This is a fun and entertaining short story from the wonderful Margaret Atwood that dwells on revenge and its complexities. Three distinctly different elderly women, former academics, Myrna, Leonie and Chrissy, meet weekly, to partake of cheeses and chat, and their thoughts run to memories of their past, their lovely friend, Fern, not doing well. as they discuss how they might avenge what happened to her. A group of male poets long ago had openly targeted her, intent on undermining her and her writing. This is a quick, witt,y and dramatic read, albeit far too short, that fans of the author and other readers are likely to enjoy. Many thanks to Amazon Original Stories for an ARC.

Cut and Thirst is a short literary fiction by the beloved Margaret Atwood. It is a humourous tale about retired women in the literary world planning revenge against some men who conspired to tarnish the image of a friend. Quite interesting. Thank you, Netgalley, for giving me this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

highly entertaining and undeniably witty, i just love it when women gather together to plan a murder to avenge their friend! <3

This short story captures the best I remember of Atwood’s longer works - relevant, thought provoking and beautifully written. This piece made me think about perspective, vengeance and the impact of the passing of time on both. I loved the characters and how she described them. In just a few words, she brought them to life and even the smallest detail of their footwear made them so colourful.

Cut & Thirst is a short story about four friends, now retired, reflecting back on a wrong that was done to one of them years in the past.

I enjoyed the fast-paced conversations of the friends as they enjoy each other’s company and plot revenge over drinks and cheese. This story was a quirky view into a lifelong friend group and overall fun read.

Cut and Thirst is a great title, but unfortunately I found the story dull. The writing style wasn't my favourite: too much dialogue. Could've been punchier.

Margaret Atwood spins a darkly comedic tale of friendship, aging, and unexpected revenge. The story tracks a trio of elderly women as they grapple with the challenges of growing older and seek justice against men for past grievances against their friend. This short story delves into the complexities of human relationships, regret, the passage of time, and revenge. Odd and clever.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the advanced copy.

Hmmm…I kept thinking there was a big point to this, but never really found it. Some small bits of humor, enjoyed the friendships. Could have been better.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Well written short story by top notch author, Margaret Atwood. It was fun to see how the older ladies sought revenge.

This book was just odd. If it hadn’t been so short I wouldn’t have finished it. It seemed disorganized and just didn’t make sense much of the time.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Cut and Thirst releases May 1, 2024

In this short story, a group of 3 women plan to exact revenge on behalf of their friend, Fern, by murdering men that did her wrong in their early writing days.

This was very dialogue heavy and pretty lackluster plot wise.
I think if you’re holding grudges that long into your old age and spending so much of your time on things that no longer matter, you need to reevaluate your life.

Three old ladies meet up for their weekly lunches and use the time to plot multiple murders to avenge their friend’s honour.

The trouble is they want the deaths to see accidental and non suspicious to the police, yet they want the victims to know who did it and exactly why they had it coming…

The trio have an excellent way of making things a little more complicated than necessary with their outlandish schemes.

Unfortunately despite the witty humour, this one just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Thank you to Margaret Atwood, Amazon short stories and NetGalley for the EARC!

Publish date: May 1st 2024.

Cut & Thirst is a short tale of loyalty and revenge. Margaret Atwood's writing style and characters are as always amazing, but karma makes it even better! Quick read, but quite entertaining as the old gals work through their revenge plan.

Thank you, NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories, for an early copy of Cut & Thirst in exchange for an honest review.

2.8 "ummm well....ummm well"

Thanx to Netgalley, the author and Amazon Original Stories for an ecopy. This is released today May 1st 2024. I am providing an honest review.

Well written. A bit funny. Old privileged white ladies planning revenge on some old white privileged men (mostly white anyway). A mildly pleasant diversion with a fair bit of eye rolling. I was grateful that it was so short so I can't quite rate it a full three....

Far from the best of Maggie but also far from her worst....

Three old friends who gather every week discuss the men who ruined their fourth friend's life and decide they should do something about it. The plot (deciding what form of revenge would be best, what order to deal with the perpetrators, which ones actually deserve to be punished) was less interesting that reading from the perspective of an older woman and her interactions with her friends. Interwoven through every interaction are the main characters' insecurities and comparisons to her contemporaries, men, and to her younger self.

I went in expecting a short story about murder but it felt much more about aging, friendship, and how we deal with past traumas in the present. Definitely a short, entertaining read. Thank you to NetGalley, Amazon, and the publisher for a complimentary copy.

Karma’s a bitch, but getting old is worse.

Thanks to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is a short story by Margaret Atwood. It's about three older women, who meet once a week to have drinks, snacks and reminisce about their pre-retirement days working as professors and authors.
They have decided to get revenge for their fourth friend Fern, who was targeted in a smear campaign decades ago.
This story was about lasting friendships, about karma, and about aging.
This was very well written. I could picture the older lady plotting, and thought "huh could this be me and my book club gals in 40 years?"
I appreciated the references to Shakespeare, the references to working in academia and the strong female characters and their camaraderie
Throughout I kept imagining Margaret Atwood herself as one of the characters, and her putting her own life in small ways into the story, which I appreciated.
I definitely read this with a funny undertone, and didn't take it too seriously. I would suggest the same going in, as I enjoyed it.
I would recommend for any fans of Margaret Atwood.

A rambling short story without any discernible plot follow through.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.