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Murder in the Dark: Short Fictions and Prose Poems
These short fictions and prose poems are beautifully bizarre: bread can no longer be thought of as wholesome comforting loaves; the pretensions of the male chef are subjected to a loght roasting; a poisonous brew is concocted by cynical five year olds; and knowing when to stop is of deadly importance in a game of Murder in the Dark.
110 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
44 people are currently reading
2352 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Atwood
667 books89.8k followersMargaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.
Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.
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November 19, 2015
Most people know Margaret Atwood as a novelist
(The Blind Assassin,
The MaddAddam Trilogy, Cat’s Eye, most recently
The Heart Goes Last).
But she’s also an excellent short story writer, poet and essayist. This slim volume from 1983 feels like a hybrid of those last three genres; the writing’s looser than in her poetry collections, but the pieces aren’t long enough to be considered stories. Vignettes? Perhaps. “Prose poems” is an apt description, but many of them are as chock full of ideas as her essays.
The subjects range from childhood reminiscences – making poison with her brother; finding a grandfather’s collection of Boys Own Annuals in the attic; her history of fainting – to a series of riffs on finding “the real” Mexico, not the tourist version.
The strongest section contains the title story, in which a parlor game becomes a metaphor for the writer/reader dynamic, as well as "Women's Novels," a clever look at gender and genre fiction. "Simmering" is an amusing speculative fiction piece (she wrote it before her first SF book, The Handmaid's Tale) about men taking over the kitchen. My favourite piece is a deadpan meditation on narrative possibilities called “Happy Endings.”
The story “Liking Men” starts with a funny, sly look at men and sexual politics and transforms into a disturbing comment on rape, power and genocide. The final piece, “Instructions For The Third Eye,” is about the subversive power and vision of the writer – something this clever author, with this unique book, has just demonstrated yet again.
But she’s also an excellent short story writer, poet and essayist. This slim volume from 1983 feels like a hybrid of those last three genres; the writing’s looser than in her poetry collections, but the pieces aren’t long enough to be considered stories. Vignettes? Perhaps. “Prose poems” is an apt description, but many of them are as chock full of ideas as her essays.
The subjects range from childhood reminiscences – making poison with her brother; finding a grandfather’s collection of Boys Own Annuals in the attic; her history of fainting – to a series of riffs on finding “the real” Mexico, not the tourist version.
The strongest section contains the title story, in which a parlor game becomes a metaphor for the writer/reader dynamic, as well as "Women's Novels," a clever look at gender and genre fiction. "Simmering" is an amusing speculative fiction piece (she wrote it before her first SF book, The Handmaid's Tale) about men taking over the kitchen. My favourite piece is a deadpan meditation on narrative possibilities called “Happy Endings.”
The story “Liking Men” starts with a funny, sly look at men and sexual politics and transforms into a disturbing comment on rape, power and genocide. The final piece, “Instructions For The Third Eye,” is about the subversive power and vision of the writer – something this clever author, with this unique book, has just demonstrated yet again.
December 23, 2016
This is a collection of Attwood’s shorter fictions and some of it is very short pieces indeed; prose poems, or as one critic put in; flash fiction. There is quite a variety of fictions; childhood reminiscences, gender, men, some speculative fictions and food and cookery! These are more clearly feminist than some of Attwood’s other work.
There are several recurring motifs, one being; “Is this the man through whom all men can be forgiven?” The title piece “Murder in the Dark” is based on the childhood game and Attwood plays with it in quite a clever way. “Simmering” is a brilliant twist on gender relations where the men stay at home and do the chores and cooking and women go out to work. Inevitably the kitchen becomes the domain of men who become competitive about their recipes and the sharpness of their knives. So perhaps the issue with gender isn’t roles but rather the nature of men!
“Women’s novels is a clever analysis of the nature of male and female novels done in a satirical and amusing way in a series of brief vignettes;
“Men favour heroes who are tough and hard: tough with men, hard with women. Sometimes the hero goes soft on a woman but this is always a mistake. Women do not favour heroines who are tough and hard. Instead they have to be tough and soft. This leads to linguistic difficulties. Last time we looked, monosyllables were male, still dominant but sinking fast, wrapped in the octopoid arms of labial polysyllables, whispering to them with arachnoid grace: darling, darling.”
“Happy Endings” takes a sideways look at plot and the problems and limitations the novelist has and is a delight to read. It starts from the simple premise “John and Mary meet. What happens next?” Then there are six outline plots which cover most of literature and finally a limiting end point: “John and Mary die?” Death being a limiting factor for most plots.
It’s clever and enjoyable and I think I like Attwood better in short form than long form.
There are several recurring motifs, one being; “Is this the man through whom all men can be forgiven?” The title piece “Murder in the Dark” is based on the childhood game and Attwood plays with it in quite a clever way. “Simmering” is a brilliant twist on gender relations where the men stay at home and do the chores and cooking and women go out to work. Inevitably the kitchen becomes the domain of men who become competitive about their recipes and the sharpness of their knives. So perhaps the issue with gender isn’t roles but rather the nature of men!
“Women’s novels is a clever analysis of the nature of male and female novels done in a satirical and amusing way in a series of brief vignettes;
“Men favour heroes who are tough and hard: tough with men, hard with women. Sometimes the hero goes soft on a woman but this is always a mistake. Women do not favour heroines who are tough and hard. Instead they have to be tough and soft. This leads to linguistic difficulties. Last time we looked, monosyllables were male, still dominant but sinking fast, wrapped in the octopoid arms of labial polysyllables, whispering to them with arachnoid grace: darling, darling.”
“Happy Endings” takes a sideways look at plot and the problems and limitations the novelist has and is a delight to read. It starts from the simple premise “John and Mary meet. What happens next?” Then there are six outline plots which cover most of literature and finally a limiting end point: “John and Mary die?” Death being a limiting factor for most plots.
It’s clever and enjoyable and I think I like Attwood better in short form than long form.
November 5, 2018
If anyone can make me give a collection of 1-5 page short stories 4 stars it is Atwood.
April 17, 2020
3.75/5
February 26, 2025
No imaginé que mi segundo acercamiento a la obra de Margaret Atwood, después de un primero que disfruté tanto que decidí que tenía que leer todos sus libros, pudiera resultar tan decepcionante, pero como la vida te da sorpresas aquí nos encontramos, ante el primer suspenso del año.
