Product Description

These wise and witty writings home in on Shakespeare, tree stumps, ecological disasters, bodies (male and female), and theology, amongst other matters. We hear Gertrude's version of what really happened in Hamlet; an ugly sister and a wicked stepmother put in a good word for themselves,and a reincarnated bat explains how Bram Stoker got Dracula hopelessly wrong. Good Bones is pure distilled Atwood - deliciously strong and bittersweet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #93110 in Books
• Published on: 1994-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
'A marvellous miniature sample case of Atwood's sensuous and sardonic talents' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT 'Savagely hilarous' THE LIST 'Her wit and humour are perfectly complemented by a penetrating eye for the false and absurd' THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Full of fun and invention, with an edge that cuts through preconceptions...an entertaining sampler of Atwood's cleverness and imagination' NICOLETTE JONES, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

About the Author
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than thirty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye, Alias Grace and this have all been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and she has won many other literary prizes in other countries.

Customer Reviews

Box of Knives
Margaret Atwood has yet to write a dull book. This one sees her making incursions into the territory which it now seems incumbent upon all women writers to visit at least once in their lives: the re-writing of fairy tales, myths etc. Here for instance we find Hamlet's Gertrude answering back ("I am not wringing my hands. I'm drying my nails.) along with the ugly sister, evil stepmother etc. Such tricks are somewhat old hat by now but Atwood never fails to be interesting and entertaining. She is also very funny, which makes her more sombre moments all the more discomfitting.

She is both clever and intelligent, imaginative and inventive - who else would have thought that when war is found to be too dangerous and expensive the needs it meets could be fulfilled by what amounts to a male version of the Miss World contest? The temptation is to call her whimsical but that is altogether too fluffy and insubstantial a word; Atwood has a granite presence.

Her observation is acute, especially when turned to a favoured topic of hers, the relationship between the sexes. Yet hers is not so much a box of tricks as a box of knives; she is painfully sharp. She is like the friend who drinks your coffee and proceeds to itemise with barely disguised relish all your faults and foibles, only to shrug her shoulders and say, "Deal with it!" There is a sense that she is never wholly involved in what she is writing about, as if she deliberately stands apart from it. Not that she lacks honesty or conviction, but maybe compassion. But then, she is already ahead of us there, describing the Wise Virgins as "too knowing about us and our stupidities. We suspect them of having mean hearts. They are far too clever, not for their own good but for ours." Indeed!

If you are already a fan, you'll love this book; it is classic Atwood at her most spare. For those new to her it may be a short sharp shock, perhaps. You certainly won't be bored though.

A collection of typically witty and original writings
These are vintage Atwood - offbeat, clever, and witty. She delights in challenging her readers by taking the unconventional viewpoint (e.g. defence of the traditional stepmother in fairy tales whom we think we know to be wicked through and through; the life in "inanimate" objects), or by keeping the reader guessing as to who - or what - an unidentified narrator is...

Perfect for when you only have a few minutes at a time to read - but beware reading on crowded public transport if you don't like getting stared at... these pieces raise at the very least a wry smile, and several make you laugh out loud...

A great gift for Atwood fans who may not have discovered this yet.

The Good Bones of Wonderful Writing
Good Bones is a selection of twenty seven short works by Margaret Atwood. I say short works as some of them read as fiction, some seem to be essays, some are fable like and others just seem to be the wanderings of the authors. It's like a note book filled with Atwood-like idea's is possibly the best way to describe it, like a scrap book of possible idea's for books and longer tales as the longest of this collection is fourteen pages.

The themes of the tales seem to be fables, fairy tales and dare I mention it `speculative' pieces. You have a tale of the Little Red Hen who cant quite work out what all the fuss is about that she grew a loaf of bread and the furore it caused. You have Hamlet's mother Gertrude who actually wanted to call him George and who was not `wringing her hands' but `drying her nails'. Wicked Stepmothers and Ugly Sisters fight their corner and for feminism (in fact feminist themes glimmer between these tales) as they stand up for themselves and make the point that tough love always seems to get the bimbo princess her man in the end doesn't it. It's all very, very funny. I think fans of Atwood will love the darkness and the wry slightly knowing humour and for anyone new to Atwood it's a way of getting to know what wonderful fiction you are getting into in digestible pieces.