Review: Cut & Thirst by Margaret Atwood

Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis

Three women scheme to avenge an old friend in a darkly witty short story about loyalty, ambition, and delicious retribution by Margaret Atwood, the #1 bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy meet every Thursday to sample fine cheeses, to reminisce about their former lives as professors, and lately, to muse about murder. Decades ago, a vicious cabal of male poets contrived—quite publicly and successfully—to undermine the writing career, confidence, and health of their dear friend Fern. Now, after Fern has taken a turn for the worse, her three old friends decide that it’s finally time to strike back—in secret, of course, since Fern is far too gentle to approve of a vendetta. All they need is a plan with suitably Shakespearean drama. But as sweet and satisfying as revenge can be, it’s not always so cut and dried.

Review

Here’s a mini review for a mini read. Might be phoning it in a bit labeling this one has horror, but it has murder…

Another of her Amazon original short stories, I honestly love seeing these pop up randomly. The audio by Joyce Bean is pretty enjoyable, however she did give one of the old ladies a little girl voice kind of?

Years ago, one of the friends made an enemy of an up and coming writer by not including him in their anthology. The scorned writer then launched a campaign of hate that spanned an entire friend group and multiple years. 

Now, much older, and some of them even grandmothers, they tend to reminisce over drinks and cheeses…oh and discuss murder. The short story that follows is one of revenge, nostalgia, and grudges held. Atwood continues her craft with lightning quick prose and witty writing. 

They might never get all the way up to murder, but laxative filled hash brownies is awfully funny.