Short story collections are not my strong suit when it comes
to reading. I’m never quite sure what to make of them. Give me a 250-page
collection of short stories or an 800-page tome, in 9 out of 10 cases I would pick
the tome. Short stories often feel too short. Just as
I’m getting into the story, it’s over and then I’m still holding the same book
in my hands but a completely new story has started. So it was with some
trepidation that I picked up Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress. Actually trepidation may be
overstating it. I have read two (yes, only two) books by the great Canadian
author, and I liked one and loved the other, so I was fairly certain I would
get through Stone Mattress okay.
My favorite stories were Torching the Dusties and the title
story Stone Mattress, along with Alphinland,
Revenant, and Dark Lady, a trio of stories that open the book. Torching the Dusties reminded me of The Handmaid’s
Tale (a book I loved) in its bleak and not to unbelievable portrait of a future
where a certain segment of the population is treated as disposable. Stone Mattress
is a powerful revenge fantasy in which a woman enacts a plan to get back at the
first man that wronged her. It is a truly a wicked and satisfying tale. Alphinland,
Revenant, and Dark Lady are three connected stories about three people that once
knew each other in their youth. There were some stories that didn't work for me but overall I enjoyed the collection.
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