Spanning almost thirty years and settings that range from big cities to small towns and farmsteads of rural Canada, this magnificent collection bri...
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Dec 17, 2009
Kaisa
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Alice Munro writes entirely in the medium of short stories. While I don't mind the trend of ever elongating fiction in modern literature, this collection of Munro's selected shorts is nothing short of a thrill of economy.
Munro's stories are brief, but the impressions her characters and the events to which they are sewed leave with the reader are long lasting. In White Dump, Munro gives us two characters, one a mother, the other her daughter, who move forward and back towards an e More...
Munro's stories are brief, but the impressions her characters and the events to which they are sewed leave with the reader are long lasting. In White Dump, Munro gives us two characters, one a mother, the other her daughter, who move forward and back towards an e More...
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Mar 07, 2009
Dia
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Before reading this collection, I'd read one or two of Munro's stories in the New Yorker -- "Deep-Holes" was good enough to tear out & keep -- but I really didn't know what she was up to in general. This collection of short stories will let the reader feel thoroughly familiar with, though never bored by, Munro's style. There are certain things she almost always does (once past her earliest works): begin with a story that isn't the real story and doesn't even really illuminate the rea
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Jan 23, 2009
Shawn
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She's just a genius. This book came out a decade ago, and doesn't have some of her more recent stuff -- like the wonderful Runaway -- but it's just amazing story after amazing story. The stories have some of the surfaces of quieter, plainer fiction about rural, domestic life, but they're packed with insight and dramatic moment, and Munro is more experimental than she's given credit for -- her leaps in time are jarring and amazing. Especially in the stories that are connected by character and pla
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Dec 04, 2008
Kam
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I was intrigued by the blurbs on the back of this edition--had heard a lot about her but never read anything, seeing as most of her work has been published in anthologies and magazines. I'm not one for short stories or short fiction, but the narrative voices here are truly distinct. In her stories about her native Canada, Munro delivers with a consistent, pragmatic and low-key narration that draws one in with details and insights not with the "unerhoerte Begebenheit" or "seminal
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Apr 14, 2011
Patrick
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This selection collects four stories apiece from Munro's first seven collections, from Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You through Open Secrets. Perhaps its most interesting feature is an Author's Forward, essentially a craft essay in which Munro discusses the images that give rise to her stories, the process by which she develops her layered narratives, and the roles various editors have played in her later, more daring work. In dicussing the evolution of her craft, Munro notes that as she'
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May 02, 2008
Jenni
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This is totally random, but when we were in Victoria, BC, I walked into this giant, wonderful bookstore called Munro's Books. I bought a few things there, and the cashier gave me some free store bookmarks. Well, I pulled one out the other day to stick in this book, and then read in the author bio that Alice Munro is in fact the owner of Munro's Books! Go figure.
The stories I have read so far are WONDERFUL. Thanks for the rec, Paula!
The stories I have read so far are WONDERFUL. Thanks for the rec, Paula!
Jan 12, 2012
Warnie B.
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I really did not enjoy this collection of short stories much. They're not at all poorly written, and I can definitely see why so many people admire Alice Munro's work. But maaaaaaaan, this got old for me, and almost immediately.
First of all, I will say that I am generally not a fan of short stories. I always tend to connect more to characters than to plot lines or ideas, and since there's just not a lot of time for character development in this form, I'm very rarely able to fully immer More...
First of all, I will say that I am generally not a fan of short stories. I always tend to connect more to characters than to plot lines or ideas, and since there's just not a lot of time for character development in this form, I'm very rarely able to fully immer More...
Jul 15, 2010
Kristen
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This was our latest book club pick, and it was selected because many in the literary community think that Alice Munro should win the Pulitzer Prize; it’s reputed that the only reason she hasn’t is that no author who exclusively writes short stories has ever won (oh, literary politics).