“Asesinato en la oscuridad” es una colección extrañísima de relatos de muy diferente temática y extensión, dividida en cuatro partes. Algunos relatos superan las diez páginas, pero la mayoría no pasan de las dos, y no sé si el fallo es que son muy breves, o que me han parecido demasiado insustanciales o el problema directamente he sido yo, pero a excepción de los relatos de la tercera parte, algo más largos y con un mensaje potente y, sobre todo, claro, que sí me han gustado, el resto me han provocado una absoluta indiferencia.
De hecho, soy incapaz de explicaros de que va esta colección, porque me ha sido imposible de sacarle nada a la mayoría de estas pequeñas historias, ni tan siquiera para entender que me querían transmitir, independientemente de que me llegaran más o menos. Casi todos me dejaban esa sensación de algo inacabado, algo sin sentido. Por lo tanto, voy a centrarme en mencionaros los tres que más me gustaron y que sí recomendaría mucho.
En primer lugar, el relato que da nombre al libro, "Asesinato en la oscuridad", en el que una curiosa narradora nos habla sobre un juego al que está jugando con un grupo de personas y el cual puede convertirse en realidad. En segundo lugar, me ha gustado mucho "Cocer a fuego lento", donde Atwood imagina un mundo donde la cocina se convierte en un lugar reservado para los hombres, y aprovecha para hacer un repaso a los ridículos roles de género de nuestra sociedad. Por último, en "Finales felices", la autora analiza como al final, por muchas decisiones que tomemos en la vida, la única verdad absoluta es la muerte, por lo que lo importante de esta son los principios, no los finales.
En definitiva, ha sido una lectura decepcionante, aunque pese a ello, he encontrado en estos relatos que sí me gustaron las mismas ideas críticas, acertadas y hasta macabras que tanto disfruté cuando leí "El cuento de la criada". Así que me voy a poner pronto con "Los testamentos" que seguro que vuelvo a remontar con la autora.
“Asesinato en la oscuridad” es una colección extrañísima de relatos de muy diferente temática y extensión, dividida en cuatro partes. Algunos relatos superan las diez páginas, pero la mayoría no pasan de las dos, y no sé si el fallo es que son muy breves, o que me han parecido demasiado insustanciales o el problema directamente he sido yo, pero a excepción de los relatos de la tercera parte, algo más largos y con un mensaje potente y, sobre todo, claro, que sí me han gustado, el resto me han provocado una absoluta indiferencia.
De hecho, soy incapaz de explicaros de que va esta colección, porque me ha sido imposible de sacarle nada a la mayoría de estas pequeñas historias, ni tan siquiera para entender que me querían transmitir, independientemente de que me llegaran más o menos. Casi todos me dejaban esa sensación de algo inacabado, algo sin sentido. Por lo tanto, voy a centrarme en mencionaros los tres que más me gustaron y que sí recomendaría mucho.
En primer lugar, el relato que da nombre al libro, "Asesinato en la oscuridad", en el que una curiosa narradora nos habla sobre un juego al que está jugando con un grupo de personas y el cual puede convertirse en realidad. En segundo lugar, me ha gustado mucho "Cocer a fuego lento", donde Atwood imagina un mundo donde la cocina se convierte en un lugar reservado para los hombres, y aprovecha para hacer un repaso a los ridículos roles de género de nuestra sociedad. Por último, en "Finales felices", la autora analiza como al final, por muchas decisiones que tomemos en la vida, la única verdad absoluta es la muerte, por lo que lo importante de esta son los principios, no los finales.
En definitiva, ha sido una lectura decepcionante, aunque pese a ello, he encontrado en estos relatos que sí me gustaron las mismas ideas críticas, acertadas y hasta macabras que tanto disfruté cuando leí "El cuento de la criada". Así que me voy a poner pronto con "Los testamentos" que seguro que vuelvo a remontar con la autora.
October 22, 2025
These semi biographical vignettes and prose poetry are a breath of fresh air. From five year olds making poison, voicing characters to horror comics, the game murder in the dark, simmering with the gender swap of men being the house maker to instructions for the Third Eye. Atwood’s intellectual genius for writing and humor shine through the short stories.
My favorite was Raw Materials a short story about a trip to Mexico with Maya temples including a visit to the Jaguar Throne and a cave that contains the Water God in a shallow lake.
Really enjoyed this 110 page book.
My favorite was Raw Materials a short story about a trip to Mexico with Maya temples including a visit to the Jaguar Throne and a cave that contains the Water God in a shallow lake.
Really enjoyed this 110 page book.
February 23, 2020
Thoughtful, experimental. Stories examining the nature of stories and more...
December 3, 2019
That was a surprising read. A lot of these Atwood prose texts are so genre-fluid, the "short fictions and prose poems" epithet seems almost apologetically inadequate. I would exaggerate to call all of these experiments exciting: they are dense and intense yes, poetry or at least poetic in that way. Often they seem reconfigured experiments of the same basics, and this quickly becomes as uninteresting. Also it's as often poetry tripped of its might, the distinctive poetic form strung out into prose instead of line breaks, just doesn't do for me what "proper" non-prose poems do. (Of Atwood's or otherwise. This is in fact the first time I commit to such a broad aesthetic statement. Which feels oddly relieving; but back to the book!)
Stories, her stories, when told in the way of relatable, almost tactile, palpable narrative; now those kick, or pack a punch, though in fact they struggle to do something less conventionally and metaphorically male. The sensibility of metaphor and gender sensibility come across strong as the images and ideas, no small feat. Keep telling me the story. Write a novel.
Stories, her stories, when told in the way of relatable, almost tactile, palpable narrative; now those kick, or pack a punch, though in fact they struggle to do something less conventionally and metaphorically male. The sensibility of metaphor and gender sensibility come across strong as the images and ideas, no small feat. Keep telling me the story. Write a novel.
February 14, 2023
1.5*
This really didnt work for me. Or maybe i just didnt get what was happening here. Im a huge fan of randomness but even with this i couldnt connect with it at all.
One story i liked within this sadly. That story worked well, was interesting and made huge random sence👍.
I will try something else from Atwood as i have only read another short story of hers but i loved it. Gave it 5*!
This really didnt work for me. Or maybe i just didnt get what was happening here. Im a huge fan of randomness but even with this i couldnt connect with it at all.
One story i liked within this sadly. That story worked well, was interesting and made huge random sence👍.
I will try something else from Atwood as i have only read another short story of hers but i loved it. Gave it 5*!
