surrounding world. Not cheerful per se, but descriptive, nonetheless, of a child/pre-teen's view of the world at a particular time and then the reflections of the later adult.

However, the rest of the stor...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Stirnaite rated it 3 of 5 stars

*Any art form is just a way of evading suicide.
*Calvin claims that those who can actually read income-tax forms, let alone understand them, have already done severe and permanent damage to their brains.
*The problem is that she's invested so much suffering in him, and she can't shake the notion that so much suffering has to be worth something. Maybe unhappiness is a drug, like any other: you could develop a tolerance to it, and then you'd want more.

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May 01, 2013 Alaina rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Point me to the nearest Lesbian Separatist Feminist Commune, will you? What a lot of heterosexual angst this book has. The male characters are cads and the women are in love with them and unhappy.

I realize this is a book of its time, and the stories are about realistic women in realistic situations, but it has not aged well. Or maybe I just don't care for Margaret Atwood's writing. All of the stories were depressing except the last one, which was more of a personal memory and very sweet and lov...more

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Jul 23, 2012 A.F. rated it 5 of 5 stars

My favorite, favorite book of her short stories, and my go-to book for comfort food. Favorite story: Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother. The stories here feel so much more tender than her later stories; more about being a woman than a feminist, although feminism still prevails; it's not as strident and overbearing as it is in The Handmaid's Tale.

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Dec 01, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Atwood has a way of letting readers peer into her characters' minds as they go about their days. Nothing was extremely exciting or crazy but that's why I loved this collection of short stories- I have a thing for simplicity. I think it's something special when an author can make an average human into something interesting and unique, and it reminds me that everyone has a mind that is constantly thinking. I particularly enjoyed Bluebeard's Egg, The Salt Garden, and Significant Moments in the Life...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Hattie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern, feminist, short-stories

Some stories in this book - "Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother", "Hurricane Hazel", "Bluebeard's Egg", "Spring Song of the Frogs" and "Surise" - were 5* quality, some of the best short stories I've read of this sort. Most of the others, however, did absolutely nothing for me - "Uglypuss", for example, I thought was particularly poor - so this book only gets 3 stars overall.

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Sep 27, 2009 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wish I could give this one 3.5 or 3.75 stars. I found it to be one of the most compelling short story collections I have ever read, and at times the writing was so beautiful and skillful, it made me remember why I love this author so very much, since it had been a while since I'd read something new of hers.

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Jan 22, 2008 Felicity rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Atwood fans

Shelves: grad-school, short-stories, fiction

I'm still wading into the Atwood oeuvre, having only read Wilderness Tips and The Handmaid's Tale as yet. This book, while full of well-crafted stories, didn't impress me as much as the stories in Wilderness Tips did. All the craft is there, but something was turned to 10 or 11 in her other stories which was only at 8 or 9 here. The stories are less daring, the frames (many of the stories in Wilderness Tips are framed by the protagonist recounting or remembering the events) when they occur l...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Julia

Shelves: canadian-fiction

The only reason I know I read this one is because of the tell tale markings but after looking at the dust jacket, this is one that would be worth a re-read.
Margaret Atwood signed this copy for me when she was in town giving a reading at the public library.

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Sep 14, 2008 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: her devoted readership

Recommended to Kate by: AMH, placer 1 right

Shelves: short-stories

"She picks up the spoon with the thread tied to it and begins to lower the thread into the glass. While she is doing this, there is a sudden white flash, and the kitchen is blotted out with light. Her hand goes blank, then appears before her again, black, like an after-image on the retina. The outline of the window remains, framing her hand, which is still suspended above the glass. Then the window itself crumples inward, in fragments, like the candy-crystal of a shatter-proof windshield. The wa...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Lotta rated it 3 of 5 stars

Tästä jäi päällimmäisenä mieleen jollakin tavalla elämäänsä pettyneet (ja sen hyväksyneet) ihmiset ja ihmissuhteiden yleinen pinnallisuus ja liikkuvuus. Se jotenkin masensi. Eniten pidin minäkertojasta ja perheen dynamiikasta. Joissakin novelleissa kuljetettiin jännästi kahta tarinaa rinnakkain, mitään ei koskaan sanottu ihan suoraan. Opponoin tämän pohjalta tehdyn praktikumesseen kahden viikon päästä, perehdyn tähän ehkä lisää sitten.

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Feb 21, 2013 Joan rated it 3 of 5 stars

A collection of very odd short stories that leave the reader with questions, but no answers. The stories were entertaining, but each person in the stories was left hanging with no answers to their problems or ability to make a decision.

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Jul 03, 2009 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars

These are short stories by Margaret Atwood. These were written earlier in her career and some became the basis for other novels written later. i enjoyed the always present tug of war between femaile and male, parent and child.

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About Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.

Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, childr...more

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