Munro’s writing style is clean, even sparse at times, but she has an ability to pack a mean emotional punch. I’ve heard it said that her stories illuminate the extraordinary in the ordinary lives of pe More...
Munro’s writing style is clean, even sparse at times, but she has an ability to pack a mean emotional punch. I’ve heard it said that her stories illuminate the extraordinary in the ordinary lives of pe More...
Aug 14, 2009
Helen (Helena/Nell)
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Alice Munro is one of the best contemporary short story writers. I know this because everybody says so. Some of them say she is the best.
I love short stories but although I have read Munro before, I have never quite clicked with any of hers. And I love that ‘click’ that comes with the short story, that feeling as you get to the end that you intend to go right back to the beginning again, and that this will be a great pleasure, and that you will do it again and again and again.
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I love short stories but although I have read Munro before, I have never quite clicked with any of hers. And I love that ‘click’ that comes with the short story, that feeling as you get to the end that you intend to go right back to the beginning again, and that this will be a great pleasure, and that you will do it again and again and again.
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Jul 03, 2009
Rochelle
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I love this book.
Munro is a genius. The stories are beautifully written and constantly shift in unexpected directions. She does fascinating things with time and the narrators' voices but you barely notice any of the technical work because the stories are so engrossing. The stories span 30 years of Munro's career but there are some common links between them. Certain themes pop up again and again. They all take place in the Canadian countryside and all of the characters have secre More...
Munro is a genius. The stories are beautifully written and constantly shift in unexpected directions. She does fascinating things with time and the narrators' voices but you barely notice any of the technical work because the stories are so engrossing. The stories span 30 years of Munro's career but there are some common links between them. Certain themes pop up again and again. They all take place in the Canadian countryside and all of the characters have secre More...
Feb 10, 2010
This collection of short stories by Alice Munro was a monthly selection of my library's book club.
I have read only one short story in the collection, though not for the reason that people usually leave off reading a book, that is, not because I was unsatisfied with what I had read. On the contrary, though I may in future return to this book, the one story I read was so satisfying that I didn't want the memory of it to be erased by my reading more.
That one story is " More...
I have read only one short story in the collection, though not for the reason that people usually leave off reading a book, that is, not because I was unsatisfied with what I had read. On the contrary, though I may in future return to this book, the one story I read was so satisfying that I didn't want the memory of it to be erased by my reading more.
That one story is " More...
Jun 13, 2008
Frank
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I read around in this one during the independent reading section of my Reading and Writing Fiction course this spring. I'd read about half the stories already, in the original collections by Munro. There's still a handful of stories in this compendium that I haven't read. It was nice to dip into, via this volume, some of the collections that I haven't read at all. As with any "greatest hits" package, there are some omissions here that seem glaring. No "Red Dress--1946"? "
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Feb 02, 2008
Julius
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There couldn´t be a better book if you talk about short stories than this! This is the best of the stories of the best short story writer now alive! ALICE MUNRO! When would she win the NOBEL PRIZE? I should go on that she is severely understated! Why? Perhaps the readers could not get her writing because she writes about the same theme: a girl from a rural Canadian town growing up to discover her sexuality, find her place in the socitey, exploring love and hatred and at times rebelling from the
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Jul 01, 2011
Tara
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About half of this book was assigned as part of a class. Honestly, I'm not sure I'll finish the rest. Munro is really good. Her stories are clean and nice, but very dark. I can't come up with anything other than bland adjectives for them. She treads lightly around issues of class, draws complicated portraits of troubled marriages. The stories are well-constructed, but so flawless that they're almost (almost) dull.