June 12, 2018
No le veo ningún sentido a este libro. Tal vez es que sencillamente no es para mí y espero que nadie se moleste con mi opinión. Tiene 105 páginas y es un recopilatorio de 27 relatos, algunos de los cuales solo tienen 2 páginas. Están divididos en 4 bloques y ni siquiera veo el objetivo de esa división.
La mayoría de los relatos los empecé y los acabé sin ver un verdadero argumento o reflexión. A los únicos a los que les vi algo de interés fueron a los titulados "Asesinato en la oscuridad" (habla de un juego curioso y luego le busca similitud con el mundo de los libros), "Cocer a fuego lento" (presenta un mundo en el que por tradición los hombres son los que cocinan y es raro ver a una mujer hacerlo, así que intuyo que es una crítica al estereotipo de que la mujer es la encargada de esa labor y que se vea cómo podría ser al contrario), "Novelas de mujeres" (análisis de lo que en teoría se espera de los libros de alguien en base a si están escritos por una mujer o por un hombre) y "Finales felices" (muestra cómo en teoría todas las historias acaban igual). Los demás no me preguntéis ni de qué van, porque leía y no sabía qué pretendía la autora con ellos.
Como veis, solo me gustaron ligeramente 4 de los 27 relatos, así que le voy a dar un 1/5 de valoración, si pudiera le daría un 1,5/5, pero darle un 2/5 me parece demasiado porque realmente ningún relato me dejó huella.
La mayoría de los relatos los empecé y los acabé sin ver un verdadero argumento o reflexión. A los únicos a los que les vi algo de interés fueron a los titulados "Asesinato en la oscuridad" (habla de un juego curioso y luego le busca similitud con el mundo de los libros), "Cocer a fuego lento" (presenta un mundo en el que por tradición los hombres son los que cocinan y es raro ver a una mujer hacerlo, así que intuyo que es una crítica al estereotipo de que la mujer es la encargada de esa labor y que se vea cómo podría ser al contrario), "Novelas de mujeres" (análisis de lo que en teoría se espera de los libros de alguien en base a si están escritos por una mujer o por un hombre) y "Finales felices" (muestra cómo en teoría todas las historias acaban igual). Los demás no me preguntéis ni de qué van, porque leía y no sabía qué pretendía la autora con ellos.
Como veis, solo me gustaron ligeramente 4 de los 27 relatos, así que le voy a dar un 1/5 de valoración, si pudiera le daría un 1,5/5, pero darle un 2/5 me parece demasiado porque realmente ningún relato me dejó huella.
September 25, 2018
Pues me ha costado bastante porque es complejo.
Tan sólo algunos de los relatos han estado al alcance de mi "entender lector".
He ahí mi baja puntuación.
Más, en blog: http://unablogueraeventual.com/asesin...
Tan sólo algunos de los relatos han estado al alcance de mi "entender lector".
He ahí mi baja puntuación.
Más, en blog: http://unablogueraeventual.com/asesin...
February 29, 2024
Warum dieses Büchlein oft nur mit einem Stern bewertet wird, kann ich nicht nachvollziehen. Die Kurzgeschichten und kürzeste Geschichten fand ich alle auf ihre Art Klasse. Am besten hat mir "Happy-Ends" gefallen.
February 9, 2017
I like to imagine what it would be like to wander around inside Margaret Atwood's brain. I imagine it is a rich world filled with memories, references to many facets of life, including popular culture, with filtered light and pockets of darkness.
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories and poems. Some stories didn't click with me but the stories that did draw me in, I felt an intense connection to.
The stories and prose were dark with humorous undertones. I like how she finds a balance between light and dark. That is a tension that has always fascinated me.
My favourite story was "Making Poison". I loved the vivid description of the narrator's childhood experience of making a concoction with her brother. I especially enjoyed the contrast between innocence and curiosity of the darker aspects of life:
"When I was five my brother and I made poison...We kept it in a paint can under somebody else's house and we put all the poisonous things into it that we could think of: toadstools, dead mice, mountain ash berries which may have not been poisonous but looked like it, piss which we saved up in order to add to the paint can. By the time the paint can was full everything in it was very poisonous."
This narration is followed by introspection that I felt kinda gave me the chills, as when someone articulates something you've felt but never knew how to word it:
"Why did we make 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'll never understand anything."
Another moment that I found insightful was in the story "Raw Materials" where Atwood writes: "I'm not afraid of falling: heights go to my head, I start to believe I can really fly."
I plan on reading more of her work this year.
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories and poems. Some stories didn't click with me but the stories that did draw me in, I felt an intense connection to.
The stories and prose were dark with humorous undertones. I like how she finds a balance between light and dark. That is a tension that has always fascinated me.
My favourite story was "Making Poison". I loved the vivid description of the narrator's childhood experience of making a concoction with her brother. I especially enjoyed the contrast between innocence and curiosity of the darker aspects of life:
"When I was five my brother and I made poison...We kept it in a paint can under somebody else's house and we put all the poisonous things into it that we could think of: toadstools, dead mice, mountain ash berries which may have not been poisonous but looked like it, piss which we saved up in order to add to the paint can. By the time the paint can was full everything in it was very poisonous."
This narration is followed by introspection that I felt kinda gave me the chills, as when someone articulates something you've felt but never knew how to word it:
"Why did we make 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'll never understand anything."
Another moment that I found insightful was in the story "Raw Materials" where Atwood writes: "I'm not afraid of falling: heights go to my head, I start to believe I can really fly."
I plan on reading more of her work this year.
abgebrochen-pausiert-aussortiert
March 7, 2023"Gift mischen macht ebenso viel Spaß wie Kuchen backen. Menschen mischen gern Gift. Wer das nicht begreift, wird nie etwas begreifen."
Kurzgeschichten-Bände sind selten etwas für mich. Obwohl ich einige der ersten Texte durchaus spannend finde, macht es mir gerade keine Freude, nach den Perlen zu suchen.
DNF bei Geschichte 4
Kurzgeschichten-Bände sind selten etwas für mich. Obwohl ich einige der ersten Texte durchaus spannend finde, macht es mir gerade keine Freude, nach den Perlen zu suchen.
DNF bei Geschichte 4
December 31, 2015
Das einzige, was mich an diesem Buch stört, ist der Untertitel „Horror-Trips und Happ-Ends“, weil – zusammen mit dem Titel – falsche Erwartungen geweckt werden (vermutlich eine Sünde des deutschen Verlags). Die kurzen bis sehr kurzen Geschichten (oft eine Seite, häufiger zwei bis drei) kreisen anfangs um Kindheitsimpressionen, später um Geschichten selbst, am Ende um Männer und Frauen. Die kurze Form ermöglicht es Atwood, ganz wunderbar ausgefeilte, poetische, tiefsinnige Sätze zu formulieren. Die Geschichten klingen mit ihrer eigenartigen Atmosphäre eine ganze Weile nach. Das hätte ich einer Schreiberin so dicker Romane wie Alias Grace gar nicht zugetraut.
