Nine darkly humorous tales from one of today’s greatest writers
Thirteen darkly humorous tales from one of today's greatest writers
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. In addition to the classic The Handmaid’s Tale, her novels include Cat’s Eye, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize, and the MaddAddam trilogy: Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam. She is the winner of many awards, which, in addition to the Booker, include the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, France’s Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Italy’s Premio Mondello and, in 2014, the Orion Book Award for Fiction. In 2012 she was awarded the title of Companion of Literature by The Royal Society of Literature. Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto, Canada. margaretatwood.ca @MargaretAtwood
Dark and witty tales from the gleefully inventive Margaret Atwood …
Witty verve, imaginative inventiveness and verbal sizzle vivify
every page
*Sunday Times*
Atwood illuminates heavy themes with a lightness of touch, giving
insight not only into the nature of stone but the trials and
tribulations of flesh and blood
*Observer*
This collection of short stories is charged with a delightful
cheekiness … Atwood has characters here close to death, dead
already, unwittingly doomed or – in one memorable case –
freeze-dried; but her own curiosity, enthusiasm and sheer
storytelling panache remain alive and kicking. Anyone keen to
consign literary fiction to an early grave will have to deal with
her first
*Independent*
What does it mean to be a woman today? Many writers have made this
fertile ground their home, but few have been able to lay such
enduring claim to it as Margaret Atwood … Her latest work, Stone
Mattress, a collection of nine acerbic, mischievous, gulpable short
stories, addresses themes that will resonate with anyone familiar
with Atwood’s writing … Atwood’s gimlet eye and sharp tongue are
turned on the ageing process to painfully accurate effect
*Harper’s Bazaar*
With death tapping at her characters’ doors in more ways than one,
Atwood shows herself, through these exquisitely inhabited inner
lives and darkly funny stories, to be pulsing with more imaginative
vivacity than ever
*Literary Review*
Here it is again, the sharp-clawed, gimlet-eyed, takes-no-prisoners
Atwood whose humour is wickedly enjoyable … But there is beauty in
this writing as well as harsh observational gems, and Atwood
creates atmosphere with loving care, from the first sentence of the
first story
*Herald*
Atwood’s trademark dark humour and withering social commentary are
pervasive throughout and the stories are so stealthily plotted that
I gasped at one particular denouement despite it having been
clearly signposted in the story’s title … Her skill enables the
reader to stomach ambiguous endings that in the hands of a less
accomplished writer might feel accidental, uncrafted. “Will she or
won’t she (pull it off)?” wonders the narrator towards the end of
one of the tales. With this collection, we are never in any doubt
*****
*Sunday Express*
Nine darkly funny tales had me truly engrossed … The characters are
sharply observed and the plots imaginative. Atwood deploys words
with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker. Pithy, powerful sentences
evoke intense emotion or add more background detail than you’d
think possible in so few characters. Hers is the work of a true
wordsmith. Atwood’s fast-paced tales had me gripped from the off …
Stone Mattress is a delight to read – engaging, entertaining and
wickedly witty. If you’ve yet to dip your toe into the world of
short stories, you could do a lot worse than starting with either
of these collections. Though for sheer originality, I’d recommend
Stone Mattress in a heartbeat
*Stylist*
After more than 50 books and decades in the literary limelight,
Atwood can still surprise with the explosive originality of her
ideas; her writing always fresh and alive … A darkly irresistible
read
*Lady*
Nine Tales, the subtitle of this collection of short stories,
references that dreaded implement of torture, the cat o’ nine
tails, which lacerates the skin with its cotton cords.
Metaphorically, that is exactly how Stone Mattress works – each
tale, told with Atwood’s exquisite economy of style, cuts deep
*Vogue*
Realism and ridiculousness, play and deadly seriousness, are held
in fine balance throughout … This long view throughout the
collection is entirely unsparing, both of the vanished past and the
vanishing present, but Atwood’s prose is so sharp and sly that the
effect is bracing rather than bleak
*Guardian*
Atwood’s take on subjects such as old age, disappointment and
revenge are particularly engaging. These stories are often dark,
funny and deadly serious … Atwood is at her best writing about
death, a subject that comes and goes throughout these stories
*Daily Mail*
Typically compelling. Full to brimming with a dust-dry wit and
thrilling, punchline sentences, eclectic in its plots but enriched
by overarching themes … With their crackling dialogue and skilful
time-tumbles, these “tales” of cruelty and regret at beautifully
rendered, funny and alive, unflinching in their portrayals of the
ageing process and unexpectedly poignant
*Irish Examiner*
Rich in sly humour and pulpy thrills
*Daily Telegraph*
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