I found this an entertaining but hard to define type of story. Friendship, loyalty, revenge, karma, and the cruelty of aging and illness are all addressed in some way. Despite this, the tone is fairly light-hearted making it easy to devour and digest. ( )

The Publisher Says: Three women scheme to avenge an old friend in a darkly witty short story about loyalty, ambition, and delicious retribution by Margaret Atwood, the #1 bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Myrna, Leonie, and Chrissy meet every Thursday to sample fine cheeses, to reminisce about their former lives as professors, and lately, to muse about murder. Decades ago, a vicious cabal of male poets contrived—quite publicly and successfully—to undermine the writing career, confidence, and health of their dear friend Fern. Now, after Fern has taken a turn for the worse, her three old friends decide that it’s finally time to strike back—in secret, of course, since Fern is far too gentle to approve of a vendetta. All they need is a plan with suitably Shakespearean drama. But as sweet and satisfying as revenge can be, it’s not always so cut and dried.

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT FROM THE PRIME LENDING SERVICE. USE THEM OFTEN, THEY PAY AUTHORS FOR OUR USE.

My Review: Revenge fantasies are having A Moment, aren't they? When the cautionary-tale-teller par excellence feels called to speak nasty vengeful thoughts, you know critical mass...even a tipping point...has arrived.

May I ask of the hive mind what it is with Thursdays and old people? I'm old, and I have no special thoughts or feelings about Thursdays in regards to socializing with my peers. Did y'all pick it because it alliterates with good, violent words like "thuggery" or something? Nothing about this iteration of the current fantastical storytelling fad stands out...humor's blah, plot's as incredible as any of the others out there...either pro or con. Fills some time, and Atwood's bank account. That's fine. But I won't do it again. ( )

Overall, this story did not work for me. The story is well written. I wanted a lighter story, and felt like I had to work too much to keep track of which character was talking, even though each name was clearly identified. Also, the first third of the story was the characters interacting, alluding to the subject of the story and not getting to the explanation until after that. That was too long, and frustrating, for me. The situation was not interesting to me, as well as how the characters were handling their situation, so that also affected my rating.
— Rebecca ( )

A free kindle read from Amazon's First Reads program. A short story about a group of elderly women friends meet weekly to reminisce on their lives. During these gatherings, they plot to get revenge on the group of writers to ruined the career of one of their friends. They find it's easy to talk about devious plans, but its harder and has unintended consequences when you act on them. Pretty decent story. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this short story featuring three retired professors who meet weekly to reminisce about their lives and careers over cheese and their beverage of choice. Their discussions turn to the topic of one of their common friends, Fern, a writer who was targeted in a coordinated effort instigated by a fellow writer to ruin her literary career years ago. The friends believe that this incident created a situation that exacerbated exacerbated her declining health. We follow them as they go about devising a plan to avenge their friend (who is unaware of their intentions). As they weigh their options with meticulous precision, it soon becomes evident that framing and executing a foolproof plan might prove to be a tad more complicated than they had anticipated.

Touching upon themes of aging, friendship, loyalty, revenge and professional jealousy Cut and Thirst by Margaret Atwood, is a quick entertaining read. I loved the banter between the friends (strong Golden Girls vibes!). With sharp dialogue, more than a few laugh-out-loud moments and interesting characters, this short story is perfect if you’re looking for a palate cleanser or just a good laugh in between more serious reading. Don’t overthink this one and just enjoy the ride!

This short story was my Amazon First Reads choice for April 2024. ( )