No one will mistake Margaret Atwood for Alice Munro when it comes to short stories. Most of these stories are trifles. Atwood's tendency to be elliptical really gets in the way of any development. Her narrators seem to just be skimming the surface of life with little or no consequence of that. Only the stories "Bluebeard's Egg" and "Scarlet Ibis" really rise above the level of craft, particularly the former. I love the preciseness with which Atwood details feminine rivalry over men! Overall, a hodge-podge of "short fiction pieces," not short stories.

In the car I always have an audiobook to listen to, and the last weeks I really have enjoyed Margareth Atwood's Bluebeard's Egg and other stories.

This is a collection of short stories written by a master of words, and a master of short stories. When Atwood writes she uses no extra words or sentences, she takes us right to the point, and the point in this collection is human beings. Common human beings fighting for their lives. No heros, just plain people like you and me. Every time a new story starts I think, this one cannot be better than the last, but it happend again and again, the story captivates me, and it is all mornings hard to stop the car and go to work - I want to hear just one more sentence, and then one more.

My favorite story though is the one that has given name to the collection, Bluebeard's Egg. A well known fairy tale, told and given it's own meaning by Atwood, or may be she just shows us the original meaning of the story. Sally, the main carachter of the story struggles with the puzzle of her life, to keep all the pieces together. The center of her life is her husband Ed, but how can she be sure that she is also the center in Ed's life? No one can write about this, invite us into and let us be in the feeling of the story like Atwood do.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

This was the first book by Margaret Atwood I read after reading the short story "Happy Ending" in an anthology.

A great writer is easily recognisable. All you have to do is to write a few lines of a novel or a short story. You will just keep on reading and feel sorry when you are closer to the end than to the beginning of the story.

This collection of short stories shows that Margaret Atwood is a major writer and story teller. Of course, not in the pulp fiction or slimy-sweet sense but you need a curiosity for the inner world of soliloquies and self-observations.

However, she does not give us lectures on psychology, but tells us the story and we can live it from the inside.

In three of the stories the seeds of her later novel, "Cat's Eye" can be found, which I was inspired to read exactly by them. Short stories can always be a good introduction or lead-in for writer and reader alike.

While it's always cheering to find literary poetry on the bestseller list, this seems to have made the (Canadian)bestseller lists merely because of the author's name. It's not *bad* poetry, just not great, and Atwood at this late stage is forcing the humour: she's funny in her novels without being coy or whimsical, which she does to excess in this collection. Maybe it was an off-year for Atwood as poet--she's currently stronger as a novelist, in a reversal of her early career. This book is not representative of Atwood's best poetry; unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to find Atwood's best poetry in the United States

An avid poetry reader and writer, I was introduced to the sparklingly new and innovative metaphors found in Atwood's book, MORNING IN A BURNED HOUSE, by a teacher. The poems certainly illuminate the ancient hidden core of individuals that yearns to beleive in something greater and more powerful...the human spirit. A great addition to a poetry library. Profoundly clear and imaginative.

This book is very aptly titled. The poems feel like waking up in a pile of cinders that used to be a house. Not sad really. Just sort of empty. As if everything has been reduced to stark facts with a few flowers sprouting here and there out of the ashes. There is something profoundly touching about these poems. They do an amazing job of conveying the spent feeling after the huge emotional turmoil of losing a parent. One line from the book that runs through my head sometimes: "After a pause, she says--he hears her say--'I love you like salt.'"

Books don't usually show up on your kitchen counter uninvited but this one did with a note tucked inside saying all in the family must read this. One by one we all read "She" reserving judgement until everyone had finished. Chomping at the bit those who had read it could barely wait for the moment when it could be discussed openly. When the last reader closed the book and placed it on the living room table the comments flew.
"I thought I'd hate it...the writing was so Victorian"

"How did Haggard come up with those wild scenarios"
"I hated her and loved her at the same time"
"Right and wrong became muddled"
"Everything was covered, adventure, excitement, romance, death, religion and morality"
"I continued to turn the pages hardly believing that he could come up with another bizarre scene"
Do we recommend it??? A great big giant YES!!!

Oh, thou-who-hast-not-read-this-book, you know not what you're missing! H. Rider Haggard's "She" is one of the best adventure novels of all, and it is one that inspired some of the best adventure stories of all, like, say, the Indiana Jones series.

A mysterious iron box that cannot be opened for twenty years... a 2,000-year-old quest for revenge... a lost civilization in the depths of Africa... and a mysterious queen called "She."

The story covers a vast landscape that will delight your imagination, and the main characters are distinct and likeable, sturdy partners in this most thrilling of adventures.

The story is so exciting and full of action, it's tempting to write it off as pure pulp fiction, hacked out with little intellgence or deeper meaning. You can read the book this way and still come away having a good time. But, if you're looking for that rare adventure novel with a meaningful subtext, "She" delivers on this level, too. I won't give too much away, but I think it's one of the greatest books ever written that demonstrates the total control desires have over man. Arthur Schopenhauer would approve.