June 14, 2015
The whole collection is brilliant, but the stories in part 3 are especially poignant and provoking -- "Simmering," "Happy Ending,"Women's Novels," and "Bread."
August 21, 2019
flash through of different memories/ new ideas/ commentaries/ stories, and I didn't like them all but who cares!! there were many lines that were so beautiful I had to write them down.
Read
July 23, 2017La edición que yo he leído y que no aparece en goodreads es, según indican en el prólogo, una selección de relatos de los libros Asesinato en la oscuridad y Buenos huesos. La contraportada de mi edición dice así:
“Atwood nos propone este libro como un juego: uno de los jugadores es el asesino; otro, el detective, otro, la victima. Se apagan las luces, se comete el crimen, el detective cuenta hasta diez, entra en la habitación y vuelve a encender las luces. Puede interrogar a todos, salvo a la víctima; todos tienen que decir la verdad, salvo el asesino (…) Un juego peligroso, pues asegura que una vez jugaron a esto seis personas normales y un poeta, y el poeta intento de verdad matar a alguien”
Nada que ver con lo que he leído, sólo hace referencia al primer cuento, que da título al libro. Hacia la mitad quería dejarlo pero al ser un libro cortito, he ido avanzando sin darme cuenta. Me siento un poco engañada. Los cuentos no están mal y hay algunos que sí me han gustado pero la mayoría no los he llegado a comprender del todo, no he encontrado un hilo conductor y no los he disfrutado como debería porque NO ES LO QUE ME HAN VENDIDO EN LA CONTRAPORTADA.
No voy a puntuar el libro porque ahora mismo no soy capaz de darle una buena nota. Posiblemente lo releeré más adelante, un cuento o dos cada día y veremos si realmente no es un libro para mí o simplemente no era el momento más adecuando para ponerme con él.
“Atwood nos propone este libro como un juego: uno de los jugadores es el asesino; otro, el detective, otro, la victima. Se apagan las luces, se comete el crimen, el detective cuenta hasta diez, entra en la habitación y vuelve a encender las luces. Puede interrogar a todos, salvo a la víctima; todos tienen que decir la verdad, salvo el asesino (…) Un juego peligroso, pues asegura que una vez jugaron a esto seis personas normales y un poeta, y el poeta intento de verdad matar a alguien”
Nada que ver con lo que he leído, sólo hace referencia al primer cuento, que da título al libro. Hacia la mitad quería dejarlo pero al ser un libro cortito, he ido avanzando sin darme cuenta. Me siento un poco engañada. Los cuentos no están mal y hay algunos que sí me han gustado pero la mayoría no los he llegado a comprender del todo, no he encontrado un hilo conductor y no los he disfrutado como debería porque NO ES LO QUE ME HAN VENDIDO EN LA CONTRAPORTADA.
No voy a puntuar el libro porque ahora mismo no soy capaz de darle una buena nota. Posiblemente lo releeré más adelante, un cuento o dos cada día y veremos si realmente no es un libro para mí o simplemente no era el momento más adecuando para ponerme con él.
March 16, 2014
I’m a big fan of Margaret Atwood, though I haven’t read anything by her since “Surfacing” many years ago. A few days ago, I was scanning my bookshelves looking for something else when I came across “Murder in the Dark” (that’s the nice thing about having a library of thousands of books; you never know what you might find). This is a thin book, 110 pages, of short fiction and prose poems—27 vignettes that deal with that many subjects, but mostly relationships between things, primarily men and women. Atwood applies her literary intelligence to things like bread, chefs, poison, books, and even a game called Murder in the Dark. I’ve read many of Atwood’s novels and poems, but this is my first read of her short prose. It’s a quick read. I think I spent more time thinking about what she wrote than I spent reading the book.
July 21, 2025
i especially liked the first part of the book
June 14, 2021
After the opening sections of autobiographical vignettes, crisp but inessential, I was ready to file this odd, somewhat heterogenous set of very short pieces away as minor Atwood. But then we reach the the conceptual heart of the book, six still short but impressively loaded essay-stories mixing feminist satire and postmodern meta reflections that at points approaching something like (to pull from much later writers) the surrealist focus of Ben Marcus' "Food Costumes of Montana" as repurposed for Joanna Walsh's essay-fictive purposes. I'm thinking especially of "Simmering" an incisive future history of how the kitchen became the domain of male work, and women shunted to the cultural margins of work outside the home, with the sensual pleasures of cooking and eating deemed unladylike. There's not much else like this -- a rich satire of the arbitrary gendering of labor and how value and cultural prescriptions are assigned based on just these arbitrary codes condensed into a few brilliant pages. This is followed by "Women's Novels", a consideration of gendered genre conceits too playful to be an essay, and "Happy Endings", a micro-encyclopedic dissection of fictional relationships. Finally, a scintillating consideration of the (infinite, hazardous) field of all literary construction, "The Page." By the time we reach the closing sequence of prose poems, the blood races with a sense of sheer possibility that they can't possibly fulfill, they become a mere coda. But for those central speculative essay-fictions, this is elevated directly from the minor and forgettable to something that absolutely must be kept close at hand.
(don't be mislead by the rating, it's really:
section 1: **
section 2: **1/2
section 3: ****1/2
section 4: ***)
(don't be mislead by the rating, it's really:
section 1: **
section 2: **1/2
section 3: ****1/2
section 4: ***)
November 7, 2018
How much I loved two of these stories: one I immediately handed over to my spouse and demanded he read ("Instructions for the Third Eye") and another has been kicking me in the gut repeatedly since I read it, so I searched around to see if I could share it with a good friend, and when I found it wasn't online anywhere I retyped the whole thing in an email ("Liking Men") with no explanation beyond attribution and just hit send.
Published in 1983, these stories could have come out today and be considered startling -- and, unfortunately for us, writing like "Liking Men" is more relevant than ever.
Docking a star on a Goodreads review for Margaret Atwood feels profoundly stupid, but I'm doing it more as a note to myself in comparison with other books of hers I've enjoyed (particularly her poetry). Some of the stories in the first and second sections of this book felt more playfully experimental where there could have been more meat, and especially paired with writing that is both experimental AND meaty in the latter sections, these felt like a meal with the main course excluded.
