Old Babes in the Wood - Margaret Atwood

 OLD BABES IN THE WOOD : STORIES

- Margaret Atwood -

First point, which is very exciting to any book reader and library patron...I was the first person to borrow the book from our library. The first hands on a library book! The first fingers to stain the pages b/c I was eating ketchup chips while reading. Isn't that unreal!?

Second point, this book is classic Atwood. By that I mean the writing is superb. I read through this book in a few days, and even though the stories were not my favourite genre or topic, the writing kept me hooked and had me turning the pages .

I knew this book was a collection of stories. I'm okay with that. I like to read a collection of short stories every once in a while. The slight difference with Old Babes in the Wood was that the stories were mostly about the life and times of Tig and Nell. You could describe this book as a novelette about Tig and Nell, with a sprinkling of other short stories placed in between chapters.

I'll cover the majority of the book by saying the Tig and Nell stories were interesting. They seemed to be a look at the life cycle of a long term couple. There is a beginning, a middle age, and then death. It felt to me like Atwood spent a lot of time on the dealing with death, the life of an elder, the waiting for your own death...a lot of space was taken up on life's finale. Perhaps as she ages, Atwood decided it was time to share her perspective, experience, and deep thoughts on The End.

Even though the topic of death, dying, old age, and mourning are not pleasant, invigorating, or something I think about often, Atwood did a great job of keeping my attention. 

The other short stories were a mixed bag, as happens in most short story collections. Some grabbed my attention while others I have already forgotten about. My favourite short was Atwood's interview with George Orwell's ghost. I'm a fan of Orwell & Dystopian books (like the Handmaid's Tale), so I took to it quickly. It was fun too. Not a page full of dense prose, but more of a conversation of casual jokes, awkward pauses, and clever insights.

There was another short story I can recall, about a snail's soul becoming trapped in a human body...yeah, that was an experimental thought that probably didn't need to be published. But, I bet there are some out there that love this kind of stuff. That's what's great about short story collections. The chance for writer's to throw out the weird and wacky, in small doses.

What I felt was missing from the collection was a dystopian type story. My favourite books by Atwood are The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake...you know? The post apocalyptic / dystopian novels. That's one of the reasons I actually took the book out of the library in the first place. Oh well, can't win them all.

A side note about the title. Not sure if this was a coincidence, but as I was googling 'Old Babes In The Woods' a bunch of results came up about a mysterious murder in Stanley Park (Vancouver). Two girls bodies were found years after they went missing.