That’s one they’ve pulled from the local collection unfortunately (and I couldn’t spot it on the sale cart) but I will watch.

I’ve definitely missed with Yoshimoto a few times, where her sleek and spare prose fell flat; I think she’s consistent, I think sometimes I’m just not in the right mood.

Even though you, no doubt, have dozens of other choices. /grins I get it.

Context is everything, and just as she was writing out of her time, we are reading in ours, so it’s only fair to acknowledge both, I would say?

I’ll keep your questions in mind as I read on, but so far it feels as though she is writing more out of a sense of having recognised a gap and of the young publisher (at that time) being poised to fill such gaps and make a mark for CanLit on the literary map. But including the prices does say to me that she was thinking of other young teachers/professors who shared that goal more than, say, the casual reader? I don’t think most Atwood readers at the time were as interested in Suvival as they were in her novels…they just kinda looked past it.

Ohhhh, that would be a very interesting comparison. I’ve found a copy on the Internet Archive (and there are some of her others there as well, a few). It does seem to be more of a historical source, less bookish, but I still think it would be useful. (And her other books look interesting too. I think she’s one of the short story writers included in Babes in the Wise too.)

Soemtimes I have ended up reading the wrong “last” book by an author (wrong for me, I mean) but, in this case, it worked out well. It feels all-of-a-piece with her other books.

Sounds perfect! Which was the other book (by an Uruguayan author I think?) which we have had in mind in that loose, someday sorta way? You have a copy already, and I had been hoping to ILL it, but that didn’t work: I’ll order a copy instead. As soon as you name it, I’m going to be rolling my eyes at having forgotten it again.

Timing is everything, I think, and maybe this is the year when it’s right for you and The Blind Assassin. I’m a big fan of trying again… with life and with books!

I so loved Kitchen, but when I tried Yoshimoto again with The Premonition, it didn’t work out for me.

I wish I had an Oates novella on hand!