Published in 1983, these stories could have come out today and be considered startling -- and, unfortunately for us, writing like "Liking Men" is more relevant than ever.
Docking a star on a Goodreads review for Margaret Atwood feels profoundly stupid, but I'm doing it more as a note to myself in comparison with other books of hers I've enjoyed (particularly her poetry). Some of the stories in the first and second sections of this book felt more playfully experimental where there could have been more meat, and especially paired with writing that is both experimental AND meaty in the latter sections, these felt like a meal with the main course excluded.
July 11, 2009
The prose poems are eloquent and thought provoking and, as with "real" poetry, one has to be careful not to read them too quickly: "I forgot what things were called and saw instead what they are".
A couple of the childhood ones are charming (especially collecting all sort of dangerous things to make one big bucket of "poison", without any idea of what to use it for).
As the book progresses, the topics tend to get darker and more of them focus on the balance of power between men and women. She's wearing her "feminist" label more obviously than in other books of hers that I have read. "Simmering", is an amusing extrapolation of the effect of role reversal as men take over domestic duties, pushing women out. I liked the phrase "the man through which all men can be forgiven" in another, but many of these were too angry for my taste.
Overall, a very mixed bag, but each element is short and the whole book is slim, so it can be a quick read, or one to dip in and out of.
A couple of the childhood ones are charming (especially collecting all sort of dangerous things to make one big bucket of "poison", without any idea of what to use it for).
As the book progresses, the topics tend to get darker and more of them focus on the balance of power between men and women. She's wearing her "feminist" label more obviously than in other books of hers that I have read. "Simmering", is an amusing extrapolation of the effect of role reversal as men take over domestic duties, pushing women out. I liked the phrase "the man through which all men can be forgiven" in another, but many of these were too angry for my taste.
Overall, a very mixed bag, but each element is short and the whole book is slim, so it can be a quick read, or one to dip in and out of.
February 8, 2018
Margaret Atwood ist eine begnadete Schriftstellerin. Das steht für mich außer Frage und auch wenn mich nicht alle ihre, hier versammelten, Texte überzeugen konnten bleiben mir doch besonders die in Erinnerung, die mich berührt, gefesselt und bewegt haben.
Die Sammlung fühlt sich sehr persönlich an und es ist äußerst faszinierend den Gedanken der Autorin zu verschiedenen Themen zu folgen und die Welt durch ihre Augen zu entdecken. Dabei schafft sie mit ihren Beschreibungen kraftvolle Bilder und Umgebungen, die den Leser immer wieder mit den ungemütlichen Perspektiven des Lebens konfrontieren.
Es ist ein bisschen schade, dass ich dieses kleine Sammlung alleine gelesen habe, denn jeder Text bietet viel Platz für Interpretationen und es wäre sicher spannend gewesen andere Blickwinkel dazu zu hören. Aber, was nicht ist kann ja noch werden.
Die Sammlung fühlt sich sehr persönlich an und es ist äußerst faszinierend den Gedanken der Autorin zu verschiedenen Themen zu folgen und die Welt durch ihre Augen zu entdecken. Dabei schafft sie mit ihren Beschreibungen kraftvolle Bilder und Umgebungen, die den Leser immer wieder mit den ungemütlichen Perspektiven des Lebens konfrontieren.
Es ist ein bisschen schade, dass ich dieses kleine Sammlung alleine gelesen habe, denn jeder Text bietet viel Platz für Interpretationen und es wäre sicher spannend gewesen andere Blickwinkel dazu zu hören. Aber, was nicht ist kann ja noch werden.
November 28, 2015
Delicious!
Clever and funny and ironic and sardonic and wry. And those aren't just synonyms.
Clever and funny and ironic and sardonic and wry. And those aren't just synonyms.
August 26, 2015
Publicado en http://lecturaylocura.com/asesinato-e...
Una de las muchas asignaturas pendientes en literatura la voy a cubrir con mi reto a tres años y tiene que ver con la profundización en la carrera literaria de la canadiense Margaret Atwood; nacida en Ottawa en 1939, esta prolífica escritora y crítica, pasa por ser la más importante de Canadá junto con la más que conocida Alice Munro, que también entrará en el reto lector. En España se hizo más famosa por ganar el Príncipe de Asturias de las letras en el año 2008.
Aún así, sus obras, a estas alturas están prácticamente inencontrables, lo que tuve que buscar y rebuscar para conseguir encontrar ejemplares de “El cuento de la criada” o “El asesino ciego” (de próxima aparición en este blog). Afortunadamente, Mondadori en su sello Lumen va a lanzar ahora a finales de marzo la Biblioteca Atwood, con lo que espero que estas obras vuelvan a la palestra; es buena noticia ver algo de todo lo que tiene publicado, a pesar de que es difícil ver todo, debido a su extensión, como ocurre con la sin par Joyce Carol Oates.
Hasta este momento solo había leído algún cuento corto, así que me decidí a empezar con esta recopilación de relatos breves, poemas en prosa, miniaturas, microrrelatos, o como queramos llamarlo; antes de ponerme con sus obras de mayor enjundia. “Asesinato en la Oscuridad” engaña mucho desde su título, mucha gente podría esperar una recopilación de novelitas de misterio, pero no, la cosa no va por ahí, en las cuatro partes de las que consta encontramos relatos de todo tipo y con diversa extensión y sin apenas unión aparente; pero funciona y funciona realmente bien porque Atwood sabe perfectamente lo que tiene que hacer para que un relato funcione, cosa nada fácil, ya que es el género literario que más se acerca a la poesía y los medios que se utilicen en él no tienen nada que ver con las novelas convencionales.
En “El espectáculo de variedades del Victory”, uno de los relatos incluidos en esta pequeña antología empiezas a sentir esa hipnosis que genera su prosa:
“Una mujer empezó de espaldas al público, iluminada por el foco. Lucía unos guantes largos de color blanco y un vestido de noche con mangas negras de gasa que cuando extendía los brazos parecían unas alas membranosas. Utilizaba mucho los brazos y la espalda; pero, cuando finalmente se volvió, resultó que era una vieja. Tenía el rostro empolvado de blanco y los labios pintados de un rojo intenso, pero era una vieja. Me sentí profundamente avergonzada, la cosa ya no tenía gracia, no quería que aquella mujer se quitase la ropa, no quería mirar. Era como si fuese yo y no la mujer del escenario, quien se exhibía y humillaba. Seguro que se burlarían de ella y le gritarían barbaridades, seguro que pensarían que los habían estafado.
