I get the feeling from this collection that Ms. Atwood is feeling her mortality. Unsurprising really, since she is in her early eighties and has fairly recently lost her main partner in crime, Graeme Gibson. I am sure she would protest vehemently, but I can't help but see the final section of the book (Tig & Nell) as a way of processing her feelings about Graeme's death. One of the stories (the one with the vulture migration) is something I heard her relate as a personal experience in a radio interview. And, yes, I know writers mine their personal lives for fictional details, but still….
I have enjoyed Atwood's fiction for as long as I can remember. I was a bit dismayed after the first section of this collection, when I didn't connect at all with Nell & Tig. What relief when I moved on to My Evil Mother, which was delightful. I also enjoyed her imagined interview with the shade of George Orwell. The middle section was the Atwood that I remember. The third section returns to Nell, now a widow and having to deal with Tig's absence. The natural history details appealed to me here. No doubt some are personal memories from growing up with Atwood's biologist father and living in the field.
I can't give this an unalloyed 4 star rating. For me, it is more 3 ½ stars, but I am still pleased to have read it.
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