I found the story “I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth” most interesting because Charis believes her dog, Ouida, is Zenia reborn into a new, more animal body. Charis thinks only about what Zenia could be: Spanish, a singer, her dog. (157) It’s all very strange–the vampire films, the ex-boyfriend drowned in Lake Ontario– all of it.

I also found it really interesting that this story, while it is about the loss of a friend, is also very much about the after — about the things we tell ourselves after having lost. Charis is struggling with having lost a friend. Even Tony and Roz feel bad for her. (So much so they gift her Ouida, the dog we learn about in the beginning of the story.) They’re concerned, even, about her living in Parkdale — a neighborhood which, according to Tony, is rampant with drug dealers. (163)

I liked the relationship between the three women in the story. Each woman is distinct in her own way. I’m interested, because Atwood is older, if she is writing from her own perspective. This story, as others have mentioned, is far more imaginative than others we’ve read, fantastical even.