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Stone Mattress: Nine Tales
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fiction (2014)A collection of highly imaginative short pieces that speak to our times with deadly accuracy.
A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. An elderly lady with Charles Bonnet syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps seeing, while a newly formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. A woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire, and a crime committed long ago is revenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion-year-old stromatolite.
In these nine tales, Margaret Atwood ventures into the shadowland earlier explored by fabulists and concoctors of dark yarns such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Daphne du Maurier and Arthur Conan Doyle - and also by herself, in her award-winning novel Alias Grace. In Stone Mattress, Margaret Atwood is at the top of her darkly humorous and seriously playful game.
A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband. An elderly lady with Charles Bonnet syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps seeing, while a newly formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. A woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire, and a crime committed long ago is revenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion-year-old stromatolite.
In these nine tales, Margaret Atwood ventures into the shadowland earlier explored by fabulists and concoctors of dark yarns such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Daphne du Maurier and Arthur Conan Doyle - and also by herself, in her award-winning novel Alias Grace. In Stone Mattress, Margaret Atwood is at the top of her darkly humorous and seriously playful game.
273 pages, Hardcover
First published August 28, 2014
1762 people are currently reading
38497 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Atwood
633 books87.9k followersMargaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,109 reviews
July 14, 2019
So..... this book is about people getting older and let's say, suffering the gradual breakdown of the body and mind. Mmmmmmm..... I am getting older. Can't read without my reading glasses... (I'll stick to 'just' this one example here :-)). And I was thinking... do I want to read about decline and decay of getting older... mmmmmmm.... And you know what, I like a sturdy, complete book story. Not a short story... really... not my thing. But, perhaps this is because I'm getting older :-), I seem to be reading more short stories now. And liking it, actually. Ha! Am I a 'dustie'...?
And: I love Atwood. Read the Handmaid's tale first, then the MaddAdam trilogy, the Blind Assassin. And still have (fortunately) several books to go. This one..... brilliant. Stories, 9 stories about people getting older, having lived a rich life or a troubled life, weird stories, intriguing stories. Dark, troubled, graceful, humorous. Brilliant. Sharp & delicious writing.
My favorites are actually the first two and the last two stories: Alphinland, Revenant, Stone Mattress and Torching the Dusties.
I am a fan, Margaret, please keep writing those out-of-the-box stories, whether short story or sizeable book, I will read...
Highly recommended, for Atwood fans and lovers of absurdistic stories.
A big five stars. More observations possibly to follow, if my getting older body and mind are up to it :-)
And: I love Atwood. Read the Handmaid's tale first, then the MaddAdam trilogy, the Blind Assassin. And still have (fortunately) several books to go. This one..... brilliant. Stories, 9 stories about people getting older, having lived a rich life or a troubled life, weird stories, intriguing stories. Dark, troubled, graceful, humorous. Brilliant. Sharp & delicious writing.
My favorites are actually the first two and the last two stories: Alphinland, Revenant, Stone Mattress and Torching the Dusties.
I am a fan, Margaret, please keep writing those out-of-the-box stories, whether short story or sizeable book, I will read...
Highly recommended, for Atwood fans and lovers of absurdistic stories.
A big five stars. More observations possibly to follow, if my getting older body and mind are up to it :-)
January 8, 2020
“She's not extravagant or greedy, she tells herself: all she ever wanted was to be protected by layer upon layer of kind, soft, insulating money, so that nobody and nothing could get close enough to harm her.”
Lust and ruin in the Arctic.
Her name is Verna, certainly an unusual name. A name that people will notice, remember, and comment on. She told one husband of hers that it meant spring, but then another she had a much more elaborate explanation. ”During the preliminary stages of netting her fourth husband, whom she’d flagged as a kink addict, Verna had gone even further. She’d told him she’d been named for “The Rite of Spring,” a highly sexual ballet that ended with torture and human sacrifice. He’d laughed, but he’d also wriggled: a sure sign of the hook going in.”
Men are money. She doesn’t want them to take care of her. She wants their money to take care of her. She says she isn’t greedy, but she is so good at the game that she can’t help but think about the possibility of one more. She still looks good, but there are cracks in the veneer of her attractiveness, so time, as it does for all of us, is working against her. Her self assessment says it all: ”Though much is taken, much remains.”
Cinch, tuck, and obscure, and she is ready for one more campaign.
She is on an Arctic trip. The passengers are the right sorts of educated men who wouldn’t be on this trip if they hadn’t done very well. She simply has to sort out the right, plump pigeon. The married ones are eliminated from her list of possibilities immediately. She doesn’t want to take the time or put the effort in to liberating them from their wives, besides ”discarded wives stick like burrs.”
She decides on one of the Bobs.
Now the interesting twist to the story is who Bob turns out to be. We see this savvy woman of the world suddenly flung on an emotional roller coaster. She whiplashes between the fourteen year old she once was and the rather cold hearted mercenary woman she has become.
What will she do about Bob?
I just read The Cask of Amontillado, a spicy Edgar Allan Poe tale where a man finally puts his diabolical plan for revenge into play. I searched for a story where a woman is the one contemplating revenge, and this Margaret Atwood story fit the bill perfectly. I always marvel at her ability to add so much colorful background to her stories without creating a lot of unnecessary length. She deftly describes Verna’s rather literary husbands with just a few brushstrokes. She infuses so much natural humor into this story that I found myself grinning even as Verna is contemplating such appalling acts. I want to explain what I mean by natural humor. I don’t like movies that are billed as comedies, but I really enjoy dramas that have genuine elements of humor. Life is humorous enough without creating forced, implausible situations for comedic effect. Comedic movies are frankly soulless creatures that need a stake driven into their hearts before they spawn numerous sequels.
Great story that I think most of you will like a lot. You can read it free here: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
Lust and ruin in the Arctic.
Her name is Verna, certainly an unusual name. A name that people will notice, remember, and comment on. She told one husband of hers that it meant spring, but then another she had a much more elaborate explanation. ”During the preliminary stages of netting her fourth husband, whom she’d flagged as a kink addict, Verna had gone even further. She’d told him she’d been named for “The Rite of Spring,” a highly sexual ballet that ended with torture and human sacrifice. He’d laughed, but he’d also wriggled: a sure sign of the hook going in.”
Men are money. She doesn’t want them to take care of her. She wants their money to take care of her. She says she isn’t greedy, but she is so good at the game that she can’t help but think about the possibility of one more. She still looks good, but there are cracks in the veneer of her attractiveness, so time, as it does for all of us, is working against her. Her self assessment says it all: ”Though much is taken, much remains.”
Cinch, tuck, and obscure, and she is ready for one more campaign.
She is on an Arctic trip. The passengers are the right sorts of educated men who wouldn’t be on this trip if they hadn’t done very well. She simply has to sort out the right, plump pigeon. The married ones are eliminated from her list of possibilities immediately. She doesn’t want to take the time or put the effort in to liberating them from their wives, besides ”discarded wives stick like burrs.”
She decides on one of the Bobs.
Now the interesting twist to the story is who Bob turns out to be. We see this savvy woman of the world suddenly flung on an emotional roller coaster. She whiplashes between the fourteen year old she once was and the rather cold hearted mercenary woman she has become.
What will she do about Bob?
I just read The Cask of Amontillado, a spicy Edgar Allan Poe tale where a man finally puts his diabolical plan for revenge into play. I searched for a story where a woman is the one contemplating revenge, and this Margaret Atwood story fit the bill perfectly. I always marvel at her ability to add so much colorful background to her stories without creating a lot of unnecessary length. She deftly describes Verna’s rather literary husbands with just a few brushstrokes. She infuses so much natural humor into this story that I found myself grinning even as Verna is contemplating such appalling acts. I want to explain what I mean by natural humor. I don’t like movies that are billed as comedies, but I really enjoy dramas that have genuine elements of humor. Life is humorous enough without creating forced, implausible situations for comedic effect. Comedic movies are frankly soulless creatures that need a stake driven into their hearts before they spawn numerous sequels.
Great story that I think most of you will like a lot. You can read it free here: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
March 20, 2025
Welcome To The Everyday World of an inner woke Margaret Atwood!
Nestled slightly beyond the fringe in a decadent modern Southern Ontario city, her too-knowingly-cozy home welcomes you into her cluttered kitchen - crammed with the sins and petty annoyances of old age.
And where there's always a large pot of rich black depression simmering on the stove...
Some of us find cheer in these stories. I guess that's due to their risque levity. But here all that's just another Stone Mattress for these folks. They've forgotten how to laugh at their jokes. It's all pain now.
You know, as we grow old we have a choice in the matter of our Stone Matresses. The first is purgatorial - a constant "purification of the motive in the ground of our beseeching" - in other words, our pain of sleeping on stones becomes a self-conscious SACRIFICE to our Creator. Why?
We still have hope, you see.
But the second option is hellish. Sorry, kids, you too will have no other choices when you age. This Stone Mattress of Hell is a celebrity roast for your best friend - your ego. And this second option is the horrible, unconscious choice for all of these characters: a blazing-hot ego roast.
Other voices inhabit the Garden.
Shall we follow?....
Humankind cannot bear too much reality.
Other voices? Like, for example, the Serpent's?
Yikes! Well, At least the first story - Alphinland (see my review) - was good.
The rest are largely unredeemable. You can Thank Your Lucky Stars if your senior years aren't like those of these folks:
A fate I'm sure you'll obviate if you skilfully sidestep the Grungey side of life, like us.
But Atwood remains distanced - at once bemused and amused - hence Teflon-proofed, from all the usual, middle-aged males' oddly vain assortment of dumb pecadiloes.
But, personally, the book left a foul, rancid taste in my mouth:
I do not like Green Eggs and Ham -
I do not like 'em, Sam-I-am!
Green Eggs and Ham, indeed.
So if you LOVED The Handmaid's Tale, folks -
Maybe it's time to quit while you're ahead!
DON'T go here.
Nestled slightly beyond the fringe in a decadent modern Southern Ontario city, her too-knowingly-cozy home welcomes you into her cluttered kitchen - crammed with the sins and petty annoyances of old age.
And where there's always a large pot of rich black depression simmering on the stove...
Some of us find cheer in these stories. I guess that's due to their risque levity. But here all that's just another Stone Mattress for these folks. They've forgotten how to laugh at their jokes. It's all pain now.
You know, as we grow old we have a choice in the matter of our Stone Matresses. The first is purgatorial - a constant "purification of the motive in the ground of our beseeching" - in other words, our pain of sleeping on stones becomes a self-conscious SACRIFICE to our Creator. Why?
We still have hope, you see.
But the second option is hellish. Sorry, kids, you too will have no other choices when you age. This Stone Mattress of Hell is a celebrity roast for your best friend - your ego. And this second option is the horrible, unconscious choice for all of these characters: a blazing-hot ego roast.
Other voices inhabit the Garden.
Shall we follow?....
