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steller0707 's review for:
Lives of Girls and Women: A Novel
by Alice Munro, Alice Munro
The title of this novel by short story writer Alice Munro comes from the chapter of the same name in which Del Jordan's mother says to her "there is a change coming I think in the lives of girls and women. Yes. But it is up to us to make it all come. . . ". Published in 1972 during the rise of modern feminism its main characters are girls and women and their "making sense" of their world.
Like Munro's "The Beggar Maid," published later, this book consists of interconnected stories. However, the time frame here is much shorter than the later one and, therefore with fewer gaps in time, reads more like a novel.
It is the coming-of-age story of Del Jordan, from her early years at home on the farm, through her school days in town and, finally, graduation from high school. We learn of her early interest in reading and writing, and see her shaping her spiritual beliefs, sharing tittilating secrets with her best friend, her first crushes and first loves. Vignettes of people and events give a nostalgic and often very funny view of small town life.
The characters in the story are so carefully drawn with Munro's characteristic turn of phrase that they are brought vividly to life. None is more alive than Del's mother and her relationship with Del. While often disparaging of the remarks and advice of her mother, Del grows up with her own version of her mother's worldview.
An epilogue, a story in itself, describes Del's imagining her first short story, how it would be about her small town, and how she would change names and places to create something new, but based on truth. I suspect it is how this novel was constructed.
This early book is one in an oeuvre of work worthy of the Nobel Prize for literature, which Munro won in 2013.
Like Munro's "The Beggar Maid," published later, this book consists of interconnected stories. However, the time frame here is much shorter than the later one and, therefore with fewer gaps in time, reads more like a novel.
It is the coming-of-age story of Del Jordan, from her early years at home on the farm, through her school days in town and, finally, graduation from high school. We learn of her early interest in reading and writing, and see her shaping her spiritual beliefs, sharing tittilating secrets with her best friend, her first crushes and first loves. Vignettes of people and events give a nostalgic and often very funny view of small town life.
The characters in the story are so carefully drawn with Munro's characteristic turn of phrase that they are brought vividly to life. None is more alive than Del's mother and her relationship with Del. While often disparaging of the remarks and advice of her mother, Del grows up with her own version of her mother's worldview.
An epilogue, a story in itself, describes Del's imagining her first short story, how it would be about her small town, and how she would change names and places to create something new, but based on truth. I suspect it is how this novel was constructed.
This early book is one in an oeuvre of work worthy of the Nobel Prize for literature, which Munro won in 2013.