I love Margaret Atwood's books, especially Cat's Eye, The Handmaid's Tale, The Robber Bride, and Alias Grace, but this book of short essays and poems, not as much. There are some witty passages and astute messages here about women's life and feminism and I enjoyed the skewed retelling of fairy tales, like "The Little Red Hen Tells All" and "Unpopular Gals" about wicked witches and ugly step sisters. This especially sums up the genre: "Catch it. Put it in a pumpkin, in a high tower, in a compound...

I love Margaret Atwood. Her witticism is so incongruous that it seems innate. Good Bones and Simple Murders is a compilation of harrowing, liberating and reincarnating tales. It debunks what had been firmly holding grounds for years. It is anecdotal at its best.I picked up this book to read "Gertrude Talks Back", but one thing led to another and now, I am mesmerised by it. It is sharp. It is witty. It is cleverly and poignantly written. Atwood's illustration is as vibrant and provocative as her

I've always been a huge fan of Margaret Atwood, but I'm not always a fan of short stories. & when I do read them I prefer to read them one at a time - maybe in a magazine.But I just jumped into this one and at first I couldn't put it down. All my favourite stories in this collection were at the start. The were sharp witty & clever. But it is the same strong yet enigmatic voice right through, so I did have to keep putting this collection down. So while I loved Murder in the Dark & Gertrude talks

A great collection of short stories that felt much more experimental in style and approach than most others I've read. Reading most of this felt like the equivalent of listening to a great band as they practice in a garage before going to a studio to record a finished, polished product. Coming from an author I love that was an incredibly neat experience. There were one or two stories that fell flat for me but there were also stories like "Gertrude Talks Back" that I absolutely loved.

I read the first story of this book, "Murder in the Dark," and when I was finished I turned to my husband, shoved the book in his hand, told him to read it and then he was to tell me HOW DID SHE DO THAT? He didn't really have an answer but his comment defined what I thought of the rest of the book: "It's written with the confidence of someone who knows she can hit a homerun every time." Confidence oozes through every one of these pieces. Least faves (because they just seemed a little too forced

23 Things that yours truly learned from reading Good Bones And Simple Moiduh:1. In the game of mystery, the murderer is the writer. The detective is the reader. And the victim is the book.2. But sometimes, the murderer is (still) the writer. The detective is the critic. The victim is the reader.3. Your depression, my friend, is the revenge of oranges.4. It wasn't Claudius who killed the King of Denmark. 'Twas Gertrude!5. Repression breeds sublimation.6. When you're having sex with Raymond Cha...

Watch a brilliant imagination at work. Margaret Atwood creates men in her kitchen, convinces us she was a bat in a former life, makes lepers dance. There’s some weird stuff in here. It’s seriously playful, and playfully serious. “Put yourself in a different room,” she says in the story Bread. “That’s what the mind is for.”

Although this book of short stories is brief, it is very dense and is not a quick read. In fact, most (if not all) of the stories beg for a re-read in order to catch Atwood’s subtleties. As a whole, the pieces have a strong feminist theme threaded throughout, with a gifted writer’s sense of humor in the crafting of the written word. Economically sound and imaginative, there’s a story in here for everyone, although everyone may not like all of the stories. There were quite a few individual storie...

I’ve just recently (finally) read Atwood’s Stone Mattress for the first time and realized how much I love her writing, so naturally now I want to check out more of it. This collection is very different from Stone Mattress, wherein the first featured more traditional narratives and linear plots, this is all play and whimsy, albeit with a very serious feminist angle to it. These stories are snippets, clever things, original takes of well known works from different women’s perspectives, worldplays,...

I re-read these short stories, many of which would now be called flash fiction, and although they are not my favorite of her work, I did appreciate the frequent sarcasm and at times humorous commentary from the feminist perspective. A quick read.

This was dark, twisted, and magnificent. It gently caressed the darkest parts of me. Yet, in this strange place there was great humor and wit. I appreciate the chance to laughingly embrace the unacceptable.

Each of the pieces in this book is only a few pages long. It is genre-defying; herein are included: An experiment with digging into a well-known poem by interspersing its words within a story; meta-fiction, half play, half instruction; whimsy such as one might wish for in a conversation at a dinner table, Atwood perhaps on the second swallow of her second glass of wine, everyone in playful one-upsmanship and appreciative laughter; deadly seriousness about misogyny wrapped in seeming narrative, a...

This collection features a lot of very short stories, generally under five pages, that can be read in mere minutes. In this way, the collection almost reminded me of jokes, with a quick set up of the scene and ending with Atwood's insightful, often acerbic, wit. It is a very quick read and great for any fan of her other works.Also, "Happy Endings" was used as a short story for a book club on 9/12/2017, and it is interesting how a short work like this can lead to a wide-ranging discussion.

The synopsis of this book isn’t wrong when it says that these stories are hard to categorize. I mean, what even are these things? I guess I’d call them flash fiction or prose poetry. Each story/poem/essay/dialogue thing is only a few pages long. They cover a variety of genres, from realism to magical realism to fairytales to sci-fi. Most of them have a strong feminist slant. Some are abstract; some are straightforward. Some are accompanied by Margaret Atwood’s weird artwork. They’re all beautifu...

I enjoyed these very short stories, though the book physically was a mess. The printing was off kilter so a lot of the pages had letters cut off. Oh well. Some of these stories took my breath, others were just meh. p.15 The I'll do it myself, I said, as the nun quipped to the vibrator. Nobody was listening, of course. They'd all gone to the beach. (What???? Lol this made me ask WTF)p.16-17** They said it was my fault, for having a loaf of bread when they had none. ... Here, I said. I apologize f...

Good Bones and Simple Murders is a witty, naughty, and mischievous compilation of short stories ranging from absurd poetry and flash anomaly of classics fictions. It was a daring rewrite of the classics for Gertrude and Hamlet based on personal observation. There's also the story of Little Red Hen which was portrayed in a whole new style of prose. Not missing out on the thought-provoking narration of bat with bombs, wars, and the challenge imposed on the erroneous of Dracula parable. The wonky r...

The beginning chapters definitely seemed to be in defense of the villains in fairy tales such as Cinderella's evil stepmother. It was quite riveting and easy to follow. However, towards the middle and end the tone changed to something more serious. There were more scathing comments about the way society views relationships and gender roles. It was quite interesting, but not what I was expecting when I first downloaded the e-audiobook.I guess it would have been easier to follow if I was reading i...

Atwood's books tend to really be hits or misses for me. This collection was more of a hit than a miss, and a thematically sound. Good Bones and Simple Murders is a phenomenal title and encapsulates the spirit of the stories. But for every story I really enjoyed, there was a story that exemplified what often frustrates me about Atwood's work. My favorites were "Stump Hunting," "Making a Man," and "Poppies: Three Variations." "Stump Hunting" and "Making a Man" are both how-to guides. "Stump Huntin...

Read as a part of #MARM, I took my time with this one as I found if I read too many of these short little...essays? tidbits? thoughts? they blended together and were not as impactful. Some of them I really enjoyed, others were very vague or abstract and I felt they were maybe over my head? Happy Endings was by far my favorite. I find I'm not a huge fan of flash fiction, by the time I get invested in something as a reader-it's over. Still, it's very, very clever.

I mostly enjoyed the stories at the beginning. I skipped the ones that seemed boring and the ones that went over my head. Some of the stories had me like, wtf?!The stories I liked:Murder in the DarkBad newsUnpopular GirlsGertrude Talks Back There was once (My favorite!)I liked the perspective in which were written too.

I usually like Margaret Atwood’s books but didn’t think much of this one.

****2.0***This book didn't get me, even though Atwood is one of my favourite authors. Or may be I am not intelligent enough to understand it!! I did like some of the short stories in it but majority of them just went above my head.Happy Reading!!

For me Margaret Atwood is one of those authors I've been told repeatedly I would like/love/adore/definitely not abhor, but until this collection (of short stories, or perhaps more aptly described in places: prose poems) I hadn't ever read anything of hers. This collection is older (1994), and additionally comprised of pieces originally published in both 1983 and 1992, which is why it feeling so timely in places is perhaps my biggest praise of the book. She didn't write it a month ago, or a year

This collection of short stories is the first I've read of Margaret Atwood and I'll be reading the Handmaid's Tale shortly since my sister gave it to me for Christmas. This series is interesting. Some of the stories I could make sense of and some of them not so much. I don't think I've read anything that's like this writing style. The word abstract comes to mind as the best way to describe it. She clearly has a unique and brilliant mind that's not always easy to understand. I'm looking forward t...

Really enjoyed this diverse set of short writing, especially Unpopular Girls, Women's Novels, Stump Hunting, Happy Endings, and In Love with Raymond Chandler. The short pieces nestled into my commute this past week as the perfect way to start and end the work day.(The rest is about me, so you can stop reading the review here.)It was ironic to encounter "Women's Novels" because I picked this book up to "re-balance my author stats." I have read a lot, which is to say I have read a lot of books by

Margaret Atwood is really hit or miss for me. Some of her books I adore (Oryx and Crake, Alias Grace), some I really didn't like (The Handmaid's Tale, Bluebeard's Egg), some I couldn't even get past the first chapter (The Robber Bride). This turned out to be one of the ones I adore.Good Bones and Simple Murders is a collection of short fiction, all of it with a feminist bent, from a story of life as a bat to the Little Red Hen to Gertrude telling her own side of the Hamlet story (one I infinitel...

Margaret Atwood is a master of storytelling. As a collection, Good Bones and Simple Murders is sharp and bizarre, almost shocking in its peculiarity; presenting darker, unsettling takes on familiar tales. The reviews of this collection praise her wit and writing style, and I cannot disagree. Margaret Atwood, is simply, a fantastic writer. Each tale lasts, at most, only a few pages, relying less on story and more on the ability to convey intense meaning into a few simple paragraphs. And she does

I've been reading this one for some time. This is a collection of short, some VERY short, yet profound works by Atwood. Atwood is a witch, that's the only possible explanation for how she can be so enchanting and thought provoking in so few words (or she's just amazing). Even though the stories are short, I had to re-read them once or twice to get the point and revel in Atwood's subtleties.I don't think this book would do much for non-Atwoodites (does her fanbase have a name? Is that too hokey f...

Normally, I love Margaret Atwood because she challenges me. I had trouble understanding the point of many of these short stories, usually the ones that felt like prose poems. I dutifully slogged through the book because the play is coming to town and I want to see it. Perhaps the performance will give me greater insight. These pieces exhibited several of Atwood's themes: we all have messy, human bodies; death is unpleasant and can bring out the worst in us; there is lots of violence against wome...

One of my top ten for 2015. This falls under the category of short stories are like potato chips, you keep reading until the bag is empty and you're licking the salt from your fingers. To be fair, most of the "stories" are really observations, but very smart and Dorothy Parker witty observations. What makes me sad is that I bought this at the library overflow sale and that means there's probably no longer a copy available. I'm sure I'm not the only one who agrees that Atwood has good bones, good...