(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Carried Away is a dazzling selection of stories–seventeen favorites chosen by the author from ac... read full description
Carried Away is a dazzling selection of stories–seventeen favorites chosen by the author from ac... read full description
reviews
Jan 01, 2010
Bruce
rated it: 
In this collection of seventeen short stories, Alice Munro, the incomparable Canadian author, has woven her usual magic. Each narrative can be read in no more than an hour, yet each story lingers in the reader’s mind for days afterward. The last story in the collection, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” was the basis for the recent critically acclaimed Julie Christie movie, “Away From Her.”
Many, perhaps most, of the stories revolve around a woman somewhat at the margins of her soc More...
Many, perhaps most, of the stories revolve around a woman somewhat at the margins of her soc More...
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Jul 09, 2009
Wightknyte11
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Munro writes marvelously complex stories. The stories that can be read over and over again without getting bored because there is always something more. I'm fascinated by the way she can weave together so many disparate threads without deviating from the story at all. Rather than jumping around, the story drives forward. Very emotionally complex as well. Munro really gets inside her characters heads, but is in absolute control as to what goes on in there. The stories are completely packed
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Jun 20, 2010
Lillian
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Alice Munro the very gifted writer of short stories has chosen eighteen of her favorites and compiled them into this astounding collection. My favorite of course is the title selection about the World War I soldier whose letters from the front to a small-town librarian change her life forever. Munro’s skill has her characters being surprised at their own predicaments. She is insightful, compassionate and tender with all of our human frailties.
Language, language, language! (50%)
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Language, language, language! (50%)
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Jul 30, 2011
Josh
rated it:
To read an Alice Munro short story is to allow yourself to be totally transported to an elevated awareness of human nature and go "I know how that feels". The amazing thing about Munro is her ability to put into words (that are both precise and concise) emotions and demeanours that we are familiar with, but which we have not been able to articulate (at least for this reader).
Because of its compact nature, I find myself thrown headlong into a Munro story from the very first sentence an More...
Because of its compact nature, I find myself thrown headlong into a Munro story from the very first sentence an More...
Jan 09, 2010
Daniel
rated it:
What a lovely collection of stories. I had not read Munro before this. Her work is clear and consistent. She tells stories of ordinary people having ordinary lives in Ontario, mostly in small towns or even farms. She tells these stories without pretense so it seems easy to enter into them and inhabit them for a time. I really enjoyed the last story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain. It is about a couple who married young and stayed married through everything. The wife has difficulty rememb
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Jul 03, 2011
Don
rated it: 
I should have known from the beginning I wouldn't like this collection as the foreword was written by Margaret Atwood and I don't like Atwood. But, I gave it a try and found it to be rather boring. Most of the stories are pretty similar in tone and feel and in the fact that nothing much ever seems to happen. They're more "slices of life" vignettes than stories, which gets tedious. The last story in the collection was the best one, so at least the collection ended on a good note.
Oct 08, 2008
Anders
rated it:
What a book. Munro's short stories are powerful: that perfect balance of resonant emotional truth and a stoic, dry succinctness. She's got a knack for letting you really inhabit a distinct emotional tableau just long enough to get attached to the characters and be slaughtered by what then happens in the story. Many of the stories featured in this book required a few minutes of closed-eyed, slow-breathing reflection in order to turn the page to the next story. She's Canadian, and I can't really f
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Dec 14, 2011
Rachelheavers
rated it:
Wow.
Margaret Atwood told me to read this book, in the introduction to this book, but it certainly didn't prepare me to like this book as much as I do.
Alice Munro is the perfect women's author. There are people in my real life that I understand better because of the people she creates, dissects and explains in the not-real world of her stories.
Wander through my day thinking about things I read the night before, the best possible endorsement.
Margaret Atwood told me to read this book, in the introduction to this book, but it certainly didn't prepare me to like this book as much as I do.
Alice Munro is the perfect women's author. There are people in my real life that I understand better because of the people she creates, dissects and explains in the not-real world of her stories.
Wander through my day thinking about things I read the night before, the best possible endorsement.
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Dec 05, 2010
Kelly
rated it:
Alice Munro is amazing and I say this even after I've been assigned to use her stories for my English final. She has an extremely wonderful way with poignancy and all of her stories are an absolute pleasure to read.
