These stories, “Stone Mattress” and “Torching the Dusties,” were some of the stranger stories in the collection, but both continued the themes of unlikable men and old people that have been present in almost every story so far.

Death threats have been present throughout the collection, but a character finally cracks and becomes violent, and I think it was good to put that towards the end of the book, and then the story about burning down a retirement home also should probably go near the end. The stories become more and more chaotic as they go along, and it makes a lot of sense for the placement of the stories. It would be a bit of a letdown if the book itself began with a story about a violent protest movement and then moved backwards to a woman sitting alone in her house during a storm.

There were some great moments of humor in these stories, though, which was a nice break from the darker aspects of them. One of my favorite lines was from “Stone Mattress.” It says, “some have females attached to them and she eliminates them on principle: why work harder than you need to?” (202). I thought that line was just funny, and humor is always nice to keep things interesting.

We had two very different female protagonists in these two stories, Verna and Wilma, and I imagine that was intentional. Both were older women who were interacting with an older man, but they were so different. Verna, obviously, was a murderer, but Atwood still managed to make her seem like a bustling old woman out for a cruise. She also still makes Verna sympathetic, I think, despite the plot, because of Verna’s circumstances. Wilma was much more likable. She understands why people hate her generation; she recognizes the shortcomings of Tobias; she believes in climate change — all of these things make her seem open-minded and likable.

Tobias was unlikable in so many ways. He was pretentious and controlling, manipulative and possibly a murderer. But he takes good care of Wilma throughout the story. The ending, of course, reinforces our negative view of him, but he takes Wilma with him. He escorts her to the dining hall and then home again every day. This makes him a much more interesting character than had he been purely evil.

Bob was barely present in the story. He comes across as a pushy old man the few moments that we see of him in a scene, but most of the reason why the reader dislikes him is because of the stories that Verna tells about him. He’s definitely not likable, but if we simply saw him at face value, talking about his wife and kids, we’d probably like him. That then brings into question the reliability of Verna as a narrator. She is the only reason we hate him. Are we justified in that hate? I think the text indicated to me that I could trust it and trust Verna’s version of the truth, but it is a question I had while reading.