This book was published several years ago, but I just came across it in the library. It's a collection of very short pieces, written from a feminist point of view ...Atwood's quirky, irreverent reactions to certain myths, fairy tales, cultural icons & assumptions. It's a quick read and a little uneven, but the good ones are brilliant.

Although this story is set in Wales rather than Scotland, and after WWII rather than during WWI, it reminds me of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song in the dreamy, place-out-of-time atmosphere its author has created.

I'm not a fan of historical fiction, but here, history is just the framework for the story. It's mostly about the characters and the setting...and is an exceptionally moving story, anti-war a subtle way.

If you require a clearly defined ending with all story lines resolved, you probably won't like it.

No real heroes or villains in this very sad story....as any based on Northern Ireland's recent history is bound to be, I suppose.

The Truth & Reconciliation Commission calls three men to testify about the circumstances leading to the death of a teenage boy. Each of these men has tried to redeem himself since his involvement with the IRA or RUC--through work, charity or love. What little suspense there is lies in not knowing if any of them will, in the end, tell the truth. The Truth Commissioner, strangely, is less interested in the truth (and less likable) than any of the guilty parties.

Beautifully written, almost poetic in its descriptions of the landscape.

A-Flat, as in the musical key . . . and a flat, as in an apartment.

A goofy, touching story about several people (and a dog) with connections to a small, ordinary apartment in NYC.

Another reviewer has compared it to the Marx brothers and the best of Seinfeld with bits of The French Connection and Serpico thrown in.

Timothy is a tortoise. She understands and speaks English---albeit in incomplete sentences. She knows some geography. She knows the thoughts, the worries and beliefs of the inhabitants of 18th century Selborne, England. She knows what goes on in their churches and their homes, even though she has presumably never entered any. She knows what takes place in winters, even though she has hibernated through every one.

Never mind!

Suspend your disbelief. Accept that Timothy is omniscient. Enjoy her descriptions and commentary. It reads like poetry, with lots of witty bits and little jabs at the absurdity of humans. This book is a rare treat, so read it slowly. There's a glossary in the back to help with the names of local areas, the obsolete and botanical terms.

BTW, The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White, which inspired this book, is available to download at Project Gutenberg. A search for "tortoise" points to several letters that mention an unnamed, old Sussex tortoise.