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Sep 22, 2014 Web Exclusive By Tori Rae Davis

Margaret Atwood, a woman who is published in 35 countries with over 40 pieces of published literature ranging from short fiction to poetry, personal essays and children’s books, has returned with a collection of short fiction for the first time in eight years. While Atwood is revered for her witty and continuously imaginative prose and social commentary, Stone Mattress seems to be a more personal account, a series of stories with characters who are well past their prime in life, or didn’t have a prime at all. Comprised of nine tales, Stone Mattress does not fail to be honest, brash at times, and occasionally overwhelmingly heartbreaking. What it does fail to conceal is our fear as human beings to grow old, to die, to be left by our husbands and wives, our fear of life.

“Alphinland” is the first of three tales detailing the romantic entanglements of a group of aged writers. A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through an ice storm by her late husband, which sets the tone for “Revenant” and “Dark Lady.” Atwood is brutally honest in her portrayal of her characters. Bits of Gavin, a bitter old man living in the past, and Constance, a shut-in fantasy writer who is more present in her fictional world then the one she actually embodies, live within all of us. “Lusus Naturae” features a woman who is mistaken for a vampire. In “Freeze-Dried Groom,” a man bids on a storage space and is faced with a gruesome surprise. In “Stone Mattress,” a long-ago crime is avenged in the Arctic.

Each story that Atwood constructs is unique and different from the next; each time, you are immersed in a new world, a new character. Every paragraph is filled with potent feeling. It grabs you by your shoulders, and you can’t escape the world that Atwood has made for you. (www.knopfdoubleday.com) (www.margaretatwood.ca)

Author rating: 8/10