Sigmund Freud called it a book "full of hidden meaning." C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien read it and loved it. Give this one a try, and you, too, might become forever fascinated with "She."

From the swoony cover to the intro by Margaret Atwood to the helpful and witty notes, this is likely the best edition of Haggard's magnificent warhorse on the market (certainly better than the benighted edition that omitted all the author's crucial footnotes, as if they were irritating excrescences).

Plus of course the novel's a gas, and somehow it gets under your skin and stays there forever.

I don't think many famous authors can achieve good books for children, but Atwood did it! Princess Prunella not only is a beautiful story, but the way the author plays with words and adjectives is fantastic. Very good book for children who are not very interested in reading. If you read it aloud for them and play it as a tongue twister, they'll love it!

This book is very entertaining. Both my daughters enjoy listening to me read it to them. A very good girls book with a lot of humour and lessons learned. You don't have to be pretty in life to be happy. I would recommend it to a friend or give it as a present. Appropreiate for ages 4 to 9.

This is an eclectic collection of short pieces (a little too short and non-narrative to be called short stories) on topics such as Chicken Little, the importance of dumb women in literature, Hamlet from Gertrude's perspectives, war, death, birth and more. There is no doubting, reading this, that Atwood has a feminist bent, but don't let that you scare you off - it is definitely not a ram-down-your-throat version of feminism. Rather, it is a funny, smart and insightful perspective.

I would not recommend this as an introduction to Atwood - a first time reader would probably be better suited to reading one of her novels such as The Blind Assassin or The Handmaid's Tale first. But I think that for readers that have encountered Atwood before, this collection will give you an insight into a fascinating and wryly humourous writer.

Much as I hate to give anything by Margaret Atwood fewer than 5 stars, honesty requires me to say that this collection is uneven and sometimes boring. Flashes of brilliance (_Hamlet_ from Gertrude's perpective is the best) still make it worth reading. What the heck - you'll get through it in an afternoon, and it's MUCH better than most of what's out there.

There is quite a mixture of ``genres'' and moods in the book. Some of them, I do not know how to name these writings, are pure satires and witty criticisms of the crook in every human being and in humanity in general, and others are like a breeze getting free from one's stream of consciousness. I felt this latter type really close to me and discovered why: because they are poems without the traditional poetic form. They can transmit a mood into the reader. Yes, they have no story or obvious message to the mind but rather to the whole human being; not food for the analysing mind but a kind of programs that get all your internal resources arranged into a special pattern which is more visual, that is, you rather wonder at it than think about it because you feel it moving and coming to life in you, than verbal.

I first read this book in college, and have reread it a number of times since then. The story is set in the newly-formed Republic of Gilead, what used to be the United States (and more specifically the story is set in and around Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA). Atwood incorporates a number of different and some might say disparate schools of political theory into this dytopia, including communism, Christian fundamentalism, and radical feminism, and shows what happens when normal citizens fail to educate themselves about ideas that may differ with their own. While many reader may consider this novel completely feminist or anti-Christian, a closer look reveals neither to be true. The Republic of Gilead twists Christianity considerably from its true message; in fact there is one passage where Baptists (who a lot of people think of as the "most religious" Christians) are being beseiged by the Gileadean army. And it makes a number of jabs at the goals currently held by some radical feminists, among them striving for a man-free "women's culture". All in all, this is a book that gets off to a somewhat slow start but really grows on you after awhile, and by the time you get to the end, you want to pick it up and start all over again. The scariest but also most imspiring part was thinking about what we as a society can do to prevent this.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood is a true classic. It is a cleverly crafted novel about a young woman called Offred who lives in a dystopian fundamentalist society called Gilead, set in the future. The book unfolds like a diary or series of letters, as the reader is provided with a clear psychological insight into the main character. Much of the tension stems from our exposure to Offred's internalised feelings; which are often ones of both frustration and resistance, faith and hopelessness. From the start of the novel, the reader plunges into Offred's world without much orientation and at first it is hard for the reader to decipher exactly what is going on. This is obviously Atwood's intention, as our confusion mirrors that of Offred. In fact, in order to get the most from this book, you really need to suspend judgement as nothing is really made clear until the last page - and even then, you may find a second reading beneficial.

Atwood explores controversial issues including feminism, anti-feminism, abortion, pornography, environmental issues, violence against women, bisexuality, ethics of cloning, racism, extreme right-wing polices, militant nationalism, and religious fanaticism. I am sure that we can all think of events that relate to these issues, and many of them will be as horrific as the society depicted by Atwood in this book.

The emphasis in this novel, however, is not in giving answers, but provoking thought and warning the reader to guard against complacency. It is an open-ended narrative and this can feel very frustrating for those of us who like a 'and they lived happily ever after' ending, where we can feel a sense of completion and satisfaction. This book is just simply not like that, and to be honest, I think it would be to the detriment if it were. This is an eye-opener and not intended to reassure the reader of his or her own well being.

