Unpopular Gals

There should be a separate category called “Margaret Atwood”.

So much of her stuff defies categorization. This book is no different, and I really enjoyed it.

A book of short stories published in 1992, I fervently wish my freshman in highschool self could have stumbled upon Atwood, instead I was reading Stephen King. No shade on King, but Atwood’s feminist sensibilities could have really helped me figure out some important things so much sooner than I did.

Not all of these short stories are winners, but I enjoyed most of them.

Unpopular Girls is written from the perspective of the ugly step-sister, accused child-eating witch, and evil stepmother from the fairy tales.

A libel action, that’s what I’m thinking. Put an end to this nonsense. Just because I’m old and live alone and can’t see very well, they accuse me of all sorts of things. Cooking and eating children, well, can you imagine? What a fantasy, and even if I did eat just a few, whose fault was it? Those children were left in the forest by their parents, who fully intended them to die. Waste not, want not has always been my motto.

Several of these stories take the perspective of the women from famous tales: Gertrude from Hamlet, Penelope from Odysseus.

Women’s Novels:

1. Mens’ novels are about men. Women’s novels are about men too but from a different point of view. You can have a men’s novel with no women in it except possibly the landlady or the horse, but you can’t have a women’s novel with no men in it. Sometimes men put women in men’s novels but they leave out some of the parts: the heads, for instance, or the hands…

Making a Man:

1. Traditional method…
2. Gingerbread method…
3. Clothes method…
4. Marzipan method…
5. Folk art method…

This book is filled to the brim with typical Atwood sass and I highly recommend it. Tiny though it is, it’s packed full and best taken in short bursts of laughter and thoughtfulness.

MCM