Mar 02, 2010
Ngan
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My first time reading Munro's work. The rating should really be 3.5. I love her stories and style (love her female characters). Will be reading her other writings.
Mar 17, 2007
Mark
rated it:
"'The Bear Came Over the Mountain' entered my life when I was twenty-one years old. It crept right into me, had its way with me, and shifted my direction in ways I didn't understand until years later. I am not an academic, nor am I a writer. (I don't consider the adaptation of other people's stories serious writing.) So I feel ill equipped to complete the task of writing this preface from any but a purely personal point of view. However, I believe that, without risking overstatement, I have
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Apr 25, 2010
Linda
rated it:
A short story collection that makes me oh-so-grateful for my new book club and yearning for a college literature class.
Oct 14, 2010
Jason
rated it:
alice munro is a godd*mn ninja. didn't read everything in this best-of, but favorites included "the beggar maid," "carried away," and "save the reaper."
Feb 25, 2009
David
rated it:
Munro writes marvelously complex stories. The stories that can be read over and over again without getting bored because there is always something more. I'm fascinated by the way she can weave together so many disparate threads without deviating from the story at all. Rather than jumping around, the story drives forward. Very emotionally complex as well. Munro really gets inside her characters heads, but is in absolute control as to what goes on in there. The stories are completely packed
More...
Dec 17, 2009
Shannon
rated it:
I've always been a little skeptical of some people's passionate adoration of all things Munro, because I thought they might like the idea of her better than the actual stories. But after committing to this big ol' anthology of some of her best, I have to admit that I was wrong. She gets it so right sometimes that she made me feel a little exposed. Some of my favorites--The Beggar Maid, Vandals, Runaway.
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Oct 08, 2011
Kurt
rated it:
I had heard that Alice Munro was an exceptional writer, and being in the mood for short stories (for which she is especially acclaimed) I decided to read some of her works.
I only read three stories from this collection: "Carried Away", "Friend of My Youth", and "Moons of Jupiter." All were well written and pleasures to read. The title story, Carried Away, was especially good.
I only read three stories from this collection: "Carried Away", "Friend of My Youth", and "Moons of Jupiter." All were well written and pleasures to read. The title story, Carried Away, was especially good.
Apr 23, 2008
Alexis
rated it:
I guess I was spoiled by Runaway, which is a perfectly concise collection, so that this one felt a little sprawling to me. But of course it's gorgeous. Great for fans of Munro who want to take everything she's ever written on a trip to tahiti but who are you kidding, you can only fit one book. It's something of a greatest hits.
Nov 05, 2008
John
rated it:
Alice Munro has been called"The Canadian Chekov", and after reading this exquisite collection of stories, I understand why. The mysteries of the human heart are observed and illuminated by Munro's encyclopedic knowledge and imagination. If you like short stories, don't miss this these.
Oct 01, 2008
Josh
rated it:
The utterly precise nature of Munro's language and characterizations were off-putting to me at first, leaving me feeling cold and detached. As I acclimated to her style, however, her stories began to reveal themselves to me as they really are: exact, intentional, subtle, and perfect.
Jul 03, 2011
George
rated it:
Munro is a short story master, I am very impressed with her abilty to create a realistic, surprising world, a world like the one I live in. I care about the characters and am not sure what they will do in all their delightful humanity.
Jul 23, 2009
Josh
rated it:
I read "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" as part of my Oscar run this year and decided to just keep plugging away. So far I've read "Royal Beatings" and "The Beggar Maid." Both short stories are fantastic.
Dec 17, 2009
Laura
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I realized halfway through that I'd read the book before and that's why it was so familiar. I liked it very much the first time around, and the second I thought it was just okay.
Sep 05, 2007
Kyla
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I can say nothing bad about Alice, nope. Not the liveliest assemblage though - perhaps not the best volume for First Time Munro-ers. Fans and completists only.
May 10, 2008
The pages off this book are biblically thin, preventing a future convert from ever being enlightened. But then, perhaps it's for the best.
Jul 16, 2007
Alice
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A captivating and engaging series of short stories. Alice munroe is easily one of the most talented short story writers of our time.
Aug 27, 2008
Corey
rated it:
This was my introduction to her. I know I'm late to the party. She is sublime, truly one of the greatest writers alive.
