These nine tales are a mature piece of work
from Margaret Atwood in more ways than one. As well as demonstrating her
well-honed storytelling craft her narrators and protagonists are mainly men and
women in their later years.
As is the wont of the aged, the day to day
concerns over the inconveniences of getting older jostle for attention with the
accumulated recollections of their youth and prime to provide an entertaining
cocktail.
The first three stories, Alphinland,
Revenant, and Dark Lady, make up an intriguing literary triplet with crossover
characters turning up unexpectedly and giving different perspectives on shared
events.
The next two stories buck the ‘oldies’
trend: Lusus Naturae is a ghostly telling of the fate of a freak of nature;
while in Freeze-Dried Groom a dealer in second hand goods buys the key to an auctioned off storage unit
and finds it contains a complete wedding including a shrink-wrapped groom –
then the bride turns up.
The last four tales revert to the old folks
- looking back on the adventures, mistakes and triumphs of earlier years –
including the title story. In Stone Mattress a thrice married professional
widow now finds herself face to face with the man who, as a boy, deflowered her
mercilessly; she suffered then and his failure to recognise her in maturity
gives her an opportunity for revenge.
The final story looks a little forward in
time – and uncomfortably; in Torching the Dusties the residents of a retirement
home watch on with growing anxiety as a militant group ‘Our Turn’ protest at
their gates at the resources deployed to maintain the old in comfort at the
expense of the unmet needs of the productive generations.
It is a fine collection of stories and a
good introduction to an excellent author.
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