La mujer se bajó la cremallera del vestido negro, lo dejó caer al suelo y empezó a mover las caderas. Sonreía y entre los labios pintados de rojo brillaban unos dientes que semejaban unos guijarros de un blanco mate, ella sabía que se trata de una burla, aunque no lo pretendiese, era una broma de otra clase, pero ignorábamos quién la gastaba. La broma consistía en el hecho de que no se trataba de ninguna broma: el cuerpo de allí arriba era auténtico, estaba envejeciendo, no flotaba bajo el foco en algún lugar separado de nosotros; como nosotros, estaba atrapado en el tiempo.
El espectáculo de variedades del Victory se quedó mudo. Nadie emitió ningún sonido.”
Esa última frase refleja exactamente lo que sentí al terminarlo, el silencio reverencial ante un hecho extraño, ante algo que te saca de lo que puedes esperar y que, desde luego, te impacta, como tiene que hacer un cuento.
En el resto de historias tenemos un poco de todo, como ya he comentado, un eclecticismo patente, heredero de sus heterogéneas lecturas que abarcaron todo tipo de géneros, un afán lector que no distinguía entre “bajas” ni “altas” literaturas, sino por historias.
Me encanta cómo en “Novelas de mujeres” define cómo debería ser una novela de mujeres: “Algunas personas creen que una novela de mujeres es cualquier cosa donde no se hable de política. Algunos creen que es cualquier cosa que hable de relaciones. Algunos creen que es cualquier cosa con muchas operaciones, quirúrgicas quiero decir. Algunos piensan que es cualquier cosa que no te ofrezca una amplia visión panorámica de nuestra emocionante época. Yo…, bueno, sencillamente quiero algo que puedas dejar sobre la mesita del café sin preocuparte demasiado de que los niños lo lean. ¿Crees que no es una consideración auténtica? Te equivocas.” O cuál sería la frase que le volvería loca ver escrita en una novela: “Tenía los ojos asustados de un pájaro salvaje” Esta es la clase de frase que me vuelve loca. Me encantaría escribir semejantes frases sin avergonzarme. Me gustaría leerlas sin avergonzarme. Si pudiera hacer estas dos sencillas cosas, creo que pasaría el tiempo que se me ha asignado en esta tierra como una perla envuelta en terciopelo.”
Capaz de lirismo cuando es necesario, me vuelve especialmente loco, su forma de reflexionar en un pequeño cuento sobre la literatura, así en “Finales felices” propone un ejercicio metaficcional de plantear diferentes finales a una historia partiendo de los mismos datos; llega al final con la siguiente conclusión: “Ya basta de finales. Los principios son mucho más divertidos. Es bien sabido, sin embargo, que a los verdaderos expertos suele gustarles la parte central porque es aquella con la que resulta más difícil hacer algo.
Eso es todo lo que puede decirse acerca de los argumentos, que en cualquier caso son una cosa detrás de otra, un qué y un qué y un qué.
Ahora prueben con el cómo y el por qué.”
Cada persona que lea esta recopilación se motivará especialmente con cada uno de ellos y cualquier relectura permitirá diferentes variaciones sobre lo que pienses, esta es la riqueza de los libros; Atwood lo sabe muy bien y lo sabe transmitir como las más grandes.
No quiero alargarme más en esta reseña, es mejor que vayáis a por él y lo disfrutéis; aunque me gustaría acabar con esta frase del relato “Una parábola”: “Pregúntame más bien quién eres: cuando entras en esta habitación por la puerta que no existe, no es a mí a quien veo, sino a ti.” Al fin y al cabo, nos vemos reflejados en esa habitación que constituyen los libros de esta genial escritora canadiense.
Una de las muchas asignaturas pendientes en literatura la voy a cubrir con mi reto a tres años y tiene que ver con la profundización en la carrera literaria de la canadiense Margaret Atwood; nacida en Ottawa en 1939, esta prolífica escritora y crítica, pasa por ser la más importante de Canadá junto con la más que conocida Alice Munro, que también entrará en el reto lector. En España se hizo más famosa por ganar el Príncipe de Asturias de las letras en el año 2008.
Aún así, sus obras, a estas alturas están prácticamente inencontrables, lo que tuve que buscar y rebuscar para conseguir encontrar ejemplares de “El cuento de la criada” o “El asesino ciego” (de próxima aparición en este blog). Afortunadamente, Mondadori en su sello Lumen va a lanzar ahora a finales de marzo la Biblioteca Atwood, con lo que espero que estas obras vuelvan a la palestra; es buena noticia ver algo de todo lo que tiene publicado, a pesar de que es difícil ver todo, debido a su extensión, como ocurre con la sin par Joyce Carol Oates.
Hasta este momento solo había leído algún cuento corto, así que me decidí a empezar con esta recopilación de relatos breves, poemas en prosa, miniaturas, microrrelatos, o como queramos llamarlo; antes de ponerme con sus obras de mayor enjundia. “Asesinato en la Oscuridad” engaña mucho desde su título, mucha gente podría esperar una recopilación de novelitas de misterio, pero no, la cosa no va por ahí, en las cuatro partes de las que consta encontramos relatos de todo tipo y con diversa extensión y sin apenas unión aparente; pero funciona y funciona realmente bien porque Atwood sabe perfectamente lo que tiene que hacer para que un relato funcione, cosa nada fácil, ya que es el género literario que más se acerca a la poesía y los medios que se utilicen en él no tienen nada que ver con las novelas convencionales.
En “El espectáculo de variedades del Victory”, uno de los relatos incluidos en esta pequeña antología empiezas a sentir esa hipnosis que genera su prosa:
“Una mujer empezó de espaldas al público, iluminada por el foco. Lucía unos guantes largos de color blanco y un vestido de noche con mangas negras de gasa que cuando extendía los brazos parecían unas alas membranosas. Utilizaba mucho los brazos y la espalda; pero, cuando finalmente se volvió, resultó que era una vieja. Tenía el rostro empolvado de blanco y los labios pintados de un rojo intenso, pero era una vieja. Me sentí profundamente avergonzada, la cosa ya no tenía gracia, no quería que aquella mujer se quitase la ropa, no quería mirar. Era como si fuese yo y no la mujer del escenario, quien se exhibía y humillaba. Seguro que se burlarían de ella y le gritarían barbaridades, seguro que pensarían que los habían estafado.
