Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great book! I have read many Alice Munro's short stories, but never delved deeply on any of her books. More than a novel this is a collection of stories set on a town with common characters. I know it os autobiographical since there are many parallels between Del and Munro, and that only makes it more vivid. The town is alive, the characters are great, the stories are both exhilarating and painful. I really loved the book, but the ending is a short story ending, somehow left unfinished. That is why I will not give it 5 stars!
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this was my first book by Alice Munro and I really liked it. A moving coming of age story
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lives of Girls and Women is brilliant. I knew from the second or third short story that Munro was one of my favourite writers; the rest of the book unfolded even more beautifully. Page to page, paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence, Munro transfixes you. I'd started writing out my favourite quotes from this book, but gave up very quickly; turn the page, and there are seven more things I'm rapt with.
At the heart of this book is a tender relationship with provinciality; Lives bleeds quotidian charm, thick with small-town texture. We learn about Del Jordan's world as she is negotiating her place within it. Del is a sharp, funny, and honest narrator: she grew up in Jubilee, and more or less knows how to play-act the textbook provincial, but she also shares her mother's intellectuality and restless ambition. Far from being uncomfortable with this tension, though, Del uses her vantage point to explore every corner of Jubilee.
As charming as Jubilee and its bricolage of vivid characters may be, what Lives does best is explicit in its title. I struggle to name another work of fiction that better represents the sharp growing pains, and all their counterpart pleasures. Munro's narrator is sharp enough to recognise what is happening as it does, but never so detached as to make the reader indulge in spectacle. Del is perpetually self-aware, but this acuity never stops her from sincerely thinking and doing and feeling.
In short, this ticks every box. I'm left greedily wanting more of Munro's work, but perfectly satisfied with Lives.
At the heart of this book is a tender relationship with provinciality; Lives bleeds quotidian charm, thick with small-town texture. We learn about Del Jordan's world as she is negotiating her place within it. Del is a sharp, funny, and honest narrator: she grew up in Jubilee, and more or less knows how to play-act the textbook provincial, but she also shares her mother's intellectuality and restless ambition. Far from being uncomfortable with this tension, though, Del uses her vantage point to explore every corner of Jubilee.
As charming as Jubilee and its bricolage of vivid characters may be, what Lives does best is explicit in its title. I struggle to name another work of fiction that better represents the sharp growing pains, and all their counterpart pleasures. Munro's narrator is sharp enough to recognise what is happening as it does, but never so detached as to make the reader indulge in spectacle. Del is perpetually self-aware, but this acuity never stops her from sincerely thinking and doing and feeling.
In short, this ticks every box. I'm left greedily wanting more of Munro's work, but perfectly satisfied with Lives.