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giovydsb's review against another edition
5.0
Rose è, “pirandellianamente” parlando, una che si guarda vivere. È consapevole del suo sforzo per interpretare dei ruoli, per nascondersi dietro a un atteggiamento studiato o a delle parole ben meditate. Nei suoi racconti ha sempre “il ruolo di una testimone distaccata e superiore”. Mai compromettersi. Mai svelarsi. Non a caso, di mestiere fa l'attrice. È un'attrice fin da bambina, quando cerca di imitare i modi di fare di una ragazza molto popolare nella sua scuola, o si atteggia a donna vissuta nel parlare della malattia del padre. Se da una parte Rose si compiace dei ruoli che interpreta, dall'altra soffre perché non riesce ad essere liberamente quello che è, perché è sempre attenta a non lasciarsi andare e a non aspettarsi niente. Anche nella relazione con Patrick non è in grado di essere completamente se stessa, e continua ad aver paura che tutto si riveli una delusione:
Ma la vera colpa non era sua? Della sua convinzione che se un ragazzo si innamorava di lei doveva per forza essere senza speranza, e rivelarsi alla fine un cretino?
La vocazione di Rose, dunque, non è quella alla verità, ma al racconto. Inizierà a uscire dal suo congegno di nascondimento solo con la vicenda che chiude il libro, quando finalmente mantiene il silenzio, “soddisfatta dell'esistenza di almeno una cosa che non avrebbe guastato raccontandola, benché sapesse che a farla tacere era stata la penuria di materiale almeno quanto il dignitoso riserbo”.
È impossibile non affezionarsi alla fragile (ma a suo modo combattiva) Rose, e al mondo in cui vive, popolato da personaggi indimenticabili, come Patrick, nel quale “arroganza e modestia risultano stranamente esagerate”, e Flo, scorbutica donna di provincia, che rappresenta un mondo da cui Rose vuole allontanarsi, ma a cui è indissolubilmente legata.
Ma la vera colpa non era sua? Della sua convinzione che se un ragazzo si innamorava di lei doveva per forza essere senza speranza, e rivelarsi alla fine un cretino?
La vocazione di Rose, dunque, non è quella alla verità, ma al racconto. Inizierà a uscire dal suo congegno di nascondimento solo con la vicenda che chiude il libro, quando finalmente mantiene il silenzio, “soddisfatta dell'esistenza di almeno una cosa che non avrebbe guastato raccontandola, benché sapesse che a farla tacere era stata la penuria di materiale almeno quanto il dignitoso riserbo”.
È impossibile non affezionarsi alla fragile (ma a suo modo combattiva) Rose, e al mondo in cui vive, popolato da personaggi indimenticabili, come Patrick, nel quale “arroganza e modestia risultano stranamente esagerate”, e Flo, scorbutica donna di provincia, che rappresenta un mondo da cui Rose vuole allontanarsi, ma a cui è indissolubilmente legata.
jenmcmaynes's review against another edition
3.0
In this collection of connected short stories, roughly following Rose’s life in chronological order with her stepmother, Flo, bracketing each end, Munro sets the two women in contrast to each other. Flo with her rough, practical air and dislike for people “taking on airs and being something than they are”, and Rose, an actor who acts her way through relationships and events, constantly reinventing herself. As Rose struggles out of poverty and “makes it” in the wider world, she constantly doubts herself, perhaps rightly, because of Flo’s influence. It was interesting and a bit disconcerting to read characters so flawed, so close to self knowledge, so close to happiness, but who rarely actually achieve it. Munro also has the mid-20th century American obsession with marriage, divorce, and freedom that I had thus far only encountered in male authors. I know Munro is described as a master of the shorty story. I’m not sure if I see that, but I am impressed with the compassion with with she treats her flawed and in many ways unlikeable characters.
haniah's review against another edition
4.5
Ms. Munro, the woman that you are. khala gifted me this book last summer when i was living in ottawa. i saw the cover and thought "damn that's ugly" and never gravitated towards reading it. well lo and behold a year later, two of the short stories are assigned in my class and the book is sitting on my shelf in my apartment.
AND WHAT A SHAME IT WAS THAT I NEVER READ IT BEFORE. you know those books of genius that sit on your shelf that you regret not giving a chance to, because a brilliant piece of writing was under your nose the whole time?? just waiting to be discovered?? that was this. there is this one passage in one of her short stories that read me like a book. it described my whole life. i was in shock. in shambles. I sent a video to three of my friends raving about how insightful of a writer she is. I think this is the perfect book to read in your 20s, as you try to figure out who you think you are. absolutely brilliant. I will read again.