Humankind cannot bear too much reality.
Other voices? Like, for example, the Serpent's?
Yikes! Well, At least the first story - Alphinland (see my review) - was good.
The rest are largely unredeemable. You can Thank Your Lucky Stars if your senior years aren't like those of these folks:
A fate I'm sure you'll obviate if you skilfully sidestep the Grungey side of life, like us.
But Atwood remains distanced - at once bemused and amused - hence Teflon-proofed, from all the usual, middle-aged males' oddly vain assortment of dumb pecadiloes.
But, personally, the book left a foul, rancid taste in my mouth:
I do not like Green Eggs and Ham -
I do not like 'em, Sam-I-am!
Green Eggs and Ham, indeed.
So if you LOVED The Handmaid's Tale, folks -
Maybe it's time to quit while you're ahead!
DON'T go here.
December 21, 2022
These nine tales were deliciously dark and stamped with Atwood’s singular voice. And they were a ton of fun to read! I love Atwood’s brand of humor – sly, incisive and mischievous. I could almost picture her sitting down to pen these stories with an impish twinkle in her eye. She obviously had as much fun writing these as she hoped her audience would have reading them. The majority of these tales feature an aging crowd, faced with insecurities and indignities, both self-imposed as well as those exacted by their families and communities. Most of her protagonists here are women – women seeking their own brand of revenge, some more subtle than others. What I like about Atwood is that she reels you into her tales with the first sentence, which is the perfect approach to a short story as far as I’m concerned.
“At the outset Verna had not intended to kill anyone. What she had in mind was a vacation, pure and simple.”
The first three stories are interconnected, showing three different points of view relating to a certain point in time in the lives of the three main characters. It’s true that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions until we have heard all sides to a story! I think these three were my favorite, as I love to make those sorts of connections and come to my own conclusions. There’s a sprinkling of magical realism throughout many of these, and I gobbled it right down. It worked for me here! There’s even a story within a story, something I’m not usually fond of, but even this caught my attention – I can still see it playing out in my head. So weird!! And there are some interesting revelations at the end of most of her tales. Some characters come to an understanding, a tying up of loose ends if you will. So it’s not just all fun and games on Atwood’s part – she’s making some good points here!
“Don’t make a mistake. But how much time does he have left in his life to worry about mistakes?”
I read this shortly after finishing Oryx and Crake, a book which I devoured and went ridiculously wild about. As I said, I had a whole lot of fun reading this, but having just finished that full length novel, this pales a smidgen in comparison. When reading a favorite author, I’m nearly always going to fall for the novel over the collection simply because it’s more satisfying as a whole. But these are absolutely worth reading, and I highly recommend them to anyone that wants a sampling of Atwood’s writing or to those looking for some yummy morsels of wicked delights!
“She hums with danger, like a high-tension wire; she’s a raw socket; she’s the sum of his own ignorance, of everything he doesn’t understand and never will.”
“At the outset Verna had not intended to kill anyone. What she had in mind was a vacation, pure and simple.”
The first three stories are interconnected, showing three different points of view relating to a certain point in time in the lives of the three main characters. It’s true that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions until we have heard all sides to a story! I think these three were my favorite, as I love to make those sorts of connections and come to my own conclusions. There’s a sprinkling of magical realism throughout many of these, and I gobbled it right down. It worked for me here! There’s even a story within a story, something I’m not usually fond of, but even this caught my attention – I can still see it playing out in my head. So weird!! And there are some interesting revelations at the end of most of her tales. Some characters come to an understanding, a tying up of loose ends if you will. So it’s not just all fun and games on Atwood’s part – she’s making some good points here!
“Don’t make a mistake. But how much time does he have left in his life to worry about mistakes?”
I read this shortly after finishing Oryx and Crake, a book which I devoured and went ridiculously wild about. As I said, I had a whole lot of fun reading this, but having just finished that full length novel, this pales a smidgen in comparison. When reading a favorite author, I’m nearly always going to fall for the novel over the collection simply because it’s more satisfying as a whole. But these are absolutely worth reading, and I highly recommend them to anyone that wants a sampling of Atwood’s writing or to those looking for some yummy morsels of wicked delights!
“She hums with danger, like a high-tension wire; she’s a raw socket; she’s the sum of his own ignorance, of everything he doesn’t understand and never will.”
February 10, 2016
Here's an interesting thing I noticed: on the cover photo that Goodreads attaches to this review, the full title is Stone Mattress: Nine Tales. But my copy (the paperback version, with the bright yellow cover) reads Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales. I'm not sure why there's a difference in the titles, but I'm glad I have the wicked version.
Fuck, I love Atwood. She just gets better and better as the years go on, and I'm especially in the love with the way she's happily embracing her love of pulpy, B-movie tropes and plots that Serious Authors are supposed to shun. First she wrote a nonfiction anthology of science fiction, then she wrote a post-apocalyptic future series, and now we have Nine Tales.
It's not all fantasy and sci-fi, but the influences are clear. The first three stories revolve around an aging author named Constance, who wrote a sprawling high-fantasy series about a magical world called Alphinland, and words cannot describe how badly I want Atwood to write a good old fashioned swords-and-dragons epic, for real. Just the little glimpses she gives us of Alphinland made me wish that it was a real series. Like this description, where we see Constance inserting people from her real life into her fantasy world, and doling out the appropriate punishments and rewards:
"[Alphinland] was a dangerous place, and - granted - preposterous in some ways, but it was not sordid. The denizens of it had standards. They understood gallantry, and courage, and also revenge.
Therefore Marjorie is not stored in the deserted winery where Gavin has been parked. Instead she's immobilized by runic spells inside a stone beehive belonging to Frenosia of the Fragrant Antennae. This demigoddess is eight feet tall and covered with tiny golden hairs, and has compound eyes. Luckily she's a close friend of Constance and is thus happy to assist in her plans and devices in return for the insect-related charms that Constance has the ability to bestow. So every day at twelve noon sharp, Marjorie is stung by a hundred emerald and indigo bees. Their stings are like white hot needles combined with red-hot chili sauce, and the pain is beyond excruciating."
Gavin and Marjorie are people from Constance's past - Gavin is her old boyfriend, and Marjorie is the woman he left Constance for. They each get their own sections after Constance, so you can see the relationship from three difference perspectives, and honestly I could have read an entire book about just those three characters.
But Atwood promised us nine wicked tales, and she delivers. I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth revisits the characters from The Robber Bride, The Dead Hand Loves You is a delightfully meta story of a horror writer striking an unfortunate deal, and in The Freeze-Dried Groom, a man purchases a storage unit at an auction and discovers it filled with the remnants of a wedding - including the groom. But my favorite (after Constance & Co) was Stone Mattress. In this story, a woman traveling solo on an Alaskan cruise realizes that one of her fellow passengers is the man who raped her in high school, and she decides to murder him. And now, in addition to a high-fantasy series (ten books minimum, please) I also want Atwood to write a murder mystery novel.
It's brief, and you can get through the whole book in a couple of days, but every page is gold. Or, more accurately, every page is Atwood.
Fuck, I love Atwood. She just gets better and better as the years go on, and I'm especially in the love with the way she's happily embracing her love of pulpy, B-movie tropes and plots that Serious Authors are supposed to shun. First she wrote a nonfiction anthology of science fiction, then she wrote a post-apocalyptic future series, and now we have Nine Tales.
It's not all fantasy and sci-fi, but the influences are clear. The first three stories revolve around an aging author named Constance, who wrote a sprawling high-fantasy series about a magical world called Alphinland, and words cannot describe how badly I want Atwood to write a good old fashioned swords-and-dragons epic, for real. Just the little glimpses she gives us of Alphinland made me wish that it was a real series. Like this description, where we see Constance inserting people from her real life into her fantasy world, and doling out the appropriate punishments and rewards:
"[Alphinland] was a dangerous place, and - granted - preposterous in some ways, but it was not sordid. The denizens of it had standards. They understood gallantry, and courage, and also revenge.
Therefore Marjorie is not stored in the deserted winery where Gavin has been parked. Instead she's immobilized by runic spells inside a stone beehive belonging to Frenosia of the Fragrant Antennae. This demigoddess is eight feet tall and covered with tiny golden hairs, and has compound eyes. Luckily she's a close friend of Constance and is thus happy to assist in her plans and devices in return for the insect-related charms that Constance has the ability to bestow. So every day at twelve noon sharp, Marjorie is stung by a hundred emerald and indigo bees. Their stings are like white hot needles combined with red-hot chili sauce, and the pain is beyond excruciating."
Gavin and Marjorie are people from Constance's past - Gavin is her old boyfriend, and Marjorie is the woman he left Constance for. They each get their own sections after Constance, so you can see the relationship from three difference perspectives, and honestly I could have read an entire book about just those three characters.
But Atwood promised us nine wicked tales, and she delivers. I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth revisits the characters from The Robber Bride, The Dead Hand Loves You is a delightfully meta story of a horror writer striking an unfortunate deal, and in The Freeze-Dried Groom, a man purchases a storage unit at an auction and discovers it filled with the remnants of a wedding - including the groom. But my favorite (after Constance & Co) was Stone Mattress. In this story, a woman traveling solo on an Alaskan cruise realizes that one of her fellow passengers is the man who raped her in high school, and she decides to murder him. And now, in addition to a high-fantasy series (ten books minimum, please) I also want Atwood to write a murder mystery novel.
It's brief, and you can get through the whole book in a couple of days, but every page is gold. Or, more accurately, every page is Atwood.
September 28, 2014
It's been awhile since an author has stunned me with brilliance and originality. The stories are often dark and funny but always razor-sharp in their observations on the indignities of aging. It is a joy to see a 75 year-old author in top form. I've come late to the party but as of this writing, I have become Ms. Atwood's 15,119th fan.
September 6, 2014
I give five stars reluctantly. Four stars means “this is a very good book and I recommend it” whereas five stars means “this is superlative—an exceptional, out of the ordinary book and a must-read.” I cannot deny that fifth star to Stone Mattress. Margaret Attwood is a fine writer—we know that. There are many fine writers. What marks her out is her ability to write excellent books without writing what is effectively the same book over and over again. I sometimes wonder just what sort of person could possibly come up with these ideas, but I cannot hide my admiration for a writer who combines such a vivid imagination with quite brilliant execution. I know that not everyone likes the short story form; if you like short stories, you owe it to yourself to read this stunning collection.
October 30, 2015
Put me on a desert island with the complete works of La Atwood: I would NOT be sending desperate requests for rescue on endpages ripped out and stuffed into bottles, or using the paper to fire smoke signals to the world.
You know it's a good one when you re-visit to write a review and end up re-reading practically the whole thing.
