Wilderness Tips (Margaret Atwood, 1991?) [2007-01-20?]

[hermionesviolin]

I think it was near the end of Oryx and Crake that I first started thinking of Joyce Carol Oates, but that feeling just got stronger as I progressed through this short story collection -- especially starting with the end of "Uncles."

[I'm not trying to argue that Atwood is derivative, it just wasn't quite what I was expecting after having read Oryx and Crake.]

Comments

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I didn't care for Wilderness Tips very much. I liked "Death by Landscape" the best of that collection. For Atwood short stories, I really like Good Bones and Simple Murders and Bluebeard's Egg. Lots of fairy tale play in those, which I love.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Fairy tale play = always a way to sell me on something :)

I think I'll check out those collections, rather than attempting another novel. (I saw Wilderness Tips on the shelf at the library when I was getting Oryx and Crake, hadn't heard anything about it previously.)

I found "The Age of Lead" very powerful (reminded me of Peg Kerr's The Wild Swans, though that connection doesn't entirely make sense) and thought most of the stories were very interesting, though like Joyce Carol Oates it leaves me with uncomfortable feelings, so it's hard to say whether I "liked" most of them.