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A review by betweenbookends
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
Munro's stories were a revelation. She shows you how a short story can be so much more than what you would expect. There are lot of writers writing about ordinary life in an extraordinary way, but Munro's writing has an unexpected intelligence to it. Her stories are deceptively deep and run the entire gamut of human emotions. Beyond the families, character dynamics, relationships and circumstances, all explored with an incredibly observant, clear eyed understanding of human nature, there is still something more to her stories. Something that can't quite be quantified or even described easily. Every story in this collection is a gem. But ofcourse, every collection has particular standouts.
The title story is one of the best opening stories I've read charting the serendipitous formation of a relationship between two unlikely people in unlikely circumstances.
Comfort follows a middle aged woman in a kind of spiritual conundrum following the death of her husband, a vehement atheist who took his own life, wondering if he is in a 'better' place now.
Nettles follows childhood sweethearts reunited perchance decades later and the looming tragedies of their independent lives.
Post and Beam is another beautifully haunting story that is impossible to encapsulate in a single sentence.
The Bear Came over the Mountain follows a husband having to put his wife in a care home following the onset of dementia and each finding love and solace in the unlikeliest places.
The rest of the stories were just as good. It's the kind of collection that must be included in any short story writing / literature course as the mastery and craft at play here is just on a whole other level.
The title story is one of the best opening stories I've read charting the serendipitous formation of a relationship between two unlikely people in unlikely circumstances.
Comfort follows a middle aged woman in a kind of spiritual conundrum following the death of her husband, a vehement atheist who took his own life, wondering if he is in a 'better' place now.
Nettles follows childhood sweethearts reunited perchance decades later and the looming tragedies of their independent lives.
Post and Beam is another beautifully haunting story that is impossible to encapsulate in a single sentence.
The Bear Came over the Mountain follows a husband having to put his wife in a care home following the onset of dementia and each finding love and solace in the unlikeliest places.
The rest of the stories were just as good. It's the kind of collection that must be included in any short story writing / literature course as the mastery and craft at play here is just on a whole other level.