The blurb on the front says "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", which I have to admit gave me pause, because by my calculation, comparing myself to most of the characters in these tales, on a purely chronological scale I ought to be at that stage by now in my life. But murderous thoughts do not clutter my mind, in fact generally I lack the killer instinct (Him on The Other Sofa will be assured to know), and in any case I beg to differ with the eminent critic of The Independent. Dead, alive, that's not the issue here. It's sequestration. Preservation of the powerful totems of our past in amber, in an oak cask in the winery, freeze-dried in a storage unit, in the archives of a university library, in a residential care facility, in a Dropbox .
Tales, Ms Atwood says in her afterword, that word evokes the world of the folk tale, the wonder tale, and the long-ago teller of tales. We may safely assume that all tales are fiction, whereas a "story" might well be a true story about what we usually agree to call "real life," as well as a short story that keeps within the boundaries of social realism. The Ancient Mariner tells a tale. "Give me a copper coin and I will tell you a golden tale," the late Robertson Davies was fond of saying. And these are golden wonder tales written by a sorceress, a Wise Woman, with a wealth of imagination at her fingertips as well as other tales to draw on. She is fearless and leonine, acerbically witty, with an energy and verve that must be intimidating to aspiring writers: for surely, if you read this you must be dismayed at such breadth and ease of talent.
Such irresistible charms - charms in both senses of the word, alluring incantations. She places these tales in a clearly mappable social reality; there is the polar vortex that hit the Eastern part of the North American landmass in early 2014, there are the delights of easy recognition to those of us with an acquaintance of Dundas, Yorkville, Cabbagetown or Missassauga, and yet these tales swoop on silent wings, entering through a magic gateway into the wondrous world of magical fairy tale, recapturing for the hapless reader that childish angst-ridden delight, that heady mixture of fear and wonder and safely back for teatime. Then there are those knowing winks of allusion to Robertson Davies' stone inside a snowball, or Shakespeare's Dark Lady, or Dickens' Miss Havisham. And not least there is that dry, sardonic, hilarious tone. Erupting bubbles of volcanic laughter, but never snide or unpleasant mockery, never at the expense of her characters. Take, for example Sam, in The Freeze-Dried Groom - he is a shit and a scum-bag and it's hard to escape the feeling that Ms Atwood finds him ridiculous. He is ridiculous, he is being ridiculed and exposed as an idiot in front of our very eyes. But we still feel for him. Hell, how does she do that?
And it's not just men's foibles and self-delusion that she burns away to ashes: she is equally ruthless and indulgent with the female. Tin and Jorrie, in Dark Lady, are twins who have found each other again later in life like some old married couple, for no-one else can be quite so tolerant and protective of the other, no-one else can do the job of bolstering the other's individuality without allowing them to fall prey to public humiliation in quite the way required. Jorrie should know better, having been in advertising herself, but she still believes in the promised magical effects of cosmetics.
Dignity. That is all we can hope to preserve.
You know it's a good one when you re-visit to write a review and end up re-reading practically the whole thing.
The blurb on the front says "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", which I have to admit gave me pause, because by my calculation, comparing myself to most of the characters in these tales, on a purely chronological scale I ought to be at that stage by now in my life. But murderous thoughts do not clutter my mind, in fact generally I lack the killer instinct (Him on The Other Sofa will be assured to know), and in any case I beg to differ with the eminent critic of The Independent. Dead, alive, that's not the issue here. It's sequestration. Preservation of the powerful totems of our past in amber, in an oak cask in the winery, freeze-dried in a storage unit, in the archives of a university library, in a residential care facility, in a Dropbox .
Tales, Ms Atwood says in her afterword, that word evokes the world of the folk tale, the wonder tale, and the long-ago teller of tales. We may safely assume that all tales are fiction, whereas a "story" might well be a true story about what we usually agree to call "real life," as well as a short story that keeps within the boundaries of social realism. The Ancient Mariner tells a tale. "Give me a copper coin and I will tell you a golden tale," the late Robertson Davies was fond of saying. And these are golden wonder tales written by a sorceress, a Wise Woman, with a wealth of imagination at her fingertips as well as other tales to draw on. She is fearless and leonine, acerbically witty, with an energy and verve that must be intimidating to aspiring writers: for surely, if you read this you must be dismayed at such breadth and ease of talent.
Such irresistible charms - charms in both senses of the word, alluring incantations. She places these tales in a clearly mappable social reality; there is the polar vortex that hit the Eastern part of the North American landmass in early 2014, there are the delights of easy recognition to those of us with an acquaintance of Dundas, Yorkville, Cabbagetown or Missassauga, and yet these tales swoop on silent wings, entering through a magic gateway into the wondrous world of magical fairy tale, recapturing for the hapless reader that childish angst-ridden delight, that heady mixture of fear and wonder and safely back for teatime. Then there are those knowing winks of allusion to Robertson Davies' stone inside a snowball, or Shakespeare's Dark Lady, or Dickens' Miss Havisham. And not least there is that dry, sardonic, hilarious tone. Erupting bubbles of volcanic laughter, but never snide or unpleasant mockery, never at the expense of her characters. Take, for example Sam, in The Freeze-Dried Groom - he is a shit and a scum-bag and it's hard to escape the feeling that Ms Atwood finds him ridiculous. He is ridiculous, he is being ridiculed and exposed as an idiot in front of our very eyes. But we still feel for him. Hell, how does she do that?
And it's not just men's foibles and self-delusion that she burns away to ashes: she is equally ruthless and indulgent with the female. Tin and Jorrie, in Dark Lady, are twins who have found each other again later in life like some old married couple, for no-one else can be quite so tolerant and protective of the other, no-one else can do the job of bolstering the other's individuality without allowing them to fall prey to public humiliation in quite the way required. Jorrie should know better, having been in advertising herself, but she still believes in the promised magical effects of cosmetics.
There are so many things in life about which she ought to know better but does not, the art of make-up being one of them. He has to keep reminding her not to halt the bronze procedure halfway down her neck: otherwise her head will look sewed on.
The hair compromise he finally agreed to is a white stripe on the left side - geriatric punk, he'd whispered to himself - with, recently, the addition of an arresting scarlet patch. The total image is that of an alarmed skunk trapped in the floodlights after an encounter with a ketchup bottle. He crosses his fingers about that blood-coloured blotch, and hopes he will not be accused of elder bashing.
Gone are the days when Jorrie - once known for her sultry gypsy image and her vivid African prints and clanky ethnic jewellery - could pull off any fashion whim that caught her eye. She's lost the knack, though she's kept her flamboyant habits. Mutton dressed as Spam, he's longed to say to her from time to time, though he hasn't said it. Instead he's clamped himself together and held himself back, and said it about other women to make her laugh.
He does usually manage to steer her away from the steeper and more lethal precipices. There was the interlude with the nose ring, back in the '90s: she'd sprung the tacky doodad on him without prior warning, and asked him point-blank what he thought. He'd had to sew his mouth shut, though he'd done some hypocritical nodding and murmuring. She'd jettisoned the tawdry accessory once she'd caught a cold and practically torn her nostril off when her handkerchief got snagged on the ring.
Dignity. That is all we can hope to preserve.
May 25, 2020
“He drowned his sorrows, though like other drowned things they had a habit of floating to the surface when least expected.”
I’m so used to reading horror short story collections that it was refreshing to read a collection with a different theme - in this case, the ageing process and death. However, Stone Mattress is still delightfully dark and witty, everything I would come to expect from Atwood.
What I loved most about this collection was that a lot of the stories featured elderly protagonists, an often forgotten about group of people in fiction. But do not be fooled... these old people aren’t cute little grannies who mean no harm. They’re devious, sometimes scheming and up to no good!
The title story was my FAVOURITE. An elderly woman is on an arctic cruise and encounters a man that had abused her in her youth. No spoilers here, but I loved how this one ended up! Another highlight was The Dead Hand Loves You, wherein an author makes a deal with his flat mates to split the profits of his not-yet-written novel just to cover his rent. Time passes and he regrets ever making this deal as the horror novel turns out to be a huge success! So he sets out to solve this issue...
There’s also a story about an elderly residential home being under siege by younger people, a story about a young girl with a genetic abnormality who is mistaken for a vampire, and the first trio of stories which tells the tale of a love triangle but through the eyes of old age.
All in all, a really enjoyable collection. Even if a couple of the stories felt like they lacked a punch at times, Atwood always delivers with her simply exquisite and insightful writing. 3.5 stars.
I’m so used to reading horror short story collections that it was refreshing to read a collection with a different theme - in this case, the ageing process and death. However, Stone Mattress is still delightfully dark and witty, everything I would come to expect from Atwood.
What I loved most about this collection was that a lot of the stories featured elderly protagonists, an often forgotten about group of people in fiction. But do not be fooled... these old people aren’t cute little grannies who mean no harm. They’re devious, sometimes scheming and up to no good!
The title story was my FAVOURITE. An elderly woman is on an arctic cruise and encounters a man that had abused her in her youth. No spoilers here, but I loved how this one ended up! Another highlight was The Dead Hand Loves You, wherein an author makes a deal with his flat mates to split the profits of his not-yet-written novel just to cover his rent. Time passes and he regrets ever making this deal as the horror novel turns out to be a huge success! So he sets out to solve this issue...
There’s also a story about an elderly residential home being under siege by younger people, a story about a young girl with a genetic abnormality who is mistaken for a vampire, and the first trio of stories which tells the tale of a love triangle but through the eyes of old age.
All in all, a really enjoyable collection. Even if a couple of the stories felt like they lacked a punch at times, Atwood always delivers with her simply exquisite and insightful writing. 3.5 stars.
February 23, 2018
NY Times accompanying picture for the review of the book collection.
“At the outset Verna had not intended to kill anyone...”
That is the first line of the first Margaret Atwood I have ever read. Her name has appeared in my circle of interest just a mention shy of being annoying. Author of the famed The Handmaid's Tale, I had absolutely no intention of reading anything by her. Simply because I suffer from a ridiculous case of communes vitantem. Injudicious though it may be, but I avoid things that are ubiquitously liked. I often make exceptions in the event of curiosity overriding my rigid misguided principles or when something is too great to be ignored. I mean, hello, Harry Potter?
In any case, I was already aware that Margaret Atwood writes some excellent shit. Understandably, it’s not the kind of shit I usually subscribe to but some damn fine shit nonetheless. So when a friend sent me a link to this story, I had to wonder how to explain that I’m not interested simply because “Margaret is too popular for me”. What a crock of bullshit, right?
So because I couldn’t have my friend realise so soon into our friendship what a nut job I am, I decided that I would read the story. I had to put off reading over the weekend because I was nursing a mutinous migraine on Saturday and Sunday was Formula 1 race day and my mind was too addled by my abiding love for Lewis Hamilton (yet another popularity fluke in my existence) and excitement for his home race, so I couldn’t read anything.
Of course now that it’s a Monday, I decided to actually read it owing to the fact that work is painfully mind numbing.
I was still aware of the fact that I may read the story with a bit of prejudice. But that first line had me hooked. My favourite genre in fiction is mystery and that often goes with crime. In fact with most of my favourite books- the crime that often brings the mystery and suspense is murder. After that line, I felt like an opiate addict who’d been introduced to heroin. Yeah, it was that great.
Our narrator is Verna. A lady who appears to be in her 50-60s and was a bit of a serial murderer if I’m honest. She was on a cruise to the Arctic to scout for a fresh husband, her fourth one having "passed away" recently. While on the cruise, she had no intention to murder anyone. Until circumstances aligned that led her to participate in one of her favoured infrequent but consistent pastimes.
Verna is now my absolutely favourite silver haired “black widow” and if I’m being honest, I never had one before.
I solemnly swear that I will no longer adhere to my ill-advised principles of avoiding the popular. Unless of course it’s Fifty Shades regurgitations or young adult Harry Potter wannabes (I’m looking at you Twilight) and other hated genres but that’s an entirely different story. I definitely plan on joining the Atwood bandwagon. Any recommendations?
This story can be read here: The Stone Mattress
Please note: I haven't read the entire collection, only the short story that appeared in the New Yorker. I have every intention of reading it.
July 23, 2015
I love short stories! I try to read one each day. It's always a pleasure to sit down with a collection of stories by an up-and-coming young writer; the thrill of the unexpected and the delight in discovering new talent is irresistible.
BUT . . .
There's just something about being taken in hand by a master storyteller and accomplished writer that is beyond magical.
Gavin hates his study with a rancorous hatred. He hates this study - which is only a temporary one - but especially he hates his real study, back in British Columbia. It was designed for him by Reynolds, and has quotations from his most-anthologized poems stenciled on its kidney-coloured walls in white paint; so he has to sit in there surrounded by monuments of his own decaying magnificence while all around him the air is thick with shreds and tatters of the stellar poetic masterpieces he'd once revered; the shards of well-wrought urns, the broken echoes of other men's wit and scope.
It's true what they say. Old age is NOT for sissies.
Atwood's tales of old friends and old enemies are simply perfect.
Ah, just . . . AHHHHHH!
BUT . . .
There's just something about being taken in hand by a master storyteller and accomplished writer that is beyond magical.
Gavin hates his study with a rancorous hatred. He hates this study - which is only a temporary one - but especially he hates his real study, back in British Columbia. It was designed for him by Reynolds, and has quotations from his most-anthologized poems stenciled on its kidney-coloured walls in white paint; so he has to sit in there surrounded by monuments of his own decaying magnificence while all around him the air is thick with shreds and tatters of the stellar poetic masterpieces he'd once revered; the shards of well-wrought urns, the broken echoes of other men's wit and scope.
It's true what they say. Old age is NOT for sissies.
Atwood's tales of old friends and old enemies are simply perfect.
Ah, just . . . AHHHHHH!
October 4, 2018
”It’s paltry. It’s vicious. It’s normal. It’s what happens in life.”
Oh my goodness. This book has bite!
A deliciously WICKED collection of nine short stories. Acerbic as the tartest vinegar.
The stories deal with the passing of time, the erosion of the human spirit and the slow decay of the body and mind.
Revenge is a dish served both hot and cold, and grudges are not forgotten. Most of the characters are unpleasant and some of them are downright vicious (which makes for fabulous reading!).
I’ve not read any of Margaret Attwood’s other books. What an introduction. I was so impressed with her writing style. Highly observant, she is the queen of the one-liner and clever comeback.
”Old dog.” She smiled with her hard false teeth. “No new tricks.”
These stories are not subtle, and most of them display varying levels of the meanness that people are capable of, especially when they feel they have a score to settle.
Standouts for me were ”The Dead Hand Loves You” ,“Torching The Dusties” and ”The Freeze Dried Groom”
”The Dead Hand Loves You” had the feel of the old ”Creature Feature” B&W schlockfest movies that used to be on the telly way too late on Saturday nights. I have a dim memory of them, and of a hand, walking across the TV screen….this story brought that vividly to mind. It’s so out there, it’s brilliant.
“Torching The Dusties” is utterly disturbing. Set in a retirement home, protesters decide it’s time for them to move over and make way for others. Excruciatingly sad.
”The Freeze Dried Groom” just goes to show you never know what items you’ll pick up at an auction…
Read these stories, at your own risk! You have been warned.
Oh my goodness. This book has bite!
A deliciously WICKED collection of nine short stories. Acerbic as the tartest vinegar.
The stories deal with the passing of time, the erosion of the human spirit and the slow decay of the body and mind.
Revenge is a dish served both hot and cold, and grudges are not forgotten. Most of the characters are unpleasant and some of them are downright vicious (which makes for fabulous reading!).
I’ve not read any of Margaret Attwood’s other books. What an introduction. I was so impressed with her writing style. Highly observant, she is the queen of the one-liner and clever comeback.
”Old dog.” She smiled with her hard false teeth. “No new tricks.”
These stories are not subtle, and most of them display varying levels of the meanness that people are capable of, especially when they feel they have a score to settle.
Standouts for me were ”The Dead Hand Loves You” ,“Torching The Dusties” and ”The Freeze Dried Groom”
”The Dead Hand Loves You” had the feel of the old ”Creature Feature” B&W schlockfest movies that used to be on the telly way too late on Saturday nights. I have a dim memory of them, and of a hand, walking across the TV screen….this story brought that vividly to mind. It’s so out there, it’s brilliant.
“Torching The Dusties” is utterly disturbing. Set in a retirement home, protesters decide it’s time for them to move over and make way for others. Excruciatingly sad.
”The Freeze Dried Groom” just goes to show you never know what items you’ll pick up at an auction…
Read these stories, at your own risk! You have been warned.
May 10, 2015
I loved Hairball. No, I don’t mean what my cat barfed up—good god, give me a break! I mean the story, Hairball, in an Atwood collection called Wilderness Tips. I read it in 1991 and it still haunts me. It’s about a woman who gets a tumor removed (though it turns out to be something more like a hairball), and she displays it on her mantel. Obviously, it’s a weird story, and I definitely must reread it. Seriously, for almost 25 years I’ve thought of that story every time I debate whether a particular bauble deserves a spot on my mantel. At least it’s not a hairball, I tell myself. And I have Atwood to blame for this strange association that’s been inside my head for decades! Damn her, lol!
I wasn’t expecting any hairballs in Stone Mattress, but I knew the stories would be doozies, and they certainly were. What’s fun is that Atwood never sticks with one genre. There are ghosts and a dead hand, for instance. I pretty much hate ghosts and horror stories, but when Atwood writes, I listen up and act like I’ve liked ghosts and nasty dead hands all along. I can’t even remember any Poe or Kafka, but sometimes Atwood in some way reminds me of them.
There’s sorrow, longing, love, revenge, aging, and death, including murder. The only common theme is aging, and it’s no wonder that she wants to write about aging since she’s now 75. I’m stoked that she’s still so prolific and on her game!
The first three stories are intertwined, each told from the perspective of a different character talking about the same event. It’s always fun to try to figure out where the truth lies. Here Atwood, as usual, displays her keen psychological insight. Though these stories are perfect and fun, they weren’t my favorites only because one of the characters wrote a fantasy romance. A story within a story doesn’t really do it for me. One thing I did like was that the character put her lover and enemies into her novels and made bad things happen to them; what a fun way to get her revenge! It reminded me of the mug that says something like “Careful what you say, you might end up in my book” or “Be nice or I might have to kill you off in my novel.”
Atwood is such a pro, I am in awe. Her stories are sinister, witty, biting, and wise. The writer Ursula K LeGuin described the stories in Stone Mattress perfectly:
The stories are …”icily refreshing arsenic popsicles, followed by a baked Alaska laced with anthrax, all served with impeccable style and aplomb.”
The stories don’t make me laugh hard or cry hard, but still, they thoroughly, thoroughly entertain me. They are smart stories, stories that I want to reread so I can see what I may have missed. Because one cool thing about Atwood is her economy of language. Every word is carefully placed, carefully chosen, and you know you are in the presence of a master storyteller.
Atwood is playful. She wants the reader to have fun; ego is out of it entirely. She’s able to paint a perfect picture of a character with few words. She is also fond of stringing together a bunch of hyphenated words, which for some reason makes her sentences even funnier—maybe it’s the sheer volume of hyphens. Often she’ll be describing a character and she’ll save a comic image for the end of the sentence, which packs a bigger wallop.
Here’s an example:
“Marjorie was the dark-haired, dark-eyed, lanky-legged part-time volunteer bookkeeper at the Riverboat, given to vibrant African textiles wound around her waist, and to dangling handmade bead earrings, and to a braying guffaw that suggested a mule with bronchitis.”
Here are a few more of my favorite quotes (it hurts, forcing myself to keep it to a few!):
“How did he manage to work his way out of the metaphor she’s kept him bottled up in for all these years?”
“Lighting a fire is an act of renewal, of beginning, and she doesn’t want to begin, she wants to continue. No: she wants to go back.”
“But how can you have a sense of wonder if you’re prepared for everything? Prepared for the sunset. Prepared for the moonrise. Prepared for the ice storm. What a flat existence that would be.”
“…her hair’s like disordered egret plumage, her neck’s a Popsicle stick.”
“He has no desire to be bored out of his occiput by a crowd of faux-gloomy old farts gumming the crustless sandwiches and congratulating themselves on still being alive.”
I must say, my love of the book grew with every story. I would think, no this is my favorite, only to discover that I liked the next one even better. I think the last story, “Torching the Dusties,” is utterly fantastic, despite the fact that it gave me the heebie jeebies. I know it’s supposed to be tongue in cheek, but it scared the shit out of me. If being old makes you feel a little paranoid and useless, you might have the same reaction I did. Will be fun to hear if I’m the lone ranger here.
Atwood fans, run out and read this collection of stories now. If you’ve never read Atwood, this would be a fine place to start. I'll be rushing to read more Atwood, I guarantee you. And of course, I must dig up Hairball!
Atwood is a master. Highly recommend.
I wasn’t expecting any hairballs in Stone Mattress, but I knew the stories would be doozies, and they certainly were. What’s fun is that Atwood never sticks with one genre. There are ghosts and a dead hand, for instance. I pretty much hate ghosts and horror stories, but when Atwood writes, I listen up and act like I’ve liked ghosts and nasty dead hands all along. I can’t even remember any Poe or Kafka, but sometimes Atwood in some way reminds me of them.
There’s sorrow, longing, love, revenge, aging, and death, including murder. The only common theme is aging, and it’s no wonder that she wants to write about aging since she’s now 75. I’m stoked that she’s still so prolific and on her game!
The first three stories are intertwined, each told from the perspective of a different character talking about the same event. It’s always fun to try to figure out where the truth lies. Here Atwood, as usual, displays her keen psychological insight. Though these stories are perfect and fun, they weren’t my favorites only because one of the characters wrote a fantasy romance. A story within a story doesn’t really do it for me. One thing I did like was that the character put her lover and enemies into her novels and made bad things happen to them; what a fun way to get her revenge! It reminded me of the mug that says something like “Careful what you say, you might end up in my book” or “Be nice or I might have to kill you off in my novel.”
