Bluebeard's Egg

Bluebeard's Egg / 0-385-49104-2 This collection of Atwood stories includes: - Significant Moments in the Life of my Mother - Hurricane Hazel - Loulou - Uglypuss - Betty - Bluebeard's Egg - Spring Song of the Frogs - Scarlet Ibis - The Salt Garden - The Sin Eater - The Sunrise - Unearthing Suite Most of the stories revolve around the superb Atwood device of women in comfortable, "correct" lives, yet who are unbearably, incomprehensibly (to them) sad and alone. Many of these women have relationships outside of themselves - husbands, lovers, mothers, children - yet, they do not have anyone with whom they truly connect with. Though they devote much of their time, energy, and life to caring for the needs of others, no one else cares for their own needs, particularly their emotional needs. However, Atwood does not limit herself purely to emotionally bereft women - "Uglypuss" tells the story of a disintegrating relationship from the male and female points of view, and manages to make the reader both sympathetic and non-sympathetic to both parties. This sort of literary skill (I identify with her, I identify with him) is highly rare and should be read to be believed. The trip is not always enjoyable (I often leave Atwood with a profound sense of loss and sadness), but it is meaningful and worthwhile.

Bluebeard's Egg / 0-385-49104-2 This collection of Atwood stories includes: - Significant Moments in the Life of my Mother - Hurricane Hazel - Loulou - Uglypuss - Betty - Bluebeard's Egg - Spring Song of the Frogs - Scarlet Ibis - The Salt Garden - The Sin Eater - The Sunrise - Unearthing Suite Most of the stories revolve around the superb Atwood device of women in comfortable, "correct" lives, yet who are unbearably, incomprehensibly (to them) sad and alone. Many of these women have relationships outside of themselves - husbands, lovers, mothers, children - yet, they do not have anyone with whom they truly connect with. Though they devote much of their time, energy, and life to caring for the needs of others, no one else cares for their own needs, particularly their emotional needs. However, Atwood does not limit herself purely to emotionally bereft women - "Uglypuss" tells the story of a disintegrating relationship from the male and female points of view, and manages to make the reader both sympathetic and non-sympathetic to both parties. This sort of literary skill (I identify with her, I identify with him) is highly rare and should be read to be believed. The trip is not always enjoyable (I often leave Atwood with a profound sense of loss and sadness), but it is meaningful and worthwhile. ~ Ana Mardoll

This was the first book by Margaret Atwood I read after reading the short story "Happy Ending" in an anthology.A great writer is easily recognisable. All you have to do is to write a few lines of a novel or a short story. You will just keep on reading and feel sorry when you are closer to the end than to the beginning of the story.This collection of short stories shows that Margaret Atwood is a major writer and story teller. Of course, not in the pulp fiction or slimy-sweet sense but you need a curiosity for the inner world of soliloquies and self-observations.However, she does not give us lectures on psychology, but tells us the story and we can live it from the inside.In three of the stories the seeds of her later novel, "Cat's Eye" can be found, which I was inspired to read exactly by them. Short stories can always be a good introduction or lead-in for writer and reader alike.

In Bluebeard's Egg, Margaret Atwood weaves her poetic prose though twelve short stories that are as haunting as they are hilarious. Atwood takes the reader on a journey within her characters' minds, using real life for the canvass of her work. While the reader senses almost no movement through the physical world, there is a striking depth and distance traveled in each story.Atwood's characters range from neurotic artists to doctor's wives, all linked by their dysfunctional existence. In "Uglypuss," Joel, a struggling theater director, goes out for a drink when his estranged girlfriend announces that she is coming over. After a rendezvous of casual sex with an old aquaintance, Joel returns to find his place ravaged and his cat missing. It is in this twisted context where the protagonist asks, "what's the point of continuing, in a society like this one, where it's always two steps forward and two back?"Atwood, like only a handful of other authors, is able to sharply focus her writing while grappling with philosophical issues. Yvonne, in "The Sunrise," wonders: "if art sucks and everything is only art, what has she done with her life?" All the while, the reader is grounded in sensory details, like Kimberly's "wet pink oyster-like mouth."In many of the stories, Atwood melts past with present, mimicking the random texture of human thought. The seamless prose carries the reader along, stopping at childhood beach cabins, home economics class, and erotic sexual encounters. These retrospective glimpses are preludes to the hauntingly familiar world that the characters inhabit.With Bluebeard's Egg, Atwood has reached a new plateau in her writing, showcasing complete mastery of the craft. Her prose grabs the reader, poking and prodding until the comical and horrific are somehow inseperable. This is superlative serious fiction from one of the most prolific authors of the genre. END

Margaret Atwood, one of the finest authors of today, shows us her full strengths in this collection of short stories. She is a writer of subtlety and wit, involving her readers in the lives and imaginations of the characters she explores. The stories in this volume can be funny, touching, savage, or bleak, but all are touched by the same sharpness and sophistication. Atwood is an acute and penetrating observer of life and lives, and her writing is both insightful and poetic. For illumination, entertainment, and the enjoyment of fine writing, I recommend this volume highly.