The incomparable Alice Munro’s bestselling and rapturously acclaimed Runaway is a book of extraordinary stories about love and ...
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Jan 08, 2010
brian
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in 1997, the reigning king of redonda, a tiny island & micronation in the bahamas, was so moved by superstar spanish writer javier marias's novel todas las almas that he abdicated the throne and handed it to marias. weird shit. so marias confers the title of 'duke' and 'duchess' to certain people, amongst them:
john ashbery (duke of convexo)
pedro almodovar (duke of trémula)
frank gehry (duke of nervión)
w.g. sebald (duke of vértigo)
guillermo cabrera infante (duk More...
john ashbery (duke of convexo)
pedro almodovar (duke of trémula)
frank gehry (duke of nervión)
w.g. sebald (duke of vértigo)
guillermo cabrera infante (duk More...
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May 07, 2011
Paul
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Here's what Jonathan Franzen said about this book in the NY Times Book Review:
Basically, Runaway is so good that I don't want to talk about it here. Quotation can't do the book justice, and neither can synopsis. The way to do it justice is to read it.
But here's what Michiko Kakutani says about it in the NY Times:
Instead of assuming the organic, musical form of real life, they feel like self-conscious, overworked tales, relying on awkwardly withheld secrets and More...
Basically, Runaway is so good that I don't want to talk about it here. Quotation can't do the book justice, and neither can synopsis. The way to do it justice is to read it.
But here's what Michiko Kakutani says about it in the NY Times:
Instead of assuming the organic, musical form of real life, they feel like self-conscious, overworked tales, relying on awkwardly withheld secrets and More...
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May 08, 2008
Susan
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Short stories can be deeply unsatisfying. Too often the nuance overshadows character and plot development, as if the author is cruelly trying to offer the reader a tiny taste of a story before yanking it away again. No so with Alice Munro. She writes with such simplicity and economy and mystery. The mystery arises from the way that she presents each story--just a few words at the outset, perfectly descriptive, but never overly so. And then the rest of it is just like (**alert**be prepared
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Aug 26, 2008
Shair
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Alice Munro is an amazing short story writer. Runaway is yet another example of her mastery of the craft. Realistic, vividly drawn characters. Well-developed plots. Insight and wisdom about human nature . . . about choices and defining moments. Check, check, check. As always, she seems wise, like someone who, for better or worse, understands exactly how we humans work.
I was also interested in some of the recurring themes here: the nature of power, particularly for her characte More...
I was also interested in some of the recurring themes here: the nature of power, particularly for her characte More...
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May 02, 2008
Abby
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I was a little reluctant to begin reading more work by Alice Munro, as the images burned into my brain by "Wild Swans" have never fully left.
This collection is not nearly so haunting as I remember Alice Munro's other stories, and therefore also more enjoyable. Some of the pieces, notably "Runaway" and "Grace," had me forgetting that I was reading Alice Munro, and not that other prolific Canadian author, Margaret Atwood. Maybe there is something similar about More...
This collection is not nearly so haunting as I remember Alice Munro's other stories, and therefore also more enjoyable. Some of the pieces, notably "Runaway" and "Grace," had me forgetting that I was reading Alice Munro, and not that other prolific Canadian author, Margaret Atwood. Maybe there is something similar about More...
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Feb 01, 2009
Jane
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I didn't realize this was a book of short stories when I bought it. It's my first book of short stories. I've decided that I don't care much for short stories. The characters and stories aren't developed enough. Her stories were a bit bizarre, mostly with endings I didn't like. Parts of the stories are interesting and I kept expecting them to get better and then I'd get disappointed. The only one I liked was the second to the last story. I think it was called Tricks. The last story I did
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Feb 05, 2009
Often compared to Eudora Welty, Anton Chekhov, and James Joyce, Munro is a brilliant short story-writer. She mines the small towns of her native Ontario for inspiration, penning short stories (30-40 pages each) that possess the depth of novels. Runaway, her tenth collection, contains her trademark unconventional plots and lost characters. Critics agree that the suspense and drama lodged within the characters give each story its power. Like the best writers, Munro involves readers in her characte
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Jan 13, 2009
Carrie
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I was given this book as a birthday gift from my aunt, and I had sort of forgotten I had it until recently. It’s hard to give gifts to a bookworm, but this was an excellent choice. I always enjoy Munro’s work when I run across it in the The New Yorker or wherever, but I don’t usually think to purchase her books or pick them up the library.
