Po(sey) Sessions

It only took one poem and one short story to make Margaret Atwood one of my favorite authors. The first novel I read of hers was also a complete hit. But the rest of the novels I have read and have attempted to read I have not enjoyed to the same extent. The way that Atwood floats words across the page mesmerizes me. The opening of Oryx and Crake overwhelmed me. There were many elements I enjoyed about it. The idea of a creation myth, the word choice, the oscillating narratives between the young and old perspectives of the same character. I had such a hard time getting into the world presented in Oryx and Crake . Again I am faced with a destroyed world and the people within it struggling for survival. Why am I so obstinent that I resent stories like this when they are a huge portion of science fiction and dystopian fiction? But I can’t make myself like it and I can’t make myself over look it. “We want wisdom. We want hope. We want to be good. Therefore we sometimes tell ourse...

Although an award winner, Exodus has too many elements and too many slow parts for me to really enjoy it. Julie Bertagna weaves together a lot of elements to create this story with an almost Alice like feel. Mara’s island is about to disappear underwater. “In 1999, a snippet of news that should have stopped the world in its tracks caught my eye. Two South Pacific islands had disappeared under the sea .” While still on her island Mara is able to access the remnants of this internet with a special device. One day she “falls through” the web and it occurs to her that her village much go search for another place to live. As her journey continues Mara moves from one odd group of people to another, much like a journey through Wonderland. It takes too long for Mara to be able to move into action. She wanders between groups of people aimlessly until she is drawn up into the great city where she finally has the ability to do something. But all of her time outside the city still se...