Atwood is such a pro, I am in awe. Her stories are sinister, witty, biting, and wise. The writer Ursula K LeGuin described the stories in Stone Mattress perfectly:
The stories are …”icily refreshing arsenic popsicles, followed by a baked Alaska laced with anthrax, all served with impeccable style and aplomb.”
The stories don’t make me laugh hard or cry hard, but still, they thoroughly, thoroughly entertain me. They are smart stories, stories that I want to reread so I can see what I may have missed. Because one cool thing about Atwood is her economy of language. Every word is carefully placed, carefully chosen, and you know you are in the presence of a master storyteller.
Atwood is playful. She wants the reader to have fun; ego is out of it entirely. She’s able to paint a perfect picture of a character with few words. She is also fond of stringing together a bunch of hyphenated words, which for some reason makes her sentences even funnier—maybe it’s the sheer volume of hyphens. Often she’ll be describing a character and she’ll save a comic image for the end of the sentence, which packs a bigger wallop.
Here’s an example:
“Marjorie was the dark-haired, dark-eyed, lanky-legged part-time volunteer bookkeeper at the Riverboat, given to vibrant African textiles wound around her waist, and to dangling handmade bead earrings, and to a braying guffaw that suggested a mule with bronchitis.”
Here are a few more of my favorite quotes (it hurts, forcing myself to keep it to a few!):
“How did he manage to work his way out of the metaphor she’s kept him bottled up in for all these years?”
“Lighting a fire is an act of renewal, of beginning, and she doesn’t want to begin, she wants to continue. No: she wants to go back.”
“But how can you have a sense of wonder if you’re prepared for everything? Prepared for the sunset. Prepared for the moonrise. Prepared for the ice storm. What a flat existence that would be.”
“…her hair’s like disordered egret plumage, her neck’s a Popsicle stick.”
“He has no desire to be bored out of his occiput by a crowd of faux-gloomy old farts gumming the crustless sandwiches and congratulating themselves on still being alive.”
I must say, my love of the book grew with every story. I would think, no this is my favorite, only to discover that I liked the next one even better. I think the last story, “Torching the Dusties,” is utterly fantastic, despite the fact that it gave me the heebie jeebies. I know it’s supposed to be tongue in cheek, but it scared the shit out of me. If being old makes you feel a little paranoid and useless, you might have the same reaction I did. Will be fun to hear if I’m the lone ranger here.
Atwood fans, run out and read this collection of stories now. If you’ve never read Atwood, this would be a fine place to start. I'll be rushing to read more Atwood, I guarantee you. And of course, I must dig up Hairball!
Atwood is a master. Highly recommend.
January 19, 2021
A collection of stories from 2014. Atwood is one of my favourite writers and she doesn’t disappoint here. The stories are an interesting mix mostly about older people, and ageing to a certain degree but most go in unexpected directions. Then writing is of course excellent, filled with fine observations and clever humour. The subject matter is varied from settling of old scores when it relates to relationships, murder , ageing and loneliness, memory and loss. What makes the characters feel very real is the fine detail, all the imperfections and weaknesses in humans is on full show.
My favourite stories “Lusus Naturae” which means freak of nature, about a woman with an unusual disease ; the title story “Stone Mattress”, a woman on an arctic cruise discovers the man who raped her when she was a teenager is also a passenger and revenge follows; in “Torch the Dusties” an old people’s home is surrounded by young activists shouting its our turn; and “The Freeze Dried Groom” another murder story. Very enjoyable.
My favourite stories “Lusus Naturae” which means freak of nature, about a woman with an unusual disease ; the title story “Stone Mattress”, a woman on an arctic cruise discovers the man who raped her when she was a teenager is also a passenger and revenge follows; in “Torch the Dusties” an old people’s home is surrounded by young activists shouting its our turn; and “The Freeze Dried Groom” another murder story. Very enjoyable.
June 18, 2015
Reading these short stories is to reap the bounty of Atwood's fertile imagination. This lady always manages to come up with something that smells like weird. I like that about her. In these stories, she focuses on the geriatric set, and what a wealth of fodder she has upon which to draw.
Standouts for me were Alfinland, where an old widow woman battles an ice storm with some ghostly help from her dearly departed. Loved how his clothes continued to hang in a closet, waiting to be donned and taken for a walk. The Freeze-Dried Groom was also a winner. My absolute favorite was Torching the Dusties. Elderly folks in a retirement home are hounded by those who think the oldies are just taking up space. ' . . . for what is old age but one long string of indignities?'
Standouts for me were Alfinland, where an old widow woman battles an ice storm with some ghostly help from her dearly departed. Loved how his clothes continued to hang in a closet, waiting to be donned and taken for a walk. The Freeze-Dried Groom was also a winner. My absolute favorite was Torching the Dusties. Elderly folks in a retirement home are hounded by those who think the oldies are just taking up space. ' . . . for what is old age but one long string of indignities?'
December 16, 2014
“At the outset, Verna had not intended to kill anyone.”
Intention and perception are at the heart of Margaret Atwood's wry and rueful collection Stone Mattress: Nine Tales. Her characters—women, men, beings other than human, even a mischievous hand—look back on their lives, some with wonder, others with regret, all with an inchoate understanding of how they got to the fix they are in now: old, older, or even dead.
A cocktail of absurdity and tragedy is blended to icy perfection in Stone Mattress. But Atwood's stories are more than sardonic takes on the indignities of aging or the follies of writers. Tenderness and trauma run deep, causing the reader to stumble over her own laughter. Wilma's sweet release into hallucinations in Torching the Dusties is set against the near-future horror of a virulent anti-elderly movement. A young woman's genetic abnormality sets a Gothic stage for the haunting fable Lusus Naturae. In the collection's title tale, Stone Mattress, Verna, who is looking for the wrong love in all the right places, plans the perfect murder. It would be noirly funny but for Verna's motive, which is the stone mattress she has been carrying on her back for fifty years.
Freeze-Dried Groom is sublimely creepy, as delicious an homage to Edgar Allen Poe as I've read. Read this and shiver with delight.
The first three stories are linked by the character of Gavin Putnam, a poet of moderate success, and three women whose lives he blundered into. The first, Alphinland, is the most charming and affecting. Constance, home alone at the outset of an ice storm, was once Gavin's lover. Her pulp fantasy stories and waitressing paid the rent while Gavin penned drippy Romantic sonnets, until Constance walked in on him and Marjorie in flagrante delicto (we meet Marjorie again in the third story, Dark Lady). Years later, Constance is a famous author, her fantasy fiction having won her an JK Rowling-type fan adoration. But she is old now, recently widowed, and trying to make her way in the world, or at the very least to the corner store for some sand to spread on her icy front steps. But as we learn, her make-believe world of Alphinland is eminently preferable to the real one.
Margaret Atwood is so freaking sharp and funny and shining. That's it—her stories sparkle and shine with wit and intelligence. She probes our darkest impulses and in them she always finds some kind of light.
Intention and perception are at the heart of Margaret Atwood's wry and rueful collection Stone Mattress: Nine Tales. Her characters—women, men, beings other than human, even a mischievous hand—look back on their lives, some with wonder, others with regret, all with an inchoate understanding of how they got to the fix they are in now: old, older, or even dead.
A cocktail of absurdity and tragedy is blended to icy perfection in Stone Mattress. But Atwood's stories are more than sardonic takes on the indignities of aging or the follies of writers. Tenderness and trauma run deep, causing the reader to stumble over her own laughter. Wilma's sweet release into hallucinations in Torching the Dusties is set against the near-future horror of a virulent anti-elderly movement. A young woman's genetic abnormality sets a Gothic stage for the haunting fable Lusus Naturae. In the collection's title tale, Stone Mattress, Verna, who is looking for the wrong love in all the right places, plans the perfect murder. It would be noirly funny but for Verna's motive, which is the stone mattress she has been carrying on her back for fifty years.
Freeze-Dried Groom is sublimely creepy, as delicious an homage to Edgar Allen Poe as I've read. Read this and shiver with delight.
The first three stories are linked by the character of Gavin Putnam, a poet of moderate success, and three women whose lives he blundered into. The first, Alphinland, is the most charming and affecting. Constance, home alone at the outset of an ice storm, was once Gavin's lover. Her pulp fantasy stories and waitressing paid the rent while Gavin penned drippy Romantic sonnets, until Constance walked in on him and Marjorie in flagrante delicto (we meet Marjorie again in the third story, Dark Lady). Years later, Constance is a famous author, her fantasy fiction having won her an JK Rowling-type fan adoration. But she is old now, recently widowed, and trying to make her way in the world, or at the very least to the corner store for some sand to spread on her icy front steps. But as we learn, her make-believe world of Alphinland is eminently preferable to the real one.
Margaret Atwood is so freaking sharp and funny and shining. That's it—her stories sparkle and shine with wit and intelligence. She probes our darkest impulses and in them she always finds some kind of light.
February 21, 2022
Stone Mattress is a collection of nine short stories by Margaret Atwood. However, as the author relates in her Acknowledgements, calling a piece of short fiction a "tale" removes it from the mundane and "evokes the world of the folk tale, the wonder tale, and the long-ago teller of tales." And this work was certainly that.
The titled tale, Stone Mattress, involves a woman on an Artic Cruise plotting the perfect murder as she explores the geological formations of stromatolites derived from the Greek word stroma meaning mattress. The first three tales in the book were interconnected stories all featuring fantasy adventure writer C.W. Starr who has been weaving the fictional fantasy world of Alphinland for much of her lifetime. The predominant theme in all of the tales was the aging process and its effects as each of these characters attempt to come to terms, or not, with their lives. Atwood is a skilled writer and her dark humor in her writing carries a light touch. A wonderful book and a thought-provoking book.
The titled tale, Stone Mattress, involves a woman on an Artic Cruise plotting the perfect murder as she explores the geological formations of stromatolites derived from the Greek word stroma meaning mattress. The first three tales in the book were interconnected stories all featuring fantasy adventure writer C.W. Starr who has been weaving the fictional fantasy world of Alphinland for much of her lifetime. The predominant theme in all of the tales was the aging process and its effects as each of these characters attempt to come to terms, or not, with their lives. Atwood is a skilled writer and her dark humor in her writing carries a light touch. A wonderful book and a thought-provoking book.
August 18, 2014
It is of no surprise for those of us who have read the very prolific Atwood, that these tales are very well written and imaginative. I read the first story, which I loved and was pleasantly surprised to find some of the same character in the second and third. This trilogy along with the title story would be my favorites. The connecting theme seems to be aging and revenge. Not straight forward stories, but insightful stories often with a twist. As always I will look forward to seeing what surprises she comes up with in her nxt endeavor.
ARC from publisher.
ARC from publisher.
November 12, 2014
In the afterword to Stone Mattress Margaret Atwood writes that these are nine stories, but nine tales - meant to evoke the world of folk and wonder tales as told by tale tellers, removed at least slightly from the world of the mundane and the ordinary. It's no surprise then that most of these stories are quite whimsical, even when speaking about otherwise macabre things, and often involve a fantastical element. They're not detached far enough to be timeless as tales are - which can and are read by all audiences in all times - but I liked the idea good enough to read them.
The collection begins strongly with Alphinland, which introduces the character of Constance, an elderly, widowed writer, haunted by the ghost of her lat husband, Ewan. Ewan speaks to Constance in her head, but not only - sometimes she hears him in a trunk with his old stuff that she didn't throw out, and she's very careful to not tell him that he's dead as she's afraid that he might leave her for good. "Alphinland" is the fantasy series that Constance has created, and which also serves as her personal shrine and place to store memories. It's a stormy winter evening, and Constance soon finds herself reminiscing about the past and her old boyfriend, Gavin, and the wild life they had in Toronto during the 1960's.
Gavin himself is the protagonist of the second story, Revenant - now a grumpy and rather unpleasant old man, who dismisses Constance's work as trash unworthy of attention - even though it sustained them both, while he attempted to be a poet. Now his career is overshadowed by that of Constance's, and his work is studied largely by academics who want to see how he fits into her canvas. Such is the case when he's visited by Naveena, a young academic, who wants to "find" Gavin in Alphinland for a thesis that she writes, the subject being "the function of symbolism versus neo-representationalism in the process of world-building". The old man realizes that not only is his life being snooped upon, but that he's only valuable and interesting for Naveena because she wants to find him in Constance's work that he ridiculed. Although Gavin is clearly meant to be a narcissistic and vain, unsympathetic character, he has the honor of having the greatest outburst in the whole collection and going all out on poor Naveena for treating him like an object, closing the story admirably with a good skewering of academics who can't see the forest for the trees. The story of Gavin and Constance ultimately concludes in The Dark Lady, which observes Gavin through the eyes of his former lover - a woman named Jorrie, who remembers how she met him and played her part in driving them apart from each other.
Other stories in the collection are unrelated, but also engaging well-written. The Freeze-Dried Groom is almost a spoof of the detective novel, involving an antique dealer buying contents of abandoned locker rooms - and entertaining himself with thoughts of his own murder. One day he purchases a particularly creepy antique and discovers that he finally might have gotten more than he bargained for. He's very excited about it, but Atwood deliberately (pardon the pun) kills the story prematurely.
The Dead Hand Loves You reminded me of Atwood's Booker winner, The Blind Assassin - it's a frame story of a successful horror author, who regrets making signing an extremely bad contract: e agreed to share profits from the novel he had yet to write with his roommates, as compensation for unpaid rent. The horror story of a severed hand seeking revenge against a past lover of the rest of its former body turned out to be extremely successful - analyzed critically and adapted twice into film - which left the author furious at those whom he perceived took advantage of him in his weak moment, and now he's planning his own revenge in return.
Stone Mattress is also a story of revenge - a woman bumps into a man who has ruined her life during a trip to the Arctic. She contemplates the various ways of killing him, and his impact on her life. In the afterword Atwood writes that the story is a result of her own trip to the Arctic and the idea of how one might commit murder on such a trip and not get caught. This story presents one idea, but little beside it.
Torching the Dusties is the last story in the collection - featuring Wilma, an elderly pensioner in a retirement home. Wilma suffers from a disease which makes her see little people, in historically inaccurate costumes; a Tudor neckline here, a Harlequin outfit there. But that's the least of her problems - the youth of the world is extremely dissatisfied with the planet that Wilma's generation has left for them. It's greed has destroyed it, and it's their turn now - they want all old people to go, and go for good, hence they storm retirement homes and burn them down with their inhabitants. It's almost like a desperate attempt at making a ritual offering - but what if the planet doesn't want anything to do with us anymore, young and old?
The two other stories in the collection stick out as if they didn't fit - Luxus Naturae is a pretty standard gothic with elements of folk legends, while I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth revisits a group of protagonists from an earlier novel (The Robber Bride) who believe that the woman who onc stole their partners might have returned to haunt them - resurrected as a dog. Not sure why both have been included in this collection, as both have been published before - first in an anthology, the other independently.
Stone Mattress is not a bad collection - I just wish that the whole volume contained interconnected stories, like those of Andrea Barrett's. The three opening stories are the most successful and I would like to see their characters and ideas developed more, along with the world of Alphinland - other stories are entertaining and well written, but not as memorable. Still, I'm a fan of the form and I'll take what I get.
The collection begins strongly with Alphinland, which introduces the character of Constance, an elderly, widowed writer, haunted by the ghost of her lat husband, Ewan. Ewan speaks to Constance in her head, but not only - sometimes she hears him in a trunk with his old stuff that she didn't throw out, and she's very careful to not tell him that he's dead as she's afraid that he might leave her for good. "Alphinland" is the fantasy series that Constance has created, and which also serves as her personal shrine and place to store memories. It's a stormy winter evening, and Constance soon finds herself reminiscing about the past and her old boyfriend, Gavin, and the wild life they had in Toronto during the 1960's.
Gavin himself is the protagonist of the second story, Revenant - now a grumpy and rather unpleasant old man, who dismisses Constance's work as trash unworthy of attention - even though it sustained them both, while he attempted to be a poet. Now his career is overshadowed by that of Constance's, and his work is studied largely by academics who want to see how he fits into her canvas. Such is the case when he's visited by Naveena, a young academic, who wants to "find" Gavin in Alphinland for a thesis that she writes, the subject being "the function of symbolism versus neo-representationalism in the process of world-building". The old man realizes that not only is his life being snooped upon, but that he's only valuable and interesting for Naveena because she wants to find him in Constance's work that he ridiculed. Although Gavin is clearly meant to be a narcissistic and vain, unsympathetic character, he has the honor of having the greatest outburst in the whole collection and going all out on poor Naveena for treating him like an object, closing the story admirably with a good skewering of academics who can't see the forest for the trees. The story of Gavin and Constance ultimately concludes in The Dark Lady, which observes Gavin through the eyes of his former lover - a woman named Jorrie, who remembers how she met him and played her part in driving them apart from each other.
Other stories in the collection are unrelated, but also engaging well-written. The Freeze-Dried Groom is almost a spoof of the detective novel, involving an antique dealer buying contents of abandoned locker rooms - and entertaining himself with thoughts of his own murder. One day he purchases a particularly creepy antique and discovers that he finally might have gotten more than he bargained for. He's very excited about it, but Atwood deliberately (pardon the pun) kills the story prematurely.
The Dead Hand Loves You reminded me of Atwood's Booker winner, The Blind Assassin - it's a frame story of a successful horror author, who regrets making signing an extremely bad contract: e agreed to share profits from the novel he had yet to write with his roommates, as compensation for unpaid rent. The horror story of a severed hand seeking revenge against a past lover of the rest of its former body turned out to be extremely successful - analyzed critically and adapted twice into film - which left the author furious at those whom he perceived took advantage of him in his weak moment, and now he's planning his own revenge in return.
Stone Mattress is also a story of revenge - a woman bumps into a man who has ruined her life during a trip to the Arctic. She contemplates the various ways of killing him, and his impact on her life. In the afterword Atwood writes that the story is a result of her own trip to the Arctic and the idea of how one might commit murder on such a trip and not get caught. This story presents one idea, but little beside it.
Torching the Dusties is the last story in the collection - featuring Wilma, an elderly pensioner in a retirement home. Wilma suffers from a disease which makes her see little people, in historically inaccurate costumes; a Tudor neckline here, a Harlequin outfit there. But that's the least of her problems - the youth of the world is extremely dissatisfied with the planet that Wilma's generation has left for them. It's greed has destroyed it, and it's their turn now - they want all old people to go, and go for good, hence they storm retirement homes and burn them down with their inhabitants. It's almost like a desperate attempt at making a ritual offering - but what if the planet doesn't want anything to do with us anymore, young and old?
The two other stories in the collection stick out as if they didn't fit - Luxus Naturae is a pretty standard gothic with elements of folk legends, while I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth revisits a group of protagonists from an earlier novel (The Robber Bride) who believe that the woman who onc stole their partners might have returned to haunt them - resurrected as a dog. Not sure why both have been included in this collection, as both have been published before - first in an anthology, the other independently.
Stone Mattress is not a bad collection - I just wish that the whole volume contained interconnected stories, like those of Andrea Barrett's. The three opening stories are the most successful and I would like to see their characters and ideas developed more, along with the world of Alphinland - other stories are entertaining and well written, but not as memorable. Still, I'm a fan of the form and I'll take what I get.
December 11, 2019
These were delicious and dark short stories. Some were connected - multiple perspectives of events, etc., while others were standalones. Nearly all had the larger theme of aging; the majority of the protagonists were sept/octogenarians, remembering the past, seeking revenge, revising history, or digging for the truth of long ago events.
So many novels are told from a young person's point of view. I really liked getting an older (but not always wiser) narrator in these stories. These characters are most assuredly not going "gentle into that good night", as Dylan Thomas would say.
The opening three interconnected stories - "Alphinland", "Revenant", "Dark Lady", as well as "The Freeze-Dried Groom" and the titular "Stone Mattress" were my highlight, but I liked them all. Rare to say that about a collection!
My 9th Atwood book, and now, one of my faves by her.
So many novels are told from a young person's point of view. I really liked getting an older (but not always wiser) narrator in these stories. These characters are most assuredly not going "gentle into that good night", as Dylan Thomas would say.
The opening three interconnected stories - "Alphinland", "Revenant", "Dark Lady", as well as "The Freeze-Dried Groom" and the titular "Stone Mattress" were my highlight, but I liked them all. Rare to say that about a collection!
My 9th Atwood book, and now, one of my faves by her.
January 1, 2016
Margaret Atwood is an absolute genius but it's taken me some time to realize it. I am not a huge fan of short story collections but will be recommending this one to everyone I know.
Growing old and finding revenge are common themes, and I do like me some revenge. That is, of course, reading books about revenge. I'm not expecting to personally off a guy with a blow to the head, but here's a valuable lesson from Torching the Dusties: "A wine bottle--a full wine bottle--can crush in a skull, at the temple." From the tale Stone Mattress, we have a woman widowed multiple times by giving her husbands whatever their doctors had forbidden--clog those arteries with fatty foods, slip in an extra dose of medication here and there. Blame it all on age; home free!
It's just delicious stuff. The first three tales were related, and were my favorite after Stone Mattress.
I know I'm late to this book party, but all I can say is READ THIS. It's quite a hoot, and you will not be disappointed. 4.5 stars.
