The ten miraculously accomplished stories in Alice Munro's Friend of My Youth not only astonish and delight but also convey the unspoken mys...
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Oct 01, 2011
Teresa
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Munro never disappoints. These are all wonderful stories. Though, plot-wise, my life is nothing like the stories here, I am left wondering after each story how Munro knows my inner life so well. Her grasp of human nature, her evocation of the world of her characters, all of it is astounding. The more I read of Munro, the more I am convinced of her genius.
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Feb 01, 2008
snackywombat
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Reading this was a long time in coming. The story "Meneseteung" that I read five years ago in the Best American Stories of the 20th Century was actually the first Alice Munro that I had come across and then over the years countless people--mainly writers--have mentioned her as a favorite. This stands to reason: Munro is a writer's writer. She spins tales; she writes real stories. Yet they have a modernism and sophistication that transcends time, place, trends, gender... everything. Her
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Mar 01, 2009
Braden
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I love many of the individual stories here: "Friend of My Youth" (esp. the narrator's reflections on her mother at the beginning and end, which frame the story), "Five Points" (Maria, you heartbreaking girl), "Meneseteung" (!), "Pictures of Ice," "Oh, What Avails" (Best sentence: "Joan wants to keep this idea of rubble at bay"), and "Wigtime" (Best sentence: "She wrote another that said 'BIG FAT SLOB WITH YOUR BABY-FACED
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Aug 02, 2011
Megan
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Alice Munro's short stories are always a delight to read, and Friend of My Youth is no exception. In almost every collection of hers I have read, there is a line or two of description that makes me start out of my chair and realize, yes, that perfectly describes something I have been feeling.
In Hateship, Friendship etc., it was a description of large family gatherings where no one ever says anything of consequence that described so many dinners at my grandmother's house. Not that tho More...
In Hateship, Friendship etc., it was a description of large family gatherings where no one ever says anything of consequence that described so many dinners at my grandmother's house. Not that tho More...
Dec 22, 2009
Karen
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Small town southern Ontario settings, ordinary people going about nothing more spectacular than living, loving, working, dying; but Alice Munro turns the seemingly mundane into glowing, jewel-like tales that reveal the ‘shameless, marvellous, shattering absurdity’ of life. Each story leaves you faintly breathless, full of wonder at how she can so smoothly pull back the curtain, reveal the essence, the core of being. What I particularly loved in this, her seventh collection, first published in 1
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Jul 23, 2010
"The ten miraculously accomplished stories in Alice Munro's Friend of My Youth not only astonish and delight but also convey the unspoken mysteries at the heart of all human experience.
"[Friend of My Youth is:] a wonderful collection of stories, beautifully written and deeply felt."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times"
"[Friend of My Youth is:] a wonderful collection of stories, beautifully written and deeply felt."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times"
Jun 15, 2008
Beth
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You know who I love? Alice Munro. She is just quietly amazing. I wish Goodreads had a way to pick an author's entire work in one pick because I think I have read most of what she has written and love them all.
She writes only short stories, though stories in The Begger Maid add up to a novel narrative. She writes women and decisions and contemporary life in late 20th/early 21st century. She captures the mundane and makes it vibrate. You can read a simple story, then get the a-ha More...
She writes only short stories, though stories in The Begger Maid add up to a novel narrative. She writes women and decisions and contemporary life in late 20th/early 21st century. She captures the mundane and makes it vibrate. You can read a simple story, then get the a-ha More...
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Nov 16, 2009
Tara
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I was recommended this book in a workshop and it's been very important to my writing. Alice Munro has a very creative voice and narrative structure that gives her stories style without having to use gimmicks. I think people should talk more about her.
Jan 01, 2010
Kathleen
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Alice goes back in time in many of these stories to an earlier generation, that of her mother. The lead story is filled with surprises. What is real? What is true? Will love last? Well paced stories about the pretty and ugliness of humanity
Feb 01, 2011
Sarah Ryburn
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recent purchase from the clearance shelf at 1/2 price books in austin. $1 and worth every penny! actually worth several more. munro is a masterful story-teller in this form, and that's something coming from me. i spent years avoiding short stories until i encountered alice munro and alistair mcleod. wonderful collection, although i didn't like "wigtime" as the finale. i get the shared theme of "friend of my youth" and "wigtime," but i always expect the final story t
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Dec 03, 2011
Isabel
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Down-beat tales of small town life in Ontario. She seems to be fond of writing about people whose lives have been a disappointment to them. Well-written and very interesting, if a trifle depressing.
