The most subtle and smooth of Atwood's books, this series of connected short stories seems semi-autobiographical and is one of my favorites of the year so far. ( )

It took me a while to get into this book and a long while to get through it even then. I found it a little hard to follow and although it was a collection of short stories, the majority were closely related (continuations really) of earlier stories with the same character up until the final one or two stories. That ended up confusing me - I was so used to the characters recurring that it took me a while to realize it was someone entirely new (or at least I think it wasn't related - the horse mentioned in the story had the same name as the main character in the stories prior). ( )

I don't think I would have appreciated this collection as much if I'd read it when I was younger. Life has had a fair amount of time to knock me around so the struggles (and hopes!) portrayed as the narrator aged throughout the short stories resonated. Adore her prose:

But I wasn't without social resources. I didn't take off my clothes and sing in public: I acted in acceptable ways. I smiled, nodded, made conversation, and so forth. I could do a good imitation of a competent young woman.

Maybe she would grow cunning, up here on the farm. Maybe she would absorb some of the darkness, which might not be darkness at all but only knowledge. She would turn into a woman others came to for advice. She would be called in emergencies. She would roll up her sleeves and dispense with sentimentality, and do whatever blood-soaked, bad-smelling thing had to be done. She would become adept with axes. ( )

This book has been sitting on my TBR file for awhile, and I decided it was time to read it. It's not my first Margaret Atwood book, but the first I've read that portrays her minimalist writing skills. The book is a series of "snapshots in time", or vignettes that trace a life. The book opens with the heroine, Nell and her husband Tig later on in their lives. Then it switches to Nell at eleven years old. Then proceeds with eight more vignettes of her life progressing from that age to about 45 years old.By that time Nell and Tig have lived a full life with all its stumbles, missteps and, in fact some positive happenings, but truthfully the vignettes depict the tough times much more than the happy ones. The book is not a happy and joyful read, but it says so much in so few well-chosen and well-crafted words and sentences. The last two vignettes are two separate depictions of end-of-life experiences. These stories are so well-illustrated that I had to stop for awhile between them to reflect and get back my equilibrium. At my age, death and dying are a fact of life, but I must admit that I don't dwell on those or on the inevitable consequences. Atwood made me examine these topics, make an assessment and then assimilate what she says so that it makes sense to me. She is a very talented writer, and her books are a journey more than just enjoyable fiction. Glad I took the time. I have one more of her books that has been sitting for ever on my shelf - The Robber Bride, and I want to dip into that pretty quickly. ( )

Not the most compelling Atwood—maybe because these interrelated short stories seemed to offer the worst of both worlds: an expectation for the plot development of a novel that short stories can't deliver on, but some "carry-over" from one story to the next that seemed to detract from the impact of each story on its own. Nevertheless, even mediocre Atwood is better than most other authors at their best. ( )