title: moral disorderby: margaret atwood
purpose: fun
copyright: 2006
pages: 284
chapters: 11
review: i've recently started reading more and more short stories. i'm usually a novel-type girl, but short stories often do the job in less pages and can be just as satisfying. when reading the back cover of moral disorder, i thought it would be a perfect book for me. it said that although the book consisted of short stories, they followed a life throughout the book, whether it was a boy, girl, man, woman, or even an animal.
sometimes a story line would last only for one "chapter," but other times, the same story would continue on for three or four "chapters." most stories were distinctly canadian as they discussed places and pastimes. each anecdote sucked the reader in whether it was illustrating five minutes in a character's life or spanning a lifetime. the narratives illustrated life with a simple ease. atwood discussed diseases, divorces, deaths, births, siblings, families, and experiences in a relatively detached nature. she turned herself into a sort of scientist that was examining these lives and experiences and relaying her findings to the reader. this may seem like it would make the stories cold or unfeeling, however, the opposite was true. atwood's distinct narrative allows the reader to truly place themselves in the character's shoes.
my main complaint about moral disorder was that, try as i might, i couldn't see a connection between the stories [besides where the story line continued for a few chapters]. the only connection i could find was that in one story, there was a man named tig. later in the book, a man named tig dated a woman named nell. later again, there was mention of a horse named nell. i tried to read into how these stories were all directly connected but i couldn't see it.
this was my first book by margaret atwood and i was really pleased. i loved the characters and her writing style. i would definitely read others by this canadian icon.
rating: 3/5