Aug 02, 2009
Jennifer
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I'm not done -- had to return it to the library -- but so far, it's taut, tense, & brilliant. Spare in everything but the impact -- Munro is a top-rate storyteller - & these short stories are some of the best I've read. Various respected authors have written in admiration of her genius & recommend careful study to aspiring writers. I agree. If you want to take a master class on the Short Story then you should read Alice Munro. She hangs out in that rarefied air up there with the likes of Fla
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Jan 19, 2011
Mary
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I am head over heals for anything by yummy Munro. My book club is doing comparative literature this month with two [fabulous] Canadian women writers -- Munro and Carol Shields. I loved watching Alice Munro's writing grow in this chronological compilation of her favorite short stories. It ran a little long for me, but mostly, I think she's unparalleled in short fiction.
Jul 27, 2011
Jane
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Run don't walk to read these stories: 1. "Friend of My Youth." Primitive living, two sisters - one man. Nurse comes along and takes over. 2. "Carried Away." WWI soldier writes librarian fm his town. He returns but they never meet. He is later killed in industrial accident.
2.
2.
May 03, 2008
Sierra
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Alice Munro is my favorite favorite favorite, and this book contains some of her very best stories. "Differently" starts out like this:
“Georgia once took a creative writing class, and what the instructor told her was: Too many things. Too many things going on at the same time; also too many people. Think, he told her. What is the important thing? What do you want us to pay attention to? Think. Eventually she wrote a story that was about her grandfather killing chickens, More...
“Georgia once took a creative writing class, and what the instructor told her was: Too many things. Too many things going on at the same time; also too many people. Think, he told her. What is the important thing? What do you want us to pay attention to? Think. Eventually she wrote a story that was about her grandfather killing chickens, More...
Aug 04, 2009
Steph
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You never know what's coming with Munro. The characters are mostly women and mostly from small towns, but otherwise, anything goes. And watch out: needed details come and go without much of a flag. I frequently find myself re-reading, and enjoying every minute of it.
Jul 06, 2009
Rikakaka
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Oh my god, everyone who has an interest in short stories must read Alice Munro. Her work is beautiful, sad and feels very true, even though it's mostly set in mid-C20th Canada. Plus, her books of interlinked stories are new ways of approaching novel-length work. Start with the Selected Stories, then go onto The Beggar Maid. Do it!
Jun 22, 2009
Stephanie
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I was so happy to learn that Alice Munro had been given the Booker International Prize this year that I decided to refresh my familiarity with her work. This is an amazing collection, and to read her carefully is like a course in the art of short fiction.
Jun 08, 2009
Angela
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One of my favorites... have belatedly realized that I have somehow gravitated to Canadian women authors. Maybe it is all of that snow... they have no choice but to think a little bit more about the details of life...
Jul 26, 2011
Barbara
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Oh, I just love this author, even though short stories are not my favorite genre. I am drawn into each story so quickly and find a depth of characterization and differing plots that work despite the brevity.
Mar 25, 2011
Gord
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Alice Munro's Best: Selected Stories--Brilliant! One of my favourite collections of Munro-books--though I would have prefered more stories from her early books ('60s & '70s).
May 05, 2010
Recommended to me by some bookseller when I asked for suggestions of authors like Mavis Gallant. I've read a few of these stories, they're good, but not as good as Ms Gallant.
Aug 29, 2011
This is the only book I selected to bring on my extended vacation to Australia. I like it so far. I've read a few of the stories, and one, in particular, "Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You," especially stands out of memorable, well-crafted and even a little haunting. Gets high marks from me so far, though for the amount that I have been out in the bush (not much...this is city living), I do wish I had packed 3 extra books and left my hiking boots at home (I had such a hankerin
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Sep 07, 2009
Ruthie
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From this collection I have read the following: Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You, The Beggar Maid, The Albanian Virgin, and Vandals
Aug 27, 2010
Erica
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The ultimate collection of Munro stories, and a good place for people who haven't read her before to start. Highly recommended!
Oct 22, 2010
Esther
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I've read "Carried Away" & "Chaddeleys and Flemings II: The Stone in the Field". Wanna read more of Munro's works..
Nov 10, 2009
Laura Jean
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While some of these are incredible, I felt the subject matter and tone became repetitive by the end.