La mujer se bajó la cremallera del vestido negro, lo dejó caer al suelo y empezó a mover las caderas. Sonreía y entre los labios pintados de rojo brillaban unos dientes que semejaban unos guijarros de un blanco mate, ella sabía que se trata de una burla, aunque no lo pretendiese, era una broma de otra clase, pero ignorábamos quién la gastaba. La broma consistía en el hecho de que no se trataba de ninguna broma: el cuerpo de allí arriba era auténtico, estaba envejeciendo, no flotaba bajo el foco en algún lugar separado de nosotros; como nosotros, estaba atrapado en el tiempo.
El espectáculo de variedades del Victory se quedó mudo. Nadie emitió ningún sonido.”
Esa última frase refleja exactamente lo que sentí al terminarlo, el silencio reverencial ante un hecho extraño, ante algo que te saca de lo que puedes esperar y que, desde luego, te impacta, como tiene que hacer un cuento.
En el resto de historias tenemos un poco de todo, como ya he comentado, un eclecticismo patente, heredero de sus heterogéneas lecturas que abarcaron todo tipo de géneros, un afán lector que no distinguía entre “bajas” ni “altas” literaturas, sino por historias.
Me encanta cómo en “Novelas de mujeres” define cómo debería ser una novela de mujeres: “Algunas personas creen que una novela de mujeres es cualquier cosa donde no se hable de política. Algunos creen que es cualquier cosa que hable de relaciones. Algunos creen que es cualquier cosa con muchas operaciones, quirúrgicas quiero decir. Algunos piensan que es cualquier cosa que no te ofrezca una amplia visión panorámica de nuestra emocionante época. Yo…, bueno, sencillamente quiero algo que puedas dejar sobre la mesita del café sin preocuparte demasiado de que los niños lo lean. ¿Crees que no es una consideración auténtica? Te equivocas.” O cuál sería la frase que le volvería loca ver escrita en una novela: “Tenía los ojos asustados de un pájaro salvaje” Esta es la clase de frase que me vuelve loca. Me encantaría escribir semejantes frases sin avergonzarme. Me gustaría leerlas sin avergonzarme. Si pudiera hacer estas dos sencillas cosas, creo que pasaría el tiempo que se me ha asignado en esta tierra como una perla envuelta en terciopelo.”
Capaz de lirismo cuando es necesario, me vuelve especialmente loco, su forma de reflexionar en un pequeño cuento sobre la literatura, así en “Finales felices” propone un ejercicio metaficcional de plantear diferentes finales a una historia partiendo de los mismos datos; llega al final con la siguiente conclusión: “Ya basta de finales. Los principios son mucho más divertidos. Es bien sabido, sin embargo, que a los verdaderos expertos suele gustarles la parte central porque es aquella con la que resulta más difícil hacer algo.
Eso es todo lo que puede decirse acerca de los argumentos, que en cualquier caso son una cosa detrás de otra, un qué y un qué y un qué.
Ahora prueben con el cómo y el por qué.”
Cada persona que lea esta recopilación se motivará especialmente con cada uno de ellos y cualquier relectura permitirá diferentes variaciones sobre lo que pienses, esta es la riqueza de los libros; Atwood lo sabe muy bien y lo sabe transmitir como las más grandes.
No quiero alargarme más en esta reseña, es mejor que vayáis a por él y lo disfrutéis; aunque me gustaría acabar con esta frase del relato “Una parábola”: “Pregúntame más bien quién eres: cuando entras en esta habitación por la puerta que no existe, no es a mí a quien veo, sino a ti.” Al fin y al cabo, nos vemos reflejados en esa habitación que constituyen los libros de esta genial escritora canadiense.
July 8, 2025
“ I no longer want to read about anything sad.
Anything violent, anything disturbing, anything like that. No funerals at the end, though there can be some in the middle. If there must be deaths, let there be resurrections, or at least a Heaven so we know where we are. Depression and squalor are for those under twenty-five, they can take it, they even like it, they still have enough time left. But real life is bad for you, hold it in your hand long enough and you'll get pimples and become feeble-minded. You'll go blind. “
A little disturbing, but some lines are so beautiful I had to put them above.
Anything violent, anything disturbing, anything like that. No funerals at the end, though there can be some in the middle. If there must be deaths, let there be resurrections, or at least a Heaven so we know where we are. Depression and squalor are for those under twenty-five, they can take it, they even like it, they still have enough time left. But real life is bad for you, hold it in your hand long enough and you'll get pimples and become feeble-minded. You'll go blind. “
A little disturbing, but some lines are so beautiful I had to put them above.
March 20, 2019
Margaret Atwood never disappoints, does she? She is definitely one of my favourite contemporary female writers, and this book has a lot going for it. Murder in the Dark is the name of one of the short stories included in this book but it also serves as the title for this book. If you are no stranger to Atwood's writing, you'll slide right into the writing. If you are reading something of hers for the first time, you might need a bit to get adjusted to Atwood's style. Murder in the Dark is a short story that refers to a well known game where participants guess who is the murderer. One of the players is a detective, another a murderer and one a victim. Atwood uses this game to comment on the reading process, with murderer being the writer, the victim being the reader and the detective being the critic. It is an interesting story, and the same can be said for the other stories in this collection.
What kind of book is this? A collection of prose poems and short stories that differ from one another in theme, subject and style. Nevertheless, all of them feel very much like Margaret's writing. You might say that these short stories and prose poems differ in everything but that elusive quality of brutal sincerity that defines the style of M. Atwood for me. The writing style might vary, but it is always Atwood's writing. Obviously, in a satire short story the writing will be more simple than in a poetry prose work. For instance, there is this satire story called Simmering that describes a world where the gender roles are reversed. In this future world, the men do not allow women to cook because that stands in the way of their manliness. This shows (to me at least) it is not so much roles that need to be reversed as our attitude to them. The writing in Simmering is quite simple, and the point of the story is to question gender identity. In contrast, some of the other stories are more poetic and enigmatic. However, you can always feel it's Atwood who wrote them.
Every one of these stories has its own world, beauty, logic and paradox. As I was reading them, I felt like I was sinking into a new world with each one. Seriously, it is impressive how much power such short creations have. Not the author that avoids difficult themes even in short form, Atwood kept things interesting to say at least. Themes range from a child preparing poison to women/man relationships. All in all, I would say that those who like Atwood as a novelist, will probably not be disappointed by "The Murder in The Dark". It seems the Atwood is one of those writers that transit easily from one form to another.
