Thursday, December 15, 2011

Margaret Atwood's "Stone Mattress" (short story, non-genre, free): A woman abused as a teenager gets her revenge

Illustration accompanying the original publication in The New Yorker of short story Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood. It is a photograph by Olaf Otto Becker from Amador Gallery and shows the holidayers in the snow clad Arctic lands.
Verna Pritchard, 14 year old, was raped by 2 teenage boys, an event that set the tone for rest of her life. Now, 50+ years later, she has her chance for revenge...

Fact sheet.

First published: The New Yorker, 19 December 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Author's talk with publisher's fiction editor on genesis of this story.
Rating: A.
Added to my "best of 2011" list.
Related: Stories of Margaret Atwood.

2 comments:

Rolsen said...

I found this story mannered and dull, if not dystopian. A woman, now fully in control of things, waits until the end of her life to gain bloody revenge on, apparently, all of the men who ever abused her -- those who introduced her, against her will, to sex; those who bored her in marriage; and, if this story is the precursor to a novel, probably scores of others. Atwood is marvelous, and full of humor, when she creates fully realized characters with whom the reader can identify. She is preachy and dull when she dabbles in science fiction or creates flat, highly plotted characters such as the protagonist here. "The first thing we do, let's kill all the men."

February 9, 2012 at 12:57 AM
Anonymous said...

This blog is about what?? I am unable to understand. Can anyone tell me the purpose of this blog post.
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February 27, 2012 at 3:26 PM

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