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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
Oh, the coming of age/sexual awakening novel. We just can’t get enough of that, can we? Probably because we’ve all been there, and I think we love to make ourselves cringe reading about how other people lived it. We relate, we try not to judge, we silently thank god we don’t have to go through that again…
Alice Munro’s only novel made me smile, and it made me grateful I didn’t come of age in the 50s in rural Ontario. Del’s story is as familiar as can be: she is smart and awkward, her parents embarrass her deeply, she doesn’t quite understand her friends – much less the boys she grows up around. She loves books and is disappointed that life can’t be as interesting as they are. In other words, not a new story, but one told with gentle humor and tenderness. The first half, which introduces the reader to Del’s family and to the small town of Jubilee (and its eccentric inhabitants – those small town are always full of eccentrics!) was sweet but felt a little slow. The second half, however, when Del’s consciousness begins to expand, felt much more poignant.
Munro beautifully captured how strange and confusing the awkward transition from girl to woman is, the weird pangs of adolescence. Del understands all too well that the expectations people have towards her are not the same as they have towards boys. She feels trapped by a gender-based determinism; she wants to be her own person, not a girl as the people of Jubilee define it, or not even as her mother would define it – she wants to create her own definition.
I think that ultimately, this is the sentiment that made “Lives of Girls and Women” stand out for me in the sea of bildungsromans out there. Del and her craving both for romantic passion and for a freedom that goes beyond being a girl felt achingly familiar, and the bittersweet knowledge that if she stayed in Jubilee, she would never find what she was looking for. While the story is open-ended, I like to imagine her hopping on a train or a bus and going off to Toronto or Montreal, and finding what people like her can never find in small towns.
Alice Munro’s only novel made me smile, and it made me grateful I didn’t come of age in the 50s in rural Ontario. Del’s story is as familiar as can be: she is smart and awkward, her parents embarrass her deeply, she doesn’t quite understand her friends – much less the boys she grows up around. She loves books and is disappointed that life can’t be as interesting as they are. In other words, not a new story, but one told with gentle humor and tenderness. The first half, which introduces the reader to Del’s family and to the small town of Jubilee (and its eccentric inhabitants – those small town are always full of eccentrics!) was sweet but felt a little slow. The second half, however, when Del’s consciousness begins to expand, felt much more poignant.
Munro beautifully captured how strange and confusing the awkward transition from girl to woman is, the weird pangs of adolescence. Del understands all too well that the expectations people have towards her are not the same as they have towards boys. She feels trapped by a gender-based determinism; she wants to be her own person, not a girl as the people of Jubilee define it, or not even as her mother would define it – she wants to create her own definition.
I think that ultimately, this is the sentiment that made “Lives of Girls and Women” stand out for me in the sea of bildungsromans out there. Del and her craving both for romantic passion and for a freedom that goes beyond being a girl felt achingly familiar, and the bittersweet knowledge that if she stayed in Jubilee, she would never find what she was looking for. While the story is open-ended, I like to imagine her hopping on a train or a bus and going off to Toronto or Montreal, and finding what people like her can never find in small towns.
I’d been meaning to pick up an Alice Munro book for a while and her recent death was a reminder that life is short. Because I’m not an avid reader of the short story genre, Lives of Girls and Women, Munro’s only novel, seemed like a good choice. And it was. This is the coming-of-age story of Del Jordan, who grows up in the Ontario countryside, surrounded by aunts and uncles, friends and strangers, the latter being the people no one knows who show up at funerals. Del’s observations of her life and her mother’s life are small nuggets of information for the reader to digest. The simple story is happy and sad, funny and painful. Alice Munro has such an eye for the small things that make up the lives of girls and women and the book seems familiar, as if you recognize some of the characters. It was a joy to read this book. Highly recommended.
Powerful coming of age story from the 1940s in small-town, rural Canada focused from a young woman's perspective. It entertained and pained me to read it. Engrossing.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Should I still be reading Alice Munro, given recent revelations? I am torn. I tried not to be affected by the news but nevertheless my enjoyment of this collection was spoiled. It's not really one of her best, though, and I'm going to try another one in a few months.
This became less dull once I started thinking of it as a series of short stories about the same character, not the novel it is billed as.
I read this probably too young - I was a bit disturbed by it, even while I found it fascinating. Also the ending depressed me. Without giving it away (since I do still highly recommend reading it), I was disappointed by the main character's decisions. In retrospect, it was realistic for the 1940s, but as a young girl I thought it was a cop-out.
I wanted to read Munro’s novel to experience the work of another renowned Canadian artist. In the city where I live, Munro’s Books (started in 1963 by Jim Munro and his first wife, Alice Munro, and operated by Jim until 2014) has become a well-known and well-loved local landmark for readers. Lives of Girls and Women chronicles the life of Del Jordan, a young girl growing up in rural Ontario in the 1940s.
I read this one a little while back and to be honest, I don’t remember a lot of this book now, but I remember that I didn’t find it to be relaxing/enjoyable—although thought-provoking—and had quite a slow pace. I can see how Munro's short stories would be highly praised, much of this novel was written in a way that it could be fragmented into several stories rather than a unified novel as it doesn't tend to carry an overall plot or theme apart from “coming of age”. For me, I felt like the book was difficult to connect with as I didn’t form strong/amiable feelings towards characters or relate to them, and it wasn’t driven by a central plot which made it hard for me to read until the end. There are definitely passages that show the talented writing of Munro, and I feel like this book reflected much of her own life in its setting.
I read this one a little while back and to be honest, I don’t remember a lot of this book now, but I remember that I didn’t find it to be relaxing/enjoyable—although thought-provoking—and had quite a slow pace. I can see how Munro's short stories would be highly praised, much of this novel was written in a way that it could be fragmented into several stories rather than a unified novel as it doesn't tend to carry an overall plot or theme apart from “coming of age”. For me, I felt like the book was difficult to connect with as I didn’t form strong/amiable feelings towards characters or relate to them, and it wasn’t driven by a central plot which made it hard for me to read until the end. There are definitely passages that show the talented writing of Munro, and I feel like this book reflected much of her own life in its setting.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment
Second review: It was just as good the second time reading it, eight years later. Although in all that time, I never read anything else by Alice Munroe. I've just ordered a book of short stories.
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Been wanting to read some Alice Munro for a while now and I'm glad I finally did. I see what the big deal is. What beautiful writing. Can't wait to read some more!
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Been wanting to read some Alice Munro for a while now and I'm glad I finally did. I see what the big deal is. What beautiful writing. Can't wait to read some more!