A review by thishannah
The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose by Alice Munro

5.0

Some of the most beautiful writing I have read recently. I kept having that feeling you get when you read a really gorgeous sentence or paragraph or scene and you just think, "WOW," and want to put it in your pocket and remember it forever. One of the critics' comments on the back of my copy used the phrase "psychological precision" and I don't think I could really put it any better. One of my favorite things about it was how it captured a person's feelings toward the people in the margins of their lives--people you might have met only a few times, