REVIEW:

Here you have a 2022 collection of 50+ astute, yet sometimes overly-wordy, writings from Margaret Atwood that attempt to answer burning questions such as: Q: Is she still alive? A: Yes!

This roundup includes:

• Speeches she’s given on various societal concerns (eg global warming).
• Book reviews and dissection of the works by authors such as Stephen King, L.M. Montgomery, and Simone de Beauvoir.
• Thoughts on the writing craft.

This is a book that should be purchased and set on your nightstand, picked up from time-to-time when you want to read a little something before bed without having to commit to a long-form plot.

Unfortunately I listened to the audiobook, which was kind of weird since it’s narrated by a bevy of random people. Odd to hear a famous voice like Atwood’s replaced by a dude with an accent, for example. Plus, at 19 hours, that’s just a long time to be listening to a spew of essays all in one go.

Burning Questions was a 3-star book for me, but I’m rounding it up a full star cuz clearly I did it wrong.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

This brilliant selection of essays—funny, erudite, endlessly curious, uncannily prescient—seeks answers to Burning Questions such as:

• Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories?
• How much of yourself can you give away without evaporating?
• How can we live on our planet?
• Is it true? And is it fair?
• What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism?

In over fifty pieces Atwood aims her prodigious intellect and impish humor at the world, and reports back to us on what she finds. The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic. From debt to tech, the climate crisis to freedom, from when to dispense advice to the young (answer: only when asked) and how to define granola, we have no better guide than Atwood to the many and varied mysteries of our universe.