Mar 08, 2009
Can't argue. Sometimes I lose track of how many stories of hers I've already read. I revisit them anyway. Big theme here: infidelity.
May 13, 2010
Lori
rated it:
c. 1990
Early collection of short stories set in Canada. Interesting relationships. Enjoyable, but not WOW! page turners.
Early collection of short stories set in Canada. Interesting relationships. Enjoyable, but not WOW! page turners.
Jun 23, 2008
J
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Flaky Genius and I are currently reading this collection and other Munro stories for a class she's taking and the writing is universally great. The only complaint both of us have for Munro is why does every story, almost every single story, have to have someone having an affair. It's interesting and she always does it well, but after a while the schtick is just that -- a schtick. The predictability of this aspect is such that the moment I meet a third character in the story who is not immediatel
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May 31, 2007
I've always said I hated Alice Munro, ever since I had a teacher who ended every comment to me with "You should be more like Alice Munro." But I bought this book for the story "Meneseteung," which is amazing. It has all the hallmarks of an Alice Munro story--deliberate, unhurried pacing; careful unfolding; quiet language--yet is the most un-Munro-like story of hers I've seen. (If you've read this story in Updike's Best American, read it in this version; Munro adds one sent
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Feb 22, 2011
Scott
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This is the first collection of Munro's stories which I have read. What impressed me the most was how quickly she created fully rounded characters. I was interested in them and wanted to know what was going to happen to them.
Jan 13, 2008
Sarah Funke
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Thanks to everyone who kept telling me, year in and year out, how wonderful Alice Munroe is. Turns out, you're right! (But you knew that.) I've only read two stories so far -- "Friend of My Youth" and "Five Points" -- but find them both endlessly compelling. So much so that it seems needless to read any more -- why not keep rereading these? But I will. Great stories, subtle, deep, full characters, smart structures. How did I make it this far without reading them?
Jul 24, 2008
Rachel
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Amazing, amazing stories. I had, like, a physical response at the end of each of them (and NO, it was not pooping). It was hard for me to get into her style at first, but once you get in, you don't come out. That sounds creepy but believe me, it's cool. All of them are about women having affairs, but that's ok, because all of John Updike's stuff is about men having affairs. Way to balance the gender divide, Alice.
Apr 01, 2008
Dave
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Munro is one of the best at writing with well paced deliberation. Less skilled writers often become tedious, ponderous or, worse yet, predictable when writing in such a style. However, Munro pulls the reader along and surprises as each nook and cranny is explored and then shown to be a part of the whole. I almost always feel I'm at a different place than expected to be when I finish an Alice Munro story.
Jul 01, 2011
Karen
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"Her happiness is tight and private, not the sort that flows out from you and fuzzes everything up and makes you good-naturedly careless about what you say. The very opposite. She feels light and sharp and unconnected." She wrote in the story, Five Points. I keep remembering this quote, being in that place myself, not always, but in that place to know this kind of happiness.
Jul 11, 2009
Lindsey
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Yeah, I just don't like Alice Munro. I tried several times. I even own a couple of her collections, but I don't like them. They're boring.
Aug 04, 2008
Laila
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What a great collection of stories. I'd been meaning to read Munro for a while now, and I'm so glad I did. She reminds me very much of Anne Tyler - if you like her, I'd suggest checking out Munro. "Meneseteung" is one of the best short stories I've ever read. Good stuff.
Feb 14, 2010
Lori
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Alice Munro is a good writer. While the styles are completely different, the experience of reading her short stories is similar to listening to sad country music. You have to be in the mood to read about depressing relationships that don't work out.
Mar 10, 2011
Cj
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I can always count on Alice Munroe to tell tales that are universal to women of many types of which I am one. I enjoyed this book of short stories immensely and I am sure I will read it again someday.
