Book Review: Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood

I’m so used to reading horror short story collections that it was refreshing to read a collection with a different theme - in this case, the ageing process and death. However, Stone Mattress is still delightfully dark and witty, everything I would come to expect from Atwood.

“He drowned his sorrows, though like other drowned things they had a habit of floating to the surface when least expected.”

What I loved most about this collection was that a lot of the stories featured elderly protagonists, an often forgotten about group of people in fiction. But do not be fooled... these old people aren’t cute little grannies who mean no harm. They’re devious, sometimes scheming and up to no good!

The title story was my FAVOURITE. An elderly woman is on an arctic cruise and encounters a man that had abused her in her youth. No spoilers here, but I loved how this one ended up! Another highlight was The Dead Hand Loves You, wherein an author makes a deal with his flat mates to split the profits of his not-yet-written novel just to cover his rent. Time passes and he regrets ever making this deal as the horror novel turns out to be a huge success! So he sets out to solve this issue...

There’s also a story about an elderly residential home being under siege by younger people, a story about a young girl with a genetic abnormality who is mistaken for a vampire, and the first trio of stories which tells the tale of a love triangle but through the eyes of old age.

All in all, a really enjoyable collection. Even if a couple of the stories felt like they lacked a punch at times, Atwood always delivers with her simply exquisite and insightful writing. 3.5 stars.

Johann

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