Margaret Atwood's The Tent: A Book Review

Margaret Atwood’s 2006 flash fiction collection The Tent delivers poignant prose, witty logic, and comedic reflections. While it is hard to discuss the collection as a unit, each piece comes in under a thousand words each and thus is perfect for single serving fiction. That said, Atwood accomplishes a great deal of work in a small space, packing a poetic, economical punch in prose form. Whether it is reimaging fairy tales as the orphans within them react to their predicaments, exploring the inner workings of not just a warlord but those who live in a warlord’s society, or discussing the species names we have thrust on animals from their point of view, Atwood never fails to make the read ponder, consider, and in most cases laugh. Reviewing a collection of short stories is always difficult—but this collection is not lacking in either complexity or enjoyment and will make a great compliment to anyone’s library.