Growing old and finding revenge are common themes, and I do like me some revenge. That is, of course, reading books about revenge. I'm not expecting to personally off a guy with a blow to the head, but here's a valuable lesson from Torching the Dusties: "A wine bottle--a full wine bottle--can crush in a skull, at the temple." From the tale Stone Mattress, we have a woman widowed multiple times by giving her husbands whatever their doctors had forbidden--clog those arteries with fatty foods, slip in an extra dose of medication here and there. Blame it all on age; home free!
It's just delicious stuff. The first three tales were related, and were my favorite after Stone Mattress.
I know I'm late to this book party, but all I can say is READ THIS. It's quite a hoot, and you will not be disappointed. 4.5 stars.
May 19, 2018
Alphinland - 4.5/5 stars
Revenant - 4.5/5 stars
Dark Lady - 4/5 stars
Lusus Naturae - 3/5 stars
The Freeze-Dried Groom - 4/5 stars
I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth - 2/5 stars
The Dead Hand Loves You - 4/5 stars
Stone Mattress - 4/5 stars
Torching the Dusties - 4/5 stars
Revenant - 4.5/5 stars
Dark Lady - 4/5 stars
Lusus Naturae - 3/5 stars
The Freeze-Dried Groom - 4/5 stars
I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth - 2/5 stars
The Dead Hand Loves You - 4/5 stars
Stone Mattress - 4/5 stars
Torching the Dusties - 4/5 stars
July 17, 2014
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of the book .
This being my second Atwood read, the first being The Handmaid's Tale which I loved, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew her writing style was rich and captivating, but I had never read any short stories from her before.
In the end, I was blown away . These stories are incredible. Each one is so unique, so creative and captivating, and so well executed. The characters that Atwood dreams up are vivid, flawed, and seem so real. I also noticed that a lot of the stories dealt with gender issues, writers, and relationships, which lead me to think that many of these are inspired by Atwood's life (as I suppose a lot of literature is for an author). Many of the also dealt with aging, and I can only imagine that Atwood, as she gets older, uses her stories to think on these issues, particularly in "Torching the Dusties."
The first three stories, "Alphinland," "Revenant," and "Dark Lady" all tie together. They follow the interweaving lives of a group of artists, writers, and lovers after some years apart. I absolutely loved how these three tales wove together so creatively. I didn't even realize until halfway through the second one that the story was referring to characters mentioned in the previous story. And by the third one, I just wanted the whole collection, all 9 stories, to be about these characters because they were so interesting and entertaining.
My favorite stories were the last two, the title story "Stone Mattress" and "Torching the Dusties." If you want to see more of my thoughts, condensed, about each of the stories, you can do so here.
Overall, I was amazed by these stories. It confirms that Atwood is an author that I really enjoy and want to read more from.
5/5 Would recommend to anyone that enjoys short fiction, Atwood, themes of mortality, aging, love, and gender issues. Excellent, excellent read.
This being my second Atwood read, the first being The Handmaid's Tale which I loved, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew her writing style was rich and captivating, but I had never read any short stories from her before.
In the end, I was blown away . These stories are incredible. Each one is so unique, so creative and captivating, and so well executed. The characters that Atwood dreams up are vivid, flawed, and seem so real. I also noticed that a lot of the stories dealt with gender issues, writers, and relationships, which lead me to think that many of these are inspired by Atwood's life (as I suppose a lot of literature is for an author). Many of the also dealt with aging, and I can only imagine that Atwood, as she gets older, uses her stories to think on these issues, particularly in "Torching the Dusties."
The first three stories, "Alphinland," "Revenant," and "Dark Lady" all tie together. They follow the interweaving lives of a group of artists, writers, and lovers after some years apart. I absolutely loved how these three tales wove together so creatively. I didn't even realize until halfway through the second one that the story was referring to characters mentioned in the previous story. And by the third one, I just wanted the whole collection, all 9 stories, to be about these characters because they were so interesting and entertaining.
My favorite stories were the last two, the title story "Stone Mattress" and "Torching the Dusties." If you want to see more of my thoughts, condensed, about each of the stories, you can do so here.
Overall, I was amazed by these stories. It confirms that Atwood is an author that I really enjoy and want to read more from.
5/5 Would recommend to anyone that enjoys short fiction, Atwood, themes of mortality, aging, love, and gender issues. Excellent, excellent read.
September 20, 2017
I really enjoyed this, and I am glad to say that the stories only got better the further into the book I got.
All of them deal with getting older and facing the last stages of life in some way or other. Having luggage and especially keeping grudges - or maybe letting them go. It is a stage of life that is not written about that much. The contrast of a strong, experienced mind in a failing body that only grows more frail and vulnerable as time passes. It made me think of that saying - "youth is wasted on the young".
The first three stories tell of the same group of people from different viewpoints. The first one was by far the best, but the three of them tie nicely together and make for a good narrative. We also get to revisit the characters from The Robber Bride, older, but very recognizable. The plot and structure of The Dead Hand Loves You was impressive. I really liked that one. The narrator in Lusus Naturae might not be old, but she is probably facing her death. This story stands out, because it describes a complete outsider - someone that's not a part of society at all. And the first and last story has clear supernatural elements - although it might just be the old lady narrators going bonkers.
These stories are full of zest. The plots are more action filled and adventurous than what I have come to expect from Atwood, but at the same time filled with her well rounded characters and excellent, snarky comments on gender roles and everything else she usually writes about. Both fun and funny to read.
All of them deal with getting older and facing the last stages of life in some way or other. Having luggage and especially keeping grudges - or maybe letting them go. It is a stage of life that is not written about that much. The contrast of a strong, experienced mind in a failing body that only grows more frail and vulnerable as time passes. It made me think of that saying - "youth is wasted on the young".
The first three stories tell of the same group of people from different viewpoints. The first one was by far the best, but the three of them tie nicely together and make for a good narrative. We also get to revisit the characters from The Robber Bride, older, but very recognizable. The plot and structure of The Dead Hand Loves You was impressive. I really liked that one. The narrator in Lusus Naturae might not be old, but she is probably facing her death. This story stands out, because it describes a complete outsider - someone that's not a part of society at all. And the first and last story has clear supernatural elements - although it might just be the old lady narrators going bonkers.
These stories are full of zest. The plots are more action filled and adventurous than what I have come to expect from Atwood, but at the same time filled with her well rounded characters and excellent, snarky comments on gender roles and everything else she usually writes about. Both fun and funny to read.
November 17, 2018
4.5 stars
My second Atwood short story collection did not disappoint, of course! Stone Mattress is described as a collection of tales about that one person we’d all really like to kill... and it certainly is very dark and I LOVED IT.
.
Atwood’s acerbic wit is present on every page, I honestly find her hilarious when she writes a ridiculous, arrogant male protagonist and you can almost hear her cackling and giving him the finger between the lines! She reveals the dark side in us all, our desire for vengeance, redemption, and retribution.
.
Fans of The Robber Bride will be overjoyed to revisit Ros, Tony and Charis and the dreaded Zenia in Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth; if you’ve ever fancied getting away with murder on a cruise, the titular story Stone Mattress will help you out; and The Freeze-Dried Groom will put you off storage unit auctions for life! As well as those three, Alphinland, The Dead Hand Loves You, and Torching the Dusties were the three other 5 star tales in this collection for me! And the other three were two 4s and a 3 so this is definitely one of the most solid collections I’ve read.
My second Atwood short story collection did not disappoint, of course! Stone Mattress is described as a collection of tales about that one person we’d all really like to kill... and it certainly is very dark and I LOVED IT.
.
Atwood’s acerbic wit is present on every page, I honestly find her hilarious when she writes a ridiculous, arrogant male protagonist and you can almost hear her cackling and giving him the finger between the lines! She reveals the dark side in us all, our desire for vengeance, redemption, and retribution.
.
Fans of The Robber Bride will be overjoyed to revisit Ros, Tony and Charis and the dreaded Zenia in Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth; if you’ve ever fancied getting away with murder on a cruise, the titular story Stone Mattress will help you out; and The Freeze-Dried Groom will put you off storage unit auctions for life! As well as those three, Alphinland, The Dead Hand Loves You, and Torching the Dusties were the three other 5 star tales in this collection for me! And the other three were two 4s and a 3 so this is definitely one of the most solid collections I’ve read.
July 16, 2016
I haven’t seen snow for at least three years now and I don’t know when I’m going to see it next. Before I moved to London, I would see snow in regular intervals, as a part four of the comforting routine of seasons.
Now, however, I live in the land of perpetual autumn. There is no way of telling whether we are in January or June. Maybe this dullness of the English weather and landscape makes me look for more interesting phenomena in literature. It might be a cheap trick to set up the atmosphere in your novel using the weather, but, gosh, it works. Give me a dark and stormy night and I’m hooked. Give me sweltering heat, or icy rain. Give me hail, give me a monsoon and I’m yours.
This is how Margaret Atwood opens the first of her Nine Tales in Stone Mattress:
“The freezing rain sifts down, handfuls of shining rice thrown by some unseen celebrant. Wherever it hits, it crystallizes into a granulated coating of ice. Under the street lights it looks so beautiful: like fairy silver, thinks Constance. But then, she would think that; she’s far too prone to enchantment.”
And so am I. Especially when it comes to snow, Canada and Margaret Atwood.
These stories are dark and delightful, like a slightly ominous laughter of a witch who is not evil, just mischievous. Atwood is an amazingly versatile writer who can do funny and atmospheric at the same time.
It’s hard not to notice that this collection is mostly about growing old and maintaining your dignity. And on that subject I’d like to say that I want to age like Margaret Atwood. That’s how imagine my retirement and this I don’t fear it at all.
It wouldn’t be Atwood’s work if it didn’t also take jabs at pretentious sexists snobs, while elevating ‘genre’ writing. The first two stories concern and old poet who once dated a woman who went on to become an author of a very successful fantasy series, while he fell into obscurity of interest mostly to academics researching biographical minutiae of the fantasy writer. It is satisfying to read about the guy who disdained women, disdained genre writers and now he is just a footnote in a life of a female fantasy writer.
Another one of my favourite tales from this book takes place on an Arctic cruise (ah, what a wonderful setting, so much potential for weather-induced atmosphere). The story starts with:
“At the outset, Verna had not intended to kill anyone.”
But if you are on an Arctic cruise and meet the guy who raped you in high school, he is sort of asking for it, right?
I only have good things to say about the contents of this book, however not about the cover. What in the name of all that’s holy is that? I mean, I love yellow as much as the next person but they LITERALLY just piled all the tropes from the stories on top of each other.
Now, however, I live in the land of perpetual autumn. There is no way of telling whether we are in January or June. Maybe this dullness of the English weather and landscape makes me look for more interesting phenomena in literature. It might be a cheap trick to set up the atmosphere in your novel using the weather, but, gosh, it works. Give me a dark and stormy night and I’m hooked. Give me sweltering heat, or icy rain. Give me hail, give me a monsoon and I’m yours.
