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Ladataan... Old Babes in the Wood: Stories (2023)Tekijä: Margaret Atwood
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Kirjaudu LibraryThingiin nähdäksesi, pidätkö tästä kirjasta vai et. Ei tämänhetkisiä Keskustelu-viestiketjuja tästä kirjasta. Although I often say I don't really like short stories, there are some authors for which I make an exception. Margaret Atwood is certainly one of those. I really enjoyed this collection of stories that she wrote after her life partner, Graeme Gibson, died. Many of the stories deal with widowhood. There are a number of stories about Tig and Nell, a married couple, mainly told from Nell's point of view. Some of these are sad but Atwood's characteristic humour also shines through. The title story is about Nell and her sister spending a week in the family's cabin and there are some funny bits but it ends with Nell finding a note that Tig wrote which is a plaintive reminder of their life together. The middle section of the book contains stories about other people (and even an alien). My favourite of these was "The Dead Interview" which Atwood narrates herself. In it, Atwood interviews the dead writer, George Orwell, through the services of a medium. I could almost picture this scene although I'm sure Atwood has never consulted a medium. It is very funny especially when Atwood has to explain modern times to Orwell. In addition to Atwood, there are a number of narrators. Some of the names, like Kimberly Farr and Bahni Turpin, are familiar but the audiobook doesn't reveal who is reading individual stories until the last. Atwood, of course, is unmistakable. Old Babes in the Wood: Stories by Margaret Atwood is a collection of fifteen short stories that feature a variety of themes and genres. A few of these stories have been published in the past among which are “Impatient Griselda” (featured in The Decameron Project, 2020), the title story “Old Babes in the Woods (published in New Yorker Magazine, April 2021), and the short story “My Evil Mother” (Amazon Original Stories, 2022). Divided into three segments, Parts I and III (a total of seven stories) feature Nell and Tig, a married couple with the latter segment focusing on an older Nell as she adjusts to being alone after Tig’s demise. While I did enjoy Atwood’s prose and the range of emotions depicted in the first section, I wasn’t quite as engaged as I was with subsequent sections. My ratings for the stories (with summaries) in the first section are as follows: “First Aid” (3/5): “Two Scorched Men” (2.5/5) “Morte de Smudgie” (3.5/5) Part II features a collection of stories that vary between dark humor, sci-fi and fantasy and historical fiction.I thoroughly enjoyed this segment which was characterized by exceptional imaginative storytelling as we have come to expect from the author. Themes range from pandemics and dystopian futures, magical realism to friendship, feminism and aging. “My Evil Mother” (5/5) “The Dead Interview” (5/5) Impatient Griselda (4.5/5) “Bad Teeth” (3/5) “Freeforall” (4/5) Metempsychosis (5/5) Airborne: A Symposium (3/5) “Death By Clamshell” (5/5) : Touching upon themes of marriage, family, aging, loss and grief,the stories in the third section are reflective, insightful, melancholic and nostalgic in tone, emotionally powerful and eloquently penned. I found the stories “Widows”(5/5) and “Wooden Box”(5/5) particularly moving. “Wooden Box” follows a widowed Nell as she is haunted by memories as she sorts through the house and their belongings. “A Dusty Lunch”(3/5): “Old Babes in the Wood” (4/5) : Fans of Margaret Atwood would enjoy this collection. For those who have yet to read anything by this author, this would be a great introduction to her range of storytelling. Overall, this is an impressive collection of stories that will appeal to readers with varied tastes and preferences. Many thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the much-appreciated digital review copy of this selection of short stories. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Page 220 “Wooden Box”Nell props herself up against the counter and opens the book. She’ll read while she’s eating what passes for dinner: a piece of cheese, some leftover soup heated in the microwave, a day-old baked flour specimen that was supposed to be a croissant, cut into slices and browned in the toaster oven. B Mac {I never was a “ generation student” I always was in a muddle.} This wildly assorted collection of short stories focuses mostly on growing old, but includes other (very strange) topics. Some of the stories are deeply moving, a few fell flat for me, but the whole is well worth reading. As an old person and a widow, I identified deeply with Atwood's insights about these conditions.
I’d be more tempted to dwell on the puzzle of that grab bag of middle stories being sandwiched between realistic, virtuosic, elegiac linked stories if the reasoning didn’t so simply present itself: This is Atwood. This is our four-faced Janus, who’s got one face turned to the past, one to the present, one to the future and the fourth inside a spaceship, telling stories about eating horses. Long may she reign. Sisältää nämä:Two Scorched Men (tekijä: Margaret Atwood) Morte de Smudgie (tekijä: Margaret Atwood) My Evil Mother (tekijä: Margaret Atwood) Impatient Griselda (tekijä: Margaret Atwood) Old Babes in the Wood {story} (tekijä: Margaret Atwood) Morte d'Arthur (tekijä: Alfred Lord Tennyson) (epäsuora)
"Margaret Atwood has established herself as a beloved cultural icon and one of the most visionary and canonical authors of her generation. In this collection comprised of fifteen extraordinary stories-some of which have appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine-Atwood speaks to our times with her characteristic wit and intellect. Of special significance are the seven works revolving around the long-term married couple Tig and Nell. Acting as bookends for the collection, these stories look deeply in the heart of what it means to spend a life together, with the four stories in Part I relating tales from their married life, and the three stories at the end showing Nell's reality in the aftermath of Tig's death. In other works, two sisters grapple with loss and memory in "Old Babes in the Wood"; "Impatient Griselda" reprises the folkloric role of Griselda in Bocaccio's The Decameron, exploring alienation and miscommunication; and "Evil Mother" touching on the fantastical, examining a mother-daughter relationship in which the mother purports to be a witch. Returning to short fiction for the first time since her 2014 collection, Stone Mattress, Atwood's storytelling gifts and unmistakable style are on full display"-- Kirjastojen kuvailuja ei löytynyt. |
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Google Books — Ladataan... LajityypitMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Kongressin kirjaston luokitusArvio (tähdet)Keskiarvo:
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This collection was the same. I loved the short story Morte de Smudge where the writer is rewriting Tennyson’s Morte de Arthur as on ode to her cat that recently died. This one has a stunning twisty ending.
Although there are fifteen stories altogether, Mort de Smudge is actually the first of seven interconnected stories of married couple Nell and Tig as they age. The last one, bearing the name of the book, involves cleaning out their summer cottage during the last visit there.
Perhaps I’ve had too much loss in my own life, losing both my mother and father in the last few years, as well as starting my own sorting of life’s accumulations. But this whole sequence just seemed overwhelmingly sad to me – which definitely speaks to Ms Atwood’s proficiency as a writer, but struck me as so sad, I wouldn’t want to reread these.
On the other hand, I did enjoy the totally unrelated My Evil Mother which I saw released as a free download recently. ( )