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 […]
Time rises and rises, and when it reaches the level of your eyes you drown.
“Having long ago whispered I want to die, I now realize that this wish will indeed be fulfilled, and sooner rather than later. No matter that I’ve changed my mind about it.” Atwood, having once written the Handmaid’s tale can do no wrong in my eyes. I trust her to the end of the Earth and back. And much of this book, I’ll admit, had to be read on that trust. This is not a whirlpool of a book, nowhere does is suck you in, […]
Wicked Tales
The cover of this book has a quote from a review in Independent that sums up these nine short stories better than I ever could: “If this collection can be said to have a clear uniting theme, it might be that by a certain stage of life we’ve all got at least one person we would really like to kill”. That’s…pretty much perfect. “What is a stromatolite? he asks rhetorically, his eyes gleaming. The word comes from the Greek stroma, a mattress, coupled with the root word […]
Learned all the wrong lessons from George RR Martin
This, the second book in the Night Angel trilogy, picks up where The Way of Shadows left off. If you haven’t read the first book, and don’t want spoilers, read no further. I loved the first book. I loved it to the point that my excitement to read the next book in the series, and my obsession with telling everyone about it, became so hyperbolic that I knew my feelings didn’t actually correspond to what I actually read. It was good, in other words, but […]