AND WHAT A SHAME IT WAS THAT I NEVER READ IT BEFORE. you know those books of genius that sit on your shelf that you regret not giving a chance to, because a brilliant piece of writing was under your nose the whole time?? just waiting to be discovered?? that was this. there is this one passage in one of her short stories that read me like a book. it described my whole life. i was in shock. in shambles. I sent a video to three of my friends raving about how insightful of a writer she is. I think this is the perfect book to read in your 20s, as you try to figure out who you think you are. absolutely brilliant. I will read again.
steller0707's review against another edition
5.0
Alice Munro's award-winning book is a set of very loosely, but Chronological stories about Rose, who grows up poor in a small rural Western Ontario town. The stories, which can be read stand-alone but which are satisfying to read in order, are periods in Rose's life -- from her home life with her step-mother Flo and her father, her early school and high school days through marriage, motherhood, divorce, and making a livelihood. Those are the nuts and bolts. In the stories are the hopes, dreams and disappointments of becoming a woman.
I knew I would love this book because Alice Munro is one of my favorite authors. Her settings are of her home in rural Ontario as well as big city life in Toronto. It's a geographic area I know well, from my many wanderings there from my WNY home. These settings are familiar and comfortable. Although Munro is, perhaps, a generation older than I am the customs and mores of coming of age - shopping at Woolworth's, painting fingernail polish so as to leave a half moon at the base, fashions, school - a long forgotten, more innocent time, in some ways, and yet all too familiar. Then there the feelings and emotions that always vividly define Munro's women characters - making her way in work, marriage, motherhood; the complex emotions, the thoughts - all expressed so beautifully. Sometimes it's just a phrase, sometimes a mood. They strike a chord. Are they nostalgic? Yes, in many ways, certainly. But also, I think, universal.
I knew I would love this book because Alice Munro is one of my favorite authors. Her settings are of her home in rural Ontario as well as big city life in Toronto. It's a geographic area I know well, from my many wanderings there from my WNY home. These settings are familiar and comfortable. Although Munro is, perhaps, a generation older than I am the customs and mores of coming of age - shopping at Woolworth's, painting fingernail polish so as to leave a half moon at the base, fashions, school - a long forgotten, more innocent time, in some ways, and yet all too familiar. Then there the feelings and emotions that always vividly define Munro's women characters - making her way in work, marriage, motherhood; the complex emotions, the thoughts - all expressed so beautifully. Sometimes it's just a phrase, sometimes a mood. They strike a chord. Are they nostalgic? Yes, in many ways, certainly. But also, I think, universal.
thishannah's review against another edition
5.0
Some of the most beautiful writing I have read recently. I kept having that feeling you get when you read a really gorgeous sentence or paragraph or scene and you just think, "WOW," and want to put it in your pocket and remember it forever. One of the critics' comments on the back of my copy used the phrase "psychological precision" and I don't think I could really put it any better. One of my favorite things about it was how it captured a person's feelings toward the people in the margins of their lives--people you might have met only a few times, or friends of friends and how profoundly they can affect you without ever knowing it. I also liked that it isn't really a novel but also isn't really a collection of short stories either...it imitates the patterns of life in a lovely way, highlighting small moments while sweeping over large accomplishments. This was my first Alice Munro book and I have a hunger for more.
whatulysses's review against another edition
4.0
The characters are so good. Well-told stories. Enjoyable read but terrible escapism. Will fuck you up if you are the least bit depressed already.
germancho's review against another edition
5.0
In this most canadian of books (a gift from @bluelephant), Munro wields her somber, solemn prose as if she were slowly swinging a heavy lead pipe: sometimes she misses, but when she connects you'll be knocked out for good. I very much appreciate that Munro opens a door to woman's mind in a way that I've never seen before, even if men are made of straw and friends are empty sprites. Something else that I liked about this book is that sex is this unfortunate happenstance which life pokes you with every now and again. In this case this might be a contrivance of the story... I certainly hope so!
Favorite stories: "Half a Grapefruit", "The Beggar Maid", "Mischief", "Simon's Luck", and "Spelling", if only for its schadenfreunde value.
Favorite stories: "Half a Grapefruit", "The Beggar Maid", "Mischief", "Simon's Luck", and "Spelling", if only for its schadenfreunde value.
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
3.0
Rose grows up in a very poor suburb on the outskirts of a small town in Canada. The interlinked short stories follow her as she leaves behind her oppressive home, goes to university, suffers a disastrous marriage, and struggles to have satisfying relationships with men. Munro's prose is clear, easy-to-read, and subtle. I found the stories about Rose's early life particularly satisfying: the struggles with her step-mother and the horrors of surviving a brutal school are memorable and engaging. Each story works on its own merits, but this does not quite hold together as a novel. It's hard not to consider this a novel when the stories build up a picture of one person's life, but the picture often feels fragmentary and unsatisfying. I also felt that Munro could have edited the stories before she published them in one book to avoid repetition between them. This is the first full collection of Munro I have read, and I was impressed by her skilled narrative voice: I am certainly interested in reading more, even if this did not completely win me over.
alizamiriam's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0