This collection of short stories feels more like Atwood published her “idea journal” for public consumption. I read one review that suggested that, despite its short length, it may be better enjoyed in short spurts which I did not consider until it was too late. In the few instances I found myself enjoying a story it would inevitably end a few sentences later, as is the nature of short stories. The longer poems were probably the most enjoyable because they felt the most complete as well as bullet pointed list titled “Orphan Stories.”
Of the micro-stories included in The Tent I enjoyed “Chicken Little Goes Too Far” and “Thylacine Ragout” the most and while I liked “Three Novels I Won’t Write Soon” it was one of the more irritating because it was obviously not a fully fleshed out story.
You sounded the exact same alarm last year, said Henny Penny, and the sky is still in place. Last time I looked, she added, with heavy irony.
“The sky is falling” is a metaphor, said Chicken Little huffily.
Perhaps this shouldn’t have been my first foray into Atwood’s work but it was one of her few immediately available books at my local library and I wanted to dip my toes into her immense pool before tacking The Handmaiden’s Tale which I’m on the waist-list for. While this didn’t turn me off of reading Atwood in the future the combine lacklusterness of The Tent and Paris for One suggests I shouldn’t read any more short stories for a while.
I came to express solidarity about not liking short stories. They’re just too short, you know?
I haven’t read this book, but I just wanted to say something to you both on short stories books. It’s funny, because I am definitely not a fan of short stories, either. I always found it really hard to engage, and ended up not finishing books when I started them.
And then one day I bought a book (I didn’t even know it was short stories) at a museum gift shop while traveling, and the stories resonated so much with me that I read it all in one sitting and it’s been my favorite book ever since (maybe it helps the stories were all so painful and raw that I don’t think I could have handled them being any longer).
Then hope is out there- maybe I haven’t found the *right* short story collection yet
True enough as I have read and enjoyed Haruki Murakami’s short story collection The Elephant Vanishes and it was really good.
I think the biggest problem is that many authors publish short stories that aren’t actually short stories. They’re expanded novel proposals. Short stories are tough to do well.
And that’s exactly how this felt: ideas for future book proposals
Wanna borrow! I’ll grab it from you Friday. I am not a huge short story fan, but I love hers and have almost all of them — along with everything else she’s written. You’re welcome to peruse my collection.