Although not set in the 'real' world, this society is very realistic in many senses. Think of Nazi Germany, think of American Puritanism, the Romanian state controlled birth rate, slavery, Stalinism and some of the principles outlined in the Bible and you will soon realise how terrifying our own world can be. This may be fiction, but it would be true to say that none of it has been made up. A true work of art. Highly recommended!

I had this book on my bookshelf for three years before I finally decided to read it. Now I'm kicking myself for waiting so long! The Handmaid's Tale is awesome and it has completed my favorites list of 2002. Highly recommended.

Margaret Atwood's story is set in the future after the United States has undergone a nuclear war and the government has been destroyed. In place now is a strict and dangerous political scene, where any type of crime can result in an execution and a public hanging on The Wall. Not only that, but women are made secondhand citizens and are no longer able to hold jobs, make money, read or write.

The Handmaid's Tale is told through the eyes of Offred in the former state of Massachusets, now called the Republic of Gilead. Offred is a Handmaid, or a surrogate mother of sorts, who is appointed to an infertile couple in order to get pregnant and help boost the population. However, it isn't as easy as that since the only legal way to get pregnant is the old-fashioned way, which causes jealousy and tension throughout the household. And with the rigorous government, Offred isn't allowed to complain or refuse unless she wants to be shipped off to clean up toxic nuclear waste for the rest of her life.

I absolutely loved this book and will recommend it to all my book friends. The Handmaid's Tale is the perfect book for book clubs as it will evoke numerous discussions on feminism, nuclear war, radical government policies, slavery, etc. Margaret Atwood poses the question of "what if?" and one can only hope that this tale remains fiction. Excellent, thought-provoking, fascinating and heart-pounding -- this novel will never be forgotten.

The Blind Assassin does not disappoint. Atwood has styled a fully developed novel within a novel, and takes us through a lilting & genteel 30's/40's murder mystery and an elegantly erotic upperclass/lower class tale intertwined with an engaging and ever shifting off-world science fiction story.

The Blind Assassin's character development is played out through survival techniques. Self-actualization is borne from denial; what is obvious remains buried deep in the book's psyche. Atwood combines the colloquial cadence of a post WW1 world with the lush fictions from that era & the mannerisms of anticipation inherent in pre-WW2 times.

This book is a rare find. Unlike more predictable fiction it suspends real time and space so thoroughly--the reader is likely to travel in a daze connected directly to the storyline long after the last word has been read.

On the face of it, Margaret Atwood's _The Blind Assassin_ is three stories in one. First, it is the story of Iris Chase and her sister, Laura, two girls born to a prominent family in the early 1900s and growing to adulthood during the Great Depression. Second, it is the eponymous "novel-within-a-novel," which details the clandestine relationship between an upper-class woman and her blue-collar lover. And third, it is the chronicle of the early half of the twentieth century vis the Chase-Griffen family, as detailed by numerous press clippings and anecdotes scattered throughout. As the book progresses, Atwood skillfully weaves together the three threads into a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.

Throughout, the characters are deftly portrayed and the era they live in is vividly realised. The voices, particularly that of the 83-year-old Iris, telling her story to set the record straight, are true and poignant. But what really struck me as amazing about this book was the way the real story is in what is not said, what is not directly addressed until the very last pages. Atwood pulls off an astonishing sleight of hand, deliberately blinding the reader to what is really going on so that, like the assassin of the title, one is forced to rely on other, less developed senses to get the full picture. This is so deftly accomplished that when the revelation comes it is less an unveiling of something totally unexpected than a confirmation of suspicions held for a long time. In the end it becomes clear that this novel is not three separate stories, but one vast one, where the absence of any of the parts would lessen the overall affect. And that, rather than the ostensibly simple plot, is what makes this book so absorbing and so hard to put down.

_The Blind Assassin_ is one of the best books I've read all year and is my new favourite by this author.

I admit to being an Atwoodaholic--I wrote my master's thesis on Surfacing and paid double the price to have Alias Grace shipped to me from Canada in advance of its US publication date. As such, I devoured her newest novel in two sittings, despite its 500+ page length. It has left me feeling bleak and, in the words of the book's narrator "scraped clean inside." This is a beautifully structured book, involving three (perhaps even four) narrative layers that play off of each other to build a terrifying commentary on love, passion, sisterhood (both the biological and, by extension, emotional kinds), and betrayal. The book contains the closest thing to a love story Atwood has ever written, and it's a harrowing one that will sneak up on you and devastate you in the end. With the primary action being set between WW I and WWII, the novel also offers a final comment on the twentieth century: humanity's culpability in creating, destroying, and creating again, and on the quiet moments of beauty that are possible (temporarily) among the rubble.

This is a great book, a worthy successor to the wonderful Alias Grace. Read it at your own emotional risk, but READ IT.

Not as convincing or as powerful as her other work.

Every person can identify with some feeling, some remark in this collection. The poem "The Circle Game" itself is heavy with emotion, and it makes the reader feel. This is one of my favorite collections from Atwood.