β Scribed by Margaret Atwood
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
From the #1New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Handmaid's Tale****
In these ten richly layered and disturbing tales, Booker Prize-winning Margaret Atwood author deftly illuminates the single moments that can shape an entire life. In a few brief pages we watch as characters progress from the vulnerabilities of adolescence through the passions of youth into the precarious complexities of middle age.By superimposing the past on the present, Atwood paints interior landscapes shaped by time, regret, and life's lost chances, endowing even the banal with a sense of mystery.Poignant at times and scathingly witty at others, the stories inWilderness Tip stake us into the strange and secret places of the heart and inform the familiar world in which we live with truths that cut to the bone.
**
Set mainly in Toronto or in the Canadian woods, the 10 beautifully controlled tales in Atwood's new collection testify to the unpredictability of life, its missed connections, unsolvable mysteries and the lightning passage of time. Most of them are refracted through the sensibilities and memories of female protagonists, who reflect on the moment when they realized that "nothing has turned out" as they expected. Past and present coalesce seamlessly in these stories; Atwood is particularly good at capturing the feelings of adolescence and the exact details that typify the culture of the decades from the '50s to the '90s. Events are seen at a distance, related in emotionally muted but acutely revealing prose. The hard-edged tone of "Hairball" perfectly conjures up the ruthless, manipulative protagonist who suddenly realizes that she has been bested by her obnoxious protege. Susanna, in "Uncles," has a similar comeuppance, as she, the consummate trickster who "can fake anything" is betrayed by her mentor. In both "The Bog Man" (the least successful tale, as here Atwood uncharacteristically veers toward melodrama) and "The Age of Lead" a body uncovered long after death serves as a metaphor for buried desires, opportunities and hopes. In the title story, Atwood observes the interrelationships among three sisters and the randy foreigner who has married one of them and made love to the other two. Atwood's ( Cat' s Eye ) uncompromising eye is enhanced by her sinewy, taut prose.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In this newest collection of ten short stories, Atwood looks back over three decades that have wrought great changes in women's lives. The impacts of death, disease, deception, and disappointment are explored; Atwood's characters, with their tenuous personal relationships, always endure a terrible aloneness. The loss of trust in others is a recurring theme. In one story a betrayed woman plays a grisly practical joke on her married lover; in another, a man settles for second choice in love and work and lives in apathy thereafter. An art collector's priceless landscapes only serve to remind her of a tragedy in her adolescence. Atwood's stories are unsettling but unforgettable. Recommended for public libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/1/91.
- Marnie Webb, King Cty. Lib. System, Seattle
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
**With this darkly intriguing original e-short story, #1 _New York Times_ bestselling author Dean Koontz sets the stage for his masterly new novel of mystery, suspense, and strange wonderβ _Innocence_.** **** _βThe world is a machine that produces endless surprises and mysteries layered on myste
While out jogging, suspense writer Aaron Newman witnesses a murder and notifies the police. When the suspect, psychopath Adolph Karl, threatens Newman's family, Aaron, his wife, and army buddy decide that their only chance is to eliminate Karl and his gang.
The chase is on and time is running out... return to the terrifying and shocking world of THE DISAPPEARED in this thrilling sequel. On the run after the uprising at the Academy, Blake and Kay have ended up with the criminals and the crazies in the place of childhood nightmares, the Wilderness. He
Newly divorced and smarting, Riley Hart takes off on a solo adventure to Europe. Secretly she yearns for a Venice affair but her barriers to love are too solidly erected. Not even a pair of masked lady-killers in the throng of carnival can liberate her. Riley can't let go. She's ours now. Those