This is how Margaret Atwood opens the first of her Nine Tales in Stone Mattress:
“The freezing rain sifts down, handfuls of shining rice thrown by some unseen celebrant. Wherever it hits, it crystallizes into a granulated coating of ice. Under the street lights it looks so beautiful: like fairy silver, thinks Constance. But then, she would think that; she’s far too prone to enchantment.”
And so am I. Especially when it comes to snow, Canada and Margaret Atwood.
These stories are dark and delightful, like a slightly ominous laughter of a witch who is not evil, just mischievous. Atwood is an amazingly versatile writer who can do funny and atmospheric at the same time.
It’s hard not to notice that this collection is mostly about growing old and maintaining your dignity. And on that subject I’d like to say that I want to age like Margaret Atwood. That’s how imagine my retirement and this I don’t fear it at all.
It wouldn’t be Atwood’s work if it didn’t also take jabs at pretentious sexists snobs, while elevating ‘genre’ writing. The first two stories concern and old poet who once dated a woman who went on to become an author of a very successful fantasy series, while he fell into obscurity of interest mostly to academics researching biographical minutiae of the fantasy writer. It is satisfying to read about the guy who disdained women, disdained genre writers and now he is just a footnote in a life of a female fantasy writer.
Another one of my favourite tales from this book takes place on an Arctic cruise (ah, what a wonderful setting, so much potential for weather-induced atmosphere). The story starts with:
“At the outset, Verna had not intended to kill anyone.”
But if you are on an Arctic cruise and meet the guy who raped you in high school, he is sort of asking for it, right?
I only have good things to say about the contents of this book, however not about the cover. What in the name of all that’s holy is that? I mean, I love yellow as much as the next person but they LITERALLY just piled all the tropes from the stories on top of each other.
April 3, 2019
Me gusta Atwood, tiene una voz única y reconocible, pero esta recopilación de relatos no ha terminado de enamorarme.
Es bastante obvio que varios de los temas que se tratan en estas historias son en gran parte retazos autobiográficos de la autora, o cachitos de un espejo en el que se reflejan sus preocupaciones como una mujer ya mayor. El paso del tiempo, el duelo, debates sobre género y patriarcado, amor... son algunos de los temas que dan forma a estos relatos.
La construcción de sus personajes es perfecta, de eso no tengo duda. Pero he echado de menos más variedad, no tanto con respecto al argumento de las historias sino a las voces de sus protagonistas. Al final he sentido que todos se mezclaban entre sí. Aún así destaco "Colchón de piedra", ha sido mi favorito.
No me ha cambiado la vida, pero es una mujer a la que hay que leer sí o sí, y descubrirla en este género me ha parecido interesante.
Es bastante obvio que varios de los temas que se tratan en estas historias son en gran parte retazos autobiográficos de la autora, o cachitos de un espejo en el que se reflejan sus preocupaciones como una mujer ya mayor. El paso del tiempo, el duelo, debates sobre género y patriarcado, amor... son algunos de los temas que dan forma a estos relatos.
La construcción de sus personajes es perfecta, de eso no tengo duda. Pero he echado de menos más variedad, no tanto con respecto al argumento de las historias sino a las voces de sus protagonistas. Al final he sentido que todos se mezclaban entre sí. Aún así destaco "Colchón de piedra", ha sido mi favorito.
No me ha cambiado la vida, pero es una mujer a la que hay que leer sí o sí, y descubrirla en este género me ha parecido interesante.
December 18, 2021
As with nearly every short story collection, I've never read one where I've liked them all. There were some interesting ideas here, but I couldn't resonate with all of them, despite them all being kind of bound by a particular theme.
Atwood blew me away with The Handmaid's Tale, and since that series, I hadn't read anything else written by her, so I thought this one might be a good place to start.
This collection seemed pretty average. I mean, there wasn't really anything that struck me as "Wow." There were some characters that appeared to be different, and I liked that, but overall, I won't be keeping these stories close to my heart.
Atwood blew me away with The Handmaid's Tale, and since that series, I hadn't read anything else written by her, so I thought this one might be a good place to start.
This collection seemed pretty average. I mean, there wasn't really anything that struck me as "Wow." There were some characters that appeared to be different, and I liked that, but overall, I won't be keeping these stories close to my heart.
October 6, 2014
Alphinland
Atwood's writing talent really shines here. In a brief piece, she creates a rounded, fully-realized character. Dramatic tension oozes out of the smallest incidents: a trip down to the corner store in a snowstorm.
Her elderly, widowed protagonist, Constance, is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband, reminisces about the jerk she dated in college, and uses the popular online fantasy environment she's created as a kind of memory palace.
The 'plot' here is minor, but:
"The freezing rain sifts down, handfuls of shining rice thrown by some unseen celebrant. Wherever it hits, it crystallizes into a granulated coating of ice. In the streetlights it looks so beautiful, like fairy silver, thinks Constance. But then, she would think that; she's far too prone to enchantment."
I'm enchanted, already.
Revenant
More a companion piece to the first than a separate story. Here, we see the point of view of the previously-mentioned college boyfriend, who's just as much of a jerk as Constance made him out to be. Impotent, 'managed' by his much younger wife, in many ways he's got what was coming to him, as we see when he's interviewed by a young graduate student.
Dark Lady
Ah, this is the third piece in a triptych formed by the first three stories. And it brings it all together very well. At the funeral of the aforementioned jerk-college-boyfriend, two women who shared his bed - and who have held a mutual grudge for fifty years - will see each other face-to-face once more.
Lusus Naturae
Or, 'freak of nature.' A creepy and believable take on vampire legends, mixed with the notion popularized by 'Frankenstein' of the innocent monster.
The Freeze-Dried Groom
Shady second-hand dealer has some even shadier side games going on, involving auctions of abandoned storage locker contents. But what he discovers in one locker is weirder - and more criminal - than anything he's been getting up to. Morbid and disturbing - but feels a bit unfinished.
Interestingly, Atwood is hosting a contest on Wattpad where she's encouraging fans to write companion pieces which speculate about some of the questions she leaves unanswered. You can read those, and this story, here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/23381058...
http://www.wattpad.com/73479077-freez...
I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth
Forever associated with embarrassment: this was the first e-book I ever checked out from the public library. I accidentally requested the wrong format, and the borrowed file expired before I ever figured out how to read it. (Now, I've got it down...)
And, I've now gotten around to actually reading the story. Apparently, this short piece is a kind of sequel to Atwood's 'The Robber Bride.' If I'd read that novel (which I really should), I feel like I'd've gotten a lot more out of the story. It features three older women, all longtime friends, who, in their youth, all had a man 'stolen' from them by the alluring Zenia. Here, they discuss how that affected their lives, for better or for worse, as the years have gone on. When one of the men in question makes a reappearance, it's possible that Zenia's influence is not fully gone...
The Dead Hand Loves You
Meta-horror? An aging horror writer looks back at his career. He's infinitely bitter about a bad business decision he made as a college student: agreeing to share the profits of an as-yet-unwritten novel with his roommates, in compensation for his back rent. How was he to know that the quickly-written thriller would be his most enduring, popular hit?
Now, he's contemplating extreme measures...
Stone Mattress
An aging femme fatale, on what's supposed to be a relaxing Arctic cruise, encounters the one person who very likely set her on her life's path. Her decisions now will also likely be influenced by what happened to her one long-ago night when she was only fourteen.
It's a feminist revenge tale - but it's also a cleverly plotted crime story.
Torching the Dusties
Apocalypse strikes an old-age home... Social chaos and revolution has nursing and care facilities under siege. An elderly couple may have reduced faculties, but that doesn't mean they won't do what they can to survive.
Atwood's writing talent really shines here. In a brief piece, she creates a rounded, fully-realized character. Dramatic tension oozes out of the smallest incidents: a trip down to the corner store in a snowstorm.
Her elderly, widowed protagonist, Constance, is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband, reminisces about the jerk she dated in college, and uses the popular online fantasy environment she's created as a kind of memory palace.
The 'plot' here is minor, but:
"The freezing rain sifts down, handfuls of shining rice thrown by some unseen celebrant. Wherever it hits, it crystallizes into a granulated coating of ice. In the streetlights it looks so beautiful, like fairy silver, thinks Constance. But then, she would think that; she's far too prone to enchantment."
I'm enchanted, already.
Revenant
More a companion piece to the first than a separate story. Here, we see the point of view of the previously-mentioned college boyfriend, who's just as much of a jerk as Constance made him out to be. Impotent, 'managed' by his much younger wife, in many ways he's got what was coming to him, as we see when he's interviewed by a young graduate student.
Dark Lady
Ah, this is the third piece in a triptych formed by the first three stories. And it brings it all together very well. At the funeral of the aforementioned jerk-college-boyfriend, two women who shared his bed - and who have held a mutual grudge for fifty years - will see each other face-to-face once more.
Lusus Naturae
Or, 'freak of nature.' A creepy and believable take on vampire legends, mixed with the notion popularized by 'Frankenstein' of the innocent monster.
The Freeze-Dried Groom
Shady second-hand dealer has some even shadier side games going on, involving auctions of abandoned storage locker contents. But what he discovers in one locker is weirder - and more criminal - than anything he's been getting up to. Morbid and disturbing - but feels a bit unfinished.
Interestingly, Atwood is hosting a contest on Wattpad where she's encouraging fans to write companion pieces which speculate about some of the questions she leaves unanswered. You can read those, and this story, here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/23381058...
http://www.wattpad.com/73479077-freez...
I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth
Forever associated with embarrassment: this was the first e-book I ever checked out from the public library. I accidentally requested the wrong format, and the borrowed file expired before I ever figured out how to read it. (Now, I've got it down...)
And, I've now gotten around to actually reading the story. Apparently, this short piece is a kind of sequel to Atwood's 'The Robber Bride.' If I'd read that novel (which I really should), I feel like I'd've gotten a lot more out of the story. It features three older women, all longtime friends, who, in their youth, all had a man 'stolen' from them by the alluring Zenia. Here, they discuss how that affected their lives, for better or for worse, as the years have gone on. When one of the men in question makes a reappearance, it's possible that Zenia's influence is not fully gone...
The Dead Hand Loves You
Meta-horror? An aging horror writer looks back at his career. He's infinitely bitter about a bad business decision he made as a college student: agreeing to share the profits of an as-yet-unwritten novel with his roommates, in compensation for his back rent. How was he to know that the quickly-written thriller would be his most enduring, popular hit?
Now, he's contemplating extreme measures...
Stone Mattress
An aging femme fatale, on what's supposed to be a relaxing Arctic cruise, encounters the one person who very likely set her on her life's path. Her decisions now will also likely be influenced by what happened to her one long-ago night when she was only fourteen.
It's a feminist revenge tale - but it's also a cleverly plotted crime story.
Torching the Dusties
Apocalypse strikes an old-age home... Social chaos and revolution has nursing and care facilities under siege. An elderly couple may have reduced faculties, but that doesn't mean they won't do what they can to survive.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,109 reviews