“Surfacing changed a lot. Bodily Harm was a pretty fast write. Handmaid’s Tale was a fast write. Lady Oracle took me a long time because there are so many people and it’s complex. I think Surfacing changed the most from beginning to end.”
“Freeforall” leaves me craving an in-a-nutshell kind of review, like this, from the author’s perspective.
Because I feel as though I can glimpse so many other aspects of MA’s writing in this story.
Sharmayne Humboldt Grey—First Mother—recalls both the monitor in “Impatient Griselda” and Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale, for instance.
But whether handing out snacks or punishments, the scenario in “Freeforall” is quite different.
“The new class of diseases had made herpes and penicillin-resistant gonorrhea and R-strain syphilis and AIDS look as innocuous as a runny nose. These viruses spread faster, they killed faster; some mutated so quickly they couldn’t even be spotted by testing.”
MARM 2025 PLANS
Launch (November 1)
Old Babes in the Wood, “Death by Clamshell” (November 4)
The Blind Assassin Parts I-IV (November 6)
Week Two: Update and Check-In (November 8)
Old Babes in the Wood, “Freeforall” (November 11)
The Blind Assassin Parts V-VI (November 13)
Week Three: Update and Check-In (November 15)
Margaret Atwood’s 86th Birthday (November 18)
Old Babes in the Wood, “Metepsychosis” (November 18)
The Blind Assassin Parts VII-IX (November 20)
Week Four: Update and Check-In (November 22)
Old Babes in the Wood, “Airborne: A Symposium” (November 25)
The Blind Assassin Parts X-XV (November 27)
Wrap-Up (November 30)
If MA had wanted to write an apocalyptic story, she would have set it there. But there’s a catch:
“Men or women could carry them for years, undetected, spreading them everywhere.”
So we move into the realm of the dystopian tale, and the focus is on how society changes in response to an apocalyptic event.
It’s also, however, like Elizabeth Moon’s most excellent novel Remnant Population, about ageing and expectations of women as years accumulate and their bodies change.
“Bride of Frankenstein shoes, she called them—orthopaedic to the point of despair—but she was well past breaking her neck for vanity.”
The story is a little less voice-y than some in this collection, a little more story instead. Even so, the story progresses at a distinct pace: “Left foot, cane, right foot, pause.”
It’s the concept which appeals most (despite its short length, she deftly answers the typical questions readers pose about this kind of situation: how, when, now what?). But in the end, I found myself concerned about the outcome for a couple of characters, introduced in the final pages.
And perhaps this is the work of more characterization for First Mother than I initially perceived. (Because she is the one we “know”, these others arrive late on the scene.)
She has seen so many bodies move through the halls and corridors of her domain, she has arranged for the future of so many young people. But these two introduced at the end do seem to matter, at least a little. Their fertility matters, at least—in “Freeforall”.
Which reminds me of “Miss July Grows Older”**:
“Don’t get me wrong: with the lights out
I’d still take on anyone,
if I had the energy to spare.
But after a while these flesh arpeggios get boring,
like Back over and over;
too much of one kind of glory.
When I was all body, I was lazy.
I had an easy life, and was not grateful.
Now there are more of me.
Don’t confuse me with my hen-leg elbows;
what you get is no longer
what you see.”
Last week I was revisiting, via interviews, the climate for women emerging as writers in the creative scene in the ‘60s and ‘70s and, now, I am struck by the fact that MA is still insisting that the view and understanding of women be broadened, to afford ageing woman a space in prose and verse.
Hen-leg elbows and all.
*Bonnie Lyons Shenandoah 37 (1987)
**Morning in the Burned House (1995)
Margaret Atwood
“You can’t stick a person in the woods and expect them to become a writer.”
November 6, 2025 CBC’s “The Current”
“what you get is no longer what you see” is such a wonderful description of Margaret Atwood. She looks elegant and fragile, but her mind is sharp. She’s still witty and pointed and very much engaged with the world and not afraid to comment. I’ve only just discovered you’re running MARM. I’ll try to write a post, but I’m running out of November!
Happy you found your way here, Sarah, and don’t worry about the days of November moving too fast, we’re a patient and understanding bunch!
She is more consistently and passionately engaged with the world than many who are half her age, a quarter of her age even, eh? Inspiring.
“I am struck by the fact that MA is still insisting that the view and understanding of women be broadened, to afford ageing woman a space in prose and verse.” What will we do when she is no longer here?
I’m interested that this is another dystopian story. I’ve forgotten, is Old Babes in the Wood a collection of stories gathered over a long period? Or, a collection written specifically for publication as a collection? I’m guessing the former, which makes me ask, when was this particular story written?
With her earlier collections, the stories were written over longer periods; with OBitW, the stories were all written in a relatively recent and restricted time period, although there is a link with the Tig and Nell stories which began in the collection Moral Disorder (but time has passed for them, as a couple, too, so it feels very “now”). I’ll watch for more information about them, as I read on with her memoir!
“hen-leg elbows” !!!
Did you read or review some of Old Babes in the Woods before? I seem to recall you talking about it on this blog before, but I could be getting mixed up…
Right?! You know it.
I’ve been reading a story a week during MARM since it was published, so I will finish them next November, at this rate.
This has really faded from my memory, I need to re-read! I’d really like to look at Surfacing again too, I remember it made such an impression on me when I first read it as a teenager.
I think maybe Helen is reading that one now or, at least, she was planning to. So of course, whatever anyone else is reading for MARM, I also immeadiately want to read too.
The situation must be very similar for women in Africa nursing AIDS patients. (And of course, like her other ‘predictions’, the GOP are doing their best to make it true in America),
It’s interesting to see her balance the familiar experience (for many, in some capacity, at least) of caregiving, with the slightly-off-kilter alternative world that’s adjacent to our own but not quite our own. (It was reassuring to see the SC*TUS strike down the challenges to the same-sex marriage law this week, but the erosion of queer and reproductive rights continues via other avenues.)