Bluebeard's Egg and Other Stories

From AudioFile This collection of Atwood short stories is peopled by observant, sensitive souls who yearn to make connections but almost always come up short. The stories are all intimately interior, exploring the secret places all of us harbor that ultimately isolate one from another. We meet characters with heightened self-awareness but not enough self-knowledge to attain what they most want. Hurren doesn't attempt to give distinctive voice to these people, but she infuses each with intelligence and perception. Her reading is silken, keeping attention on Atwood's lyrical description and surprising insightfulness. M.O. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine From Library Journal In this delightful collection of short stories, Atwood (The Blind Assassin) explores relationships between men and women, parents and children, and people and pets. She also touches on anorexia and adult children of elderly parents. In typical Atwood fashion, the characters and locations are described in detail. Bonnie Hurren transports the listener into the author's world with her excellent pronunciation and slow, well-paced intonation. Each cassette stops at a convenient point in the story rather than whenever the tape ends. While this requires the listener to fast-forward each tape before changing sides, it makes it easier to follow the story line. Recommended for popular fiction collections and any library serving Atwood fans. Laurie Selwyn, San Antonio P.L. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.