HGG

More books from Shemchin. I love Atwood, I'm really happy to get to read more of her works!

Another good book from Atwood. It had it's moments, but all in all I didn't find this books as gripping as other books I have read from her.

Edit weeks later: I had to raise the stars I had given; somehow book haunted me and I started to actually like it more now few weeks after reading.

I took this yesterday from our local bookcrossers meeting in Joensuu. Looks interesting.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is now traveling to oofiri. I will come back later (to edit my post)and tell how I felt about this book.

Arrived today by post. Thank you, Liinuskainen and all! I'm looking forward to reading this, Atwood is one of my favourite writers.

VariC and Oikku want to read this, too, so a ring/ray will start as soon as I've finished reading.

This was very good! A little way into the book I completely forgot these were short stories, and just read it as a novel. After having finished the book, I went back and reread some trying to see the separate stories. That worked, too, and maybe I could appreciate some fine endings more that way, but I still wonder why this should be called a book of short fiction. This could be just me: reading collections of short stories, I find, almost always there is this slight but unpleasant jerk between one fictional world or point of view and the next, when you have to reorientate yourself and start getting to know the characters and so on, from scratch, while with novels you may just continue the smooth slide deeper and deeper inside the world, and knowledge accumulates. I definitely prefer that.

Maybe I'm just lazy.

I enjoyed Atwood's writing as much as ever. This time, the best moments were right at the beginning, Bad News, which I remember having read once at bookstore standing at the counter, and the two last stories (or chapters), in which there are fascinating resonances between Nell's and her parents' existing personal memories, their lost ones and their fantasies, and the potential fiction that springs from them. And I liked The Entities, and The Other Place, as well.

Thank you, shemchin and all, this was a real treat. I don't know yet whether I can let go of this book completely. For now, let's say this is a book ring.

VariC
Oikku
....
ruzena
sintra (Germany)

EDIT 4.7.2010:

I asked Sheepseeker in Germany to let the book continue on its journey instead of sending it back to me. I hope it finds still many more people to enjoy it. This has been a great ring (ray), thank you everyone!

Thanks, oofiri! I'll try to read this soon, but it may take a while before I can pass it on.

Another Atwood that was a pleasure to read. Her style and characterization really work for me, and I get totally immersed in the book.

Like oofiri, I also didn't really read this as separate stories. To me, it was clear that this is a short story collection: each individual story has a definite arc from setup to conclusion, but still, thinking of them as separate stories didn't come at all naturally to me. The viewpoint changes between stories made this a bit confusing at times, though.

The word that frequently came to mind while reading was “change”. Of course, many good stories are about changes, and a tale of a life focusing on significant events can hardly be otherwise. But it's not just showing change, it's also about adaptation to change. Nell comes across as very passive and accepting, taking whatever happens or whatever other people do, adapting to it and remaining happy in her life. And we see both good sides and bad sides to this: in “Monopoly” Nell adapts quickly to a large change in her life, but then, in “White Horse” she is too accepting while Lizzie provides the more appropriate reaction. To me, this kind of presentation gives a book more realism: after all, in real life behaviors are also not always good or always bad; sometimes it's best to behave one way, sometimes another, and for a specific personality, it might be difficult to act contrary to that.

I've asked for Oikku's address and will mail this as soon as I am able.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Passed on to be mailed to Oikku.

The book arrived today. Thank you, VariC. Special thanks to Oofiri for making this a book ring.

I didn't read the existing journal entries or the back cover of the book before I started reading the book and it took me a while to realize the nature of a continuum between the stories, the fact that the main female character in all the stories was Nell. I liked this book almost as much as I've enjoyed some of Atwoods novels (The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake). I especially liked "The Entities", the ninth story.

I'll send the book to Ruzena soon so she'll get it 2010 as she wished!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Vein kirjan juuri postiin! => Ruzenalle. Ai niin, in English..... Just left the book in the post office.

Received today. Thank you, Oikku.

(A novel in 11 stories. First published 2007. Anchor Books paperback 2008, 225 pages.)

When the text is skilful and its content is thought-provoking, you don’t need any plot, you edit a compact novel in your head. These short stories make up a whole life story about Nell even if they are separate (and some of them have appeared in different magazines at different times). Indeed they are independent stories, the themes and the narrative styles varying from one to another. E.g., some of the stories are told by first-person narrator Nell and others by third-person narrator, from Nell’s point of view; one story is a vivid description of country life with increasing animal friends, another is an essay-like text putting side by side a description of the explorers’ hard walk in the wild and the old father in his person.
Atwood writes in an enjoyable style, witty and reasonable and unaffected, yet emotional. Her subject matters in this collection are so familiar that once again one can say: when reading a book you are looking at yourself.
I, for myself, got an impulse to go through my family’s old photos some day, to try and understand what the details can tell, to try and fill the white patches due to the fact that the persons you could ask do not remember, hear, see or even live any more...

Thanks, shemchin and oofiri and others for sharing and transporting. The book will travel to Germany now where I have spread the word :)

-ruzena

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy!

I received the book today and will start reading it after my current bookring. Thanks a lot! :-)

I always enjoy Margaret Atwood's style and this book made no exception. As others in this journal have already poited out it's not really a collection of short stories but rather a collection of episodes and memories. They are interesting and entertaining observations, sometimes amusing, sometimes touching. I particularly liked "White Horse", "The Entities", and the last two stories that deal with the gradual loss of both her parents. But then again I really liked the other stories, too.

Thanks for sharing this book, oofiri! And thanks again, ruzena, for pointing out this ring to me! :-)

The book is with me now - thanks sintra and oofiri for starting this ring.

I finished this one a few days ago and enjoyed it like most of Atwood writing so far. As others before it took me some time to realize that those stories are connected - nice idea! 'The entities' was my favourite part with 'Moral Disorder' as a close second.

Thanks a lot for sharing this book with us!

Schon am 15. 8. 2010 beim "Brunch statt Picknick"-MeetUp (BookCrossing-Treffen) im Café Kratz mitgenommen.

Took it from a MeetUp in Bonn a few days ago.

Nachtrag, 11. 9. 2010: Nach Flavia de Luce und der Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society war dies das dritte englischsprachige Buch hintereinander... und obwohl es signifikant anders ist als die beiden anderen, hat es mir gut gefallen – vor allem die "Entities". Das war mein erster Versuch mit Margaret Atwood und wird wohl nicht mein letzter gewesen sein!

Werde es bei einem der nächsten MeetUps in Hamburg wieder anbieten.

Update, September 11th 2010: After Flavia de Luce and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society this was the third English book in a row... and although it significantly differs from the other two I liked it, especially the "Entities". This was my first try with Margaret Atwood – not the last!

Most probably I will take it to one of the next meetups in Hamburg.

Have been reading "Surfacing" recently and while I found the first half boring and somehow annoying, I enjoyed the second half. So I decided to give Margaret Atwood another chance. I found the book at the meet-up in Hamburg on the 30th September, 2010.