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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
Long-winded and a bit unengaging at first, but it really came together in the end.
dark
emotional
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
This novel illustrates well that Alice Munro writes great short stories. Each chapter is a self-contained short story. They are all about the same characters, and after a few chapter they shape a story together. In the end, it's a good book that explores a lot of interesting themes about growing up in post-WWII America with an "intellectual" mother in a rural area. Del is on the brink of the feminist movement and sexual revolution, and her mother is sometimes steps ahead of her, sometimes too far behind.
This book expanded my conception of what a novel is or can be. It's essentially a series of vignettes about a girl, Del Jordan, living in small-town Canada in the 1940s, and also her neighbors, friends, would-be predators, and eventual lovers. The writing is intelligent and beautiful.
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A charming and insightful coming of age story set in rural Canada. I appreciated her frank observations throughout. I wish there had been a bit more resolution at the end but enjoyed the book throughout.
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I've never read descriptions of the way people feel and act that are simultaneously so wise and nuanced and so clear. There were many moments when I'd think "I know just what she means but have never known how to say it." Very rich and realistic characterization.
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.