Product Description

This book features pregnant women, students and journalists; farmers and birdwatchers, ex-wives, adolescent lovers - and dancing girls. All ordinary people or are they? In this collection of short stories, Margaret Atwood maps human motivation we scarcely know we have.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17461 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Margaret Atwood is Canada's most eminent novelist, poet and critic. Her books include The Edible Woman, Surfacing, Lady Oracle, Alias Grace, Cat's Eye, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and The Handmaid's Tale, which won both the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction and the Governor-General's Award, was short-listed for the Booker Prize and made into a major film. She lives in Toronto with the writer Graeme Gibson and their daughter.

Customer Reviews

Marvellous short stories from Atwood
Atwood is one of the greatest and most prolific living authors in my opinion. This collection of short stories shows why. Generally I'm not a big fan of the short story format - I prefer something that's long and meaty enough to get my teeth into and really get to know the characters. But I enjoyed this collection of gems thoroughly. Each story is like a photograph - a moment in time - from a life or a collection of lives; a small and privileged glimpse into other people's worlds. Atwood's stories are about the little things in lives: noisy bathrooms, weekend trips, stays in hotel rooms, infatuations - little things in the scheme of things, but things that matter to the people involved. Where Atwood excels is in taking us into the life of the protagonist to such an extent that the reader forgets that the story revolves around something as mundane as a birdspotter missing a bird, or a girl's fleeting attachment with a stranger. What's also great about this collection is that each story is the perfect length for a single sitting before bed, or on the train. This book won't change your life, but it will give several hours of pure and simple pleasure - which, after all, is something that a lot of contemporary authors seem strangely unable to do.