I first ran into Munro in high school. My English teacher gave us two stories two read - her “Open Window” and that story by Steven King that is th More...
I first ran into Munro in high school. My English teacher gave us two stories two read - her “Open Window” and that story by Steven King that is th More...
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Aug 12, 2007
Elaine
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As Jonathan Franzen says, Alice Munro is indeed the underappreciated master of the short story. Her stories are filled with quiet moments, wonderfully, empathetically observed human detail and surprising plot developments that bring great aesthetic pleasure. Her style is unassuming, no verbal pyrotechnics here, but just solid story-telling, at a measured pace that guides the reader with a sure and confident hand. And she never fails to illuminate the Canadian landscape and countryside that fo
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Dec 21, 2011
KJ
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Alice Munro - you can't just read her once. You've got to read her again, and again, and again.
Her stories written about women and men who live lives like you and me - quietly going about their days, wondering if they missed out on that great big love, or that great big chance; arguing with their children, or their parents, or both; pretending that life is grand, pretending that life isn't pointless.
She writes lush, beautiful tales which are long and enjoyable to read. I' More...
Her stories written about women and men who live lives like you and me - quietly going about their days, wondering if they missed out on that great big love, or that great big chance; arguing with their children, or their parents, or both; pretending that life is grand, pretending that life isn't pointless.
She writes lush, beautiful tales which are long and enjoyable to read. I' More...
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Jan 09, 2012
Janet
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After reading Munro's 'The Love of a Good Woman' I've become a bit obsessed with her. And so I want to read all of her stories - eventually. This group of stories is quite a bit different than those in the first collection I read. These are not as stark. The characters are not quite as cold and unlikable. The stories themselves are set in different times; they have different themes; more detail is provided. In some ways the stories are sadder - because I found that I did like the people, a
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Aug 07, 2011
Roberto
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I am a serious fan of short stories. Like Aphorismos, I think they are a much bigger expression of prose than the long texts, since the author must be concise and convey the whole idea in a shorter text. No room for babbling. Now as for Munro, well her short stories ar insightful, langague is clean and developed, an she has a clearly piercing mind. But that's it, she does not have the lucidity of the great authors, I agree with the prologue that short stories do not get the credit they deserve,
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Feb 08, 2011
Michael
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De la littérature canadienne contemporaine, on retient le plus souvent les noms de Margaret Atwood ou Michael Ondaatje. On oublie à tort celui d’Alice Munro, pourtant célébrée par ses pairs (Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates et Alan Hollinghurst pour ne citer qu’eux). Publié en 2004 et aussitôt couronné de multiples prix littéraires, Fugitives, recueil de huit nouvelles, a paru en France lors de la rentrée littéraire de septembre 2008. Carla, Sylvia, Juliet, Grace, Lauren, Robin… C’est de la v
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Jan 14, 2011
Bronwyn
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I was very disappointed with this story. I think the cover story was misleading, it mentions Juliet and her wild & passionate love match, it wasn’t in the first 5 tapes which is as far as I got before I realized it was not getting any better and the first story was not mentioned at all.
Story 1 – Runaway
Is the story of Carla who is not happy with her marriage to Clarke and with the help of her next door neighbour she gets on a bus to Toronto only to get off it early and call C More...
Story 1 – Runaway
Is the story of Carla who is not happy with her marriage to Clarke and with the help of her next door neighbour she gets on a bus to Toronto only to get off it early and call C More...