If I had to make a visual and personal representation of Atwood's writing style it would be one of a surgeon. I picture her mercilessly picking up some wound, blood rushing, plenty of pain and screams to go along with it- and than finding and removing the object that was berried in the flesh. I would even compare the feeling you get after reading her to that following that kind of surgical procedure. In other words, you feel a bit sick and nauseated but relived. You're relived to see what was that thing that was burning under your skin. It's better to know the truth, even if truth is ugly. That's how I would describe it.
I don't really see any agenda while I'm reading her stuff yet she makes me question everything. That is suppose what I like about her books so much. All that complexity just comes naturally in her writing. I never had the feeling Atwood is being morbid just to be morbid. Some of the stories are perhaps a bit bizarre, but there is always something behind it. There just seems to be this great desire in Atwood to get at the bottom of things, find out truths so we could arms us selves against life. That's my impression anyway.
I picked up this book in a library years ago, mostly because it was on the bookshelf near where I was sitting and because I needed to rest my hands from taking notes about something (yes, also because it was obviously a short book). While I was reading Murder in the Dark, and just about that time when I got to those stories that could be called feminist, I could hear this two men complaining about women expecting too much and then this woman hushed them up. Women complaining about man, men complaining about women- that's a familiar thing. I don't think it is what these stories that could be called feminist are about, there's about so much more-but there is that complaining part. The thing with Margaret is that she isn't afraid to dig a little deeper. It is never just about complaining. For example in her story, Liking Men you have this feeling like the author almost feels ashamed for liking man. Is this the legacy of feminism? Not being able to like men without feeling a remorse or a guilt of some kind? That's an interesting question.
As I said, it's a versatile collection of short stories and prose poems belonging to different genres - yet what ties them all together is the fact that they are written by an intelligent and gifted writer. The sort of a writer that has that sixth sense, the third eye vision or whatever you want to call it. That something is definitely there. If I remember correctly the last story is about the third eye vision, about how important it is to really see things, to have insight and that's how I would describe this book- as an insight into complexities of life. Sad, tormenting, ironic, wonderful and valuable insight. What can I say? I really like this author. Highly recommended!
What kind of book is this? A collection of prose poems and short stories that differ from one another in theme, subject and style. Nevertheless, all of them feel very much like Margaret's writing. You might say that these short stories and prose poems differ in everything but that elusive quality of brutal sincerity that defines the style of M. Atwood for me. The writing style might vary, but it is always Atwood's writing. Obviously, in a satire short story the writing will be more simple than in a poetry prose work. For instance, there is this satire story called Simmering that describes a world where the gender roles are reversed. In this future world, the men do not allow women to cook because that stands in the way of their manliness. This shows (to me at least) it is not so much roles that need to be reversed as our attitude to them. The writing in Simmering is quite simple, and the point of the story is to question gender identity. In contrast, some of the other stories are more poetic and enigmatic. However, you can always feel it's Atwood who wrote them.
Every one of these stories has its own world, beauty, logic and paradox. As I was reading them, I felt like I was sinking into a new world with each one. Seriously, it is impressive how much power such short creations have. Not the author that avoids difficult themes even in short form, Atwood kept things interesting to say at least. Themes range from a child preparing poison to women/man relationships. All in all, I would say that those who like Atwood as a novelist, will probably not be disappointed by "The Murder in The Dark". It seems the Atwood is one of those writers that transit easily from one form to another.
If I had to make a visual and personal representation of Atwood's writing style it would be one of a surgeon. I picture her mercilessly picking up some wound, blood rushing, plenty of pain and screams to go along with it- and than finding and removing the object that was berried in the flesh. I would even compare the feeling you get after reading her to that following that kind of surgical procedure. In other words, you feel a bit sick and nauseated but relived. You're relived to see what was that thing that was burning under your skin. It's better to know the truth, even if truth is ugly. That's how I would describe it.
I don't really see any agenda while I'm reading her stuff yet she makes me question everything. That is suppose what I like about her books so much. All that complexity just comes naturally in her writing. I never had the feeling Atwood is being morbid just to be morbid. Some of the stories are perhaps a bit bizarre, but there is always something behind it. There just seems to be this great desire in Atwood to get at the bottom of things, find out truths so we could arms us selves against life. That's my impression anyway.
I picked up this book in a library years ago, mostly because it was on the bookshelf near where I was sitting and because I needed to rest my hands from taking notes about something (yes, also because it was obviously a short book). While I was reading Murder in the Dark, and just about that time when I got to those stories that could be called feminist, I could hear this two men complaining about women expecting too much and then this woman hushed them up. Women complaining about man, men complaining about women- that's a familiar thing. I don't think it is what these stories that could be called feminist are about, there's about so much more-but there is that complaining part. The thing with Margaret is that she isn't afraid to dig a little deeper. It is never just about complaining. For example in her story, Liking Men you have this feeling like the author almost feels ashamed for liking man. Is this the legacy of feminism? Not being able to like men without feeling a remorse or a guilt of some kind? That's an interesting question.
As I said, it's a versatile collection of short stories and prose poems belonging to different genres - yet what ties them all together is the fact that they are written by an intelligent and gifted writer. The sort of a writer that has that sixth sense, the third eye vision or whatever you want to call it. That something is definitely there. If I remember correctly the last story is about the third eye vision, about how important it is to really see things, to have insight and that's how I would describe this book- as an insight into complexities of life. Sad, tormenting, ironic, wonderful and valuable insight. What can I say? I really like this author. Highly recommended!
September 13, 2019
Maybe I don’t understand it. Or I read it at the wrong time. Maybe it was revolutionary when it came out in 1983, but I can’t relate to it now. I just couldn’t warm up to the ‘stories’ or ‘prose poems.’ I can see the intelligent writing, Atwood’s passion and the uniqueness. But I didn’t enjoy the sometimes senseless pieces. Liked ‘Murder in the Dark’, Happy Endings, Bread and Boyfriends. Strange work, though.
January 18, 2026
Si Asesinato en la oscuridad fuese el segundo disco de una artista cuyo primer disco me había gustado bastante (lo suficiente como comprarme el segundo habiendo escuchado solo una canción en la radio), pensaría que mi dinero habría estado mejor invertido en otras cosas.
(Esta comparación revela mi edad mejor que el carbono 14 sobre mis huesos.)
(Esta comparación revela mi edad mejor que el carbono 14 sobre mis huesos.)
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