About book Murder In The Dark: Short Fictions And Prose Poems (1994)
About 25% of this 80 page book is worth reading; the other 75 is pretty bad. I'll start with what worked.She has a piece, the longest in the book, about a trip to Mexico. It's not perfect by any means, but it really does live up to the premise of the book: thoughtful, full of striking imagery, surprising in the best way. The fact that it circles around different sides of one experience helps, I think.The fourth section was also pretty strong. "Hopeless" was the single best piece I read there.The biggest problem I have with this book is that it jumps back and forth between tedium and "seemed deep at the time". As in, the kind of things that are clearly trying to be profound, and falling far short of the mark.Here's the second half of a poem/story for you, which is representative of the less interesting 75%. It's called "Making Poison" and is about exactly that:"I can't remember what we did with the poison in the end. Did we leave it under the corner of the house, which was made of wood and brownish yellow? Did we throw it at someone, some innocuous child? We wouldn't have dared an adult. I this a true image I have, a small face streaming with tears and red berries, the sudden knowledge that the poison was really poisonous after all? Or did we throw it out, do I remember those red berries floating down a gutter, into a culvert, am I innocent?"Why did we make the poison in the first place? I can remember the glee with which we stirred and added, the sense of magic and accomplishment. Making poison is as much fun as making a cake. People like to make poison. If you don't understand this you will never understand anything."Okay. The first paragraph here is so drab and makeshift. It reads like a private journal, except self-consciously put together. It's like someone trying hard to be literary. Tastes differ on all things, but I find it exceedingly inept prose.The second paragraph is that pseudo-depth I was talking about. It's like she was writing about poison and went "WHOA, hold on here, I've got a cool quote in arms reach! Lets GO FOR IT!!" It's obvious, it's implicit in everything she already said - really, it's implicit in her first sentence - but she puts it right at the end there and strikes this "I'm so mysteriously deep" pose. It's the kind of thing that gets removed in the first round of editing.Well, it's all maddening for me because I know she can do it. She really does have witty, profound, cutting things to say. But this book is largely devoid of them. So, pass it up, that's my advice.
I bought this book in high school and probably made it half way through. Atwood was the first author to introduce me to prose poetry and did so in this volume. I found the brevity and (Atwood's) use of second person very attractive, and continued to pursue the genre. I was reading an article about Atwood last night and decided to reread this. Less then 24 hours later, I have finished the book and am quite impressed. Atwood's short fictions/prose poems touch on topics of childhood, race/ethnic rights, women's rights, war, rape, literature, and more. Each piece has one thing in common: it is brief, often relies on the second person, and is extremely intriguing. I found myself asking questions after each piece, but not too many questions. Each work was subtle and did not hit me over the head with what it was trying to say, which I appreciate.The pieces that stood out were "The Victory Burlesque," "Raw Materials," "happy endings," and "Liking Men." (The last evoked a strong reaction in me." Pieces that fell flat for em included "Strawberries."Overall a good collection.
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this is my first atwood and i made sure it the selection of short stories because i wanted to get a feel of her writing before diving into her novels. i've read her quotes here and there and i was always amazed by them so, why not?the beginning of the book was ok, i liked the style and i liked how i can never tell where the short pieces were going.halfway through this, the pieces kept getting better and i'd find myself involuntarily smiling, gasping or just staring into space (from the fact that there is someone out there who understands how i feel and managed to write it so incredibly). can't wait to read the rest of her books!
—sara ahmed
The story, "Happy Endings," is an exercise in metafiction. Atwood invites the reader to participate in the making of the story, or at least highlights the reader’s constant role in creating a work of literature. She presents a variety of alternative endings to a brief introductory paragraph involving John and Mary, requiring the reader to select from among the various options, imitating different genres and styles of writing.One option, Option A, is a conventional, fairytale-like, saccharine ending that is implausible and uninteresting.Option B presents Mary as being in love with John, although he does not love her. She is taken advantage of and eventually commits suicide, whereupon John marries Madge. This plot, while clichéd, is at least slightly more interesting.In Option C, John is an older married man philandering with the younger Mary, who in turn loves the young James. John, in a jealous rage, shoots Mary and James, then kills himself. His widow Madge subsequently marries Fred. This plot is not original but is somewhat more complex than Option B.Option D follows Madge and Fred through their misfortunes as they suffer but are “virtuous and grateful.” Too little detail is provided to make this option very interesting, although the subplot has potential.In Option E, Fred dies of a heart attack and Mary devotes herself to doing good works, the reader being left to determine her feelings and attitudes.And in Option F, John and Mary are revolutionaries and counter-espionage agents and have epic adventures.The endings, Atwood points out, all eventually result in the death of the characters. The uniqueness of a story is what happens in the middle, the art of fiction being in the crafting of a narrative that is interesting and unique even if and when the ending is to some extent predictable; as Atwood states it, the “what” of plots are limited and often predictable, the art of story telling being in the how and why. This present work lets the reader not only be aware of the process of the creation of fiction, but it emphasizes the mutual collaborative effort between author and reader that must occur if the work is successful. Atwood uses this artificial form to point out the inventiveness, fun, and art of the writing of fiction.
—Bruce
This is a quirky little collection of prose and poetic sketches. As a whole, it was interesting, thought-provoking, and fun. I would like to take a pause and then read this entire thing all over again. If you’re left wanting to read something again (even after having read each piece several times) then does that mean it has succeeded? I’m seriously annoyed that I have no choice but to return this to the library, this I could enjoy browsing over for several more weeks. It was quite weirdly beautiful!
—Alexa