Dec 05, 2009
Bob
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One of these stories has a happy ending but I think it was by accident. Actually, I commented about the last collection of her stories I read that I like the occasions when she has more than one story about the same set of characters, as they can collectively approach more of a novella length. This collection has three stories about the same characters, covering 40 years or so. Things look a little hopeful when the central character is young but a series of disappointments follow - life is just
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Jul 19, 2009
Megan
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I know we're not supposed to use the word "perfect" when describing books or authors; the art of fiction is too subjectively interpreted for that. Nor does the word "perfect" imply me to be particularly discriminating. But having just finished Alice Munro's book of short stories, Runaway, I'm tempted to say convention be damned and this book is near perfect.
Munro's genius is that she almost convinces the reader that she's a realist. But, without knowing it at More...
Munro's genius is that she almost convinces the reader that she's a realist. But, without knowing it at More...
May 16, 2009
Nicola
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I have been resisting Alice Munro for some time now--too popular, too NYer-y, but after reading this collection I get it. I found many of her stories slow to start, just simmering, but then there's tiny fish eyes that get larger and larger until finally they turn into whales' eyes, if you will. But she doesn't stop there at the twist or climax-there's always some burns to be had and reflected upon.
In fact, most of these twists are recognized far later, far past their actual occurrence More...
In fact, most of these twists are recognized far later, far past their actual occurrence More...
Jan 07, 2012
Courtney
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Perhaps I'm handing out five star reviews too liberally, but Alice Munro deserves nothing less. I usually like to read books of short stories one story at a time, separated by novels or other stories, like a palate cleanser. Otherwise they all blend together. But with Munro this was simply not an option. I finished the title story (which, by the way, very nearly made me cry over the description of a lost little white goat named Flora) and moved immediately to the next one. And the next one. And
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Dec 10, 2009
Nancy
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I'm reading this book as I fly on airplanes and it is perfect for that: satisfying, but not so complicated that a tired mind has to go back and reread sentences over to just string the paragraph together sense-wise. She is a satisfying writer, just with descriptions like "The trails were deep in mud, the long grass soaking, leaves overhead sending down random showers...." Just analyze the construction of each phrase of that, how much she packed into each and yet they slide across the
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Nov 12, 2009
sleeps9hours
rated it:
I had heard great things about Alice Munro, but I didn’t enjoy this collection much. Maybe I didn’t start with her best work, but I am not excited to read more.
From "Soon"—
‘My faith isn’t so simple,’ said Sara...’I can’t describe it. But it’s—all I can say—it’s something. It’s a—wonderful—something. When it gets really bad for me—when it gets so bad I—you know what I think then? I think, all right. I think—Soon. Soon I’ll see Juliet.'
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But she had More...
From "Soon"—
‘My faith isn’t so simple,’ said Sara...’I can’t describe it. But it’s—all I can say—it’s something. It’s a—wonderful—something. When it gets really bad for me—when it gets so bad I—you know what I think then? I think, all right. I think—Soon. Soon I’ll see Juliet.'
...
But she had More...
Aug 01, 2011
Keirstan
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Alice Munro’s 2004 collection of short stories, Runaway, is one of those rare books I find hard to stop thinking about after reading. Comprised of eight stories—each with simple, one-word titles—Munro’s collection manages to cover impressive scope. In fact, not only do three of the stories share the same protagonist, two more still cover 40-plus years of a character’s life, not just a snapshot of it. As a result of this scope and Munro’s wonderful storytelling ability, the stories of Runaway
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Nov 15, 2010
Karenina
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sono irritata con me stessa perché sono dovuta arrivare alla fine del terzo libro per capire che io la Munro non la sopporto; già mi piacciono poco i racconti in genere ma questi ancor meno, densi di disgrazie, con dei personaggi quasi sempre rinunciatari: donne che deliberatamente scelgono di non guardare in faccia la realtà, qualunque essa sia (ma ti pare che io aspetto un anno per rivedere un uomo e poi mi faccio sbattere la porta in faccia oppure da madre non so più niente di una figlia così
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Jun 08, 2009
Katrina
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I really, truly loved reading these stories. Munro brings forth all of my favorite qualities in a short story, over and over. She includes details that might be mundane, but which ground you in the character's perspective that much better. Her characters have flaws, not big Hollywood flaws but real flaws that real people have. I could see how a superficial reader, or someone looking for the next Da Vinci Code, would complain that nothing happens in her stories. And that is true, on some level. O
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Apr 08, 2011
Heather
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There's something about Munro's stories that make me feel as though I'm inside someone else's dreams. Each of these stories could stand alone, but they also seem tied together by characters' desires to find a life worth living - whether that be helping people find what they've lost or retreating from life in order to remember pleasure again.
There was one heartbreaking moment I can't get out of my head. Maybe it will sound contrived out of context, but it felt real when I read it. More...
There was one heartbreaking moment I can't get out of my head. Maybe it will sound contrived out of context, but it felt real when I read it. More...
Oct 30, 2009
Gina
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Prone to exaggeration as I am, I nonetheless have not the tiniest qualm saying that Alice Munro is the finest short story writer of our time. The stories in RUNAWAY are excellent from cover to cover. The title story deals with a young woman in a messy marriage; her husband is a roue without the sophistication necessary to play that part. She attempts to leave him when he broaches a dastardly scheme to bilk a neighbor woman. Running away is a common thread in this collection---and the women
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Apr 15, 2011
Stephanie Alice
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Upon reading the last page in the title story, ‘Runaway’, which opens the book, I was so hooked that I tore through the remaining stories in record time.
Like most short story collections, ‘Runaway’ is difficult to summarize. You could say it’s about love in its many forms and how complicated our relationships can be – not just with romantic partners but with parents, children and friends.
Munro is truly a master at her craft, and what not only tugged at me while reading but ke More...
Like most short story collections, ‘Runaway’ is difficult to summarize. You could say it’s about love in its many forms and how complicated our relationships can be – not just with romantic partners but with parents, children and friends.
Munro is truly a master at her craft, and what not only tugged at me while reading but ke More...
Oct 07, 2009
Michael
rated it:
Reading the prose of Alice Munro is like reading through glass into pure distillation of image. Her words disappear. Her words become window.
Window into the lives of her characters. Window into our own lives.
For me, the story that hit me like a sack in the stomach was Silence, easily my favorite of the stories in this collection. The story centers on a mother whose daughter makes a devastating decision. That’s it, that simple. That’s the turn that created what for me is a More...
Window into the lives of her characters. Window into our own lives.
For me, the story that hit me like a sack in the stomach was Silence, easily my favorite of the stories in this collection. The story centers on a mother whose daughter makes a devastating decision. That’s it, that simple. That’s the turn that created what for me is a More...
Jan 19, 2012
Sarah
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On the whole, this collection of stories was not my cup of tea. The book is described as an exploration of love and its infinite betrayals and surprises, so I suppose I should have expected it to be a bit on the sad side. I am ok with reading things that are sad and do not end the way you want them to, but I found so many of these stories unfulfilling. There were a couple that I thought were pretty masterfully plotted, in which I enjoyed the twists and irony that led to the sad conclusion. I
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Jun 21, 2010
Lauren
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The most striking element of these short stories, and perhaps the element that created the most cohesion among all of the stories (most were unrelated to the others) was the sense of mortality. Munro bucks standard chick-lit conventions and allows her characters to lead full existences exploring their personal narratives as defined by their familial backgrounds, educations, historical context and geography. These stories are not glimpses into a character's life at a certain turning point, but in
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Feb 13, 2010
Hillary
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I'm so happy to say I've discovered Alice Munro. What a revelation. That being said, she's definitely not an easy read, and most definitely not a reference desk read. Her writing requires a degree of concentration that I hate to admit I don't always have the time or attention for. So while I'm looking forward to reading more of her work, and finally understand why so many people think she's such a gifted writer, I hate to say I'll have to wait until I'm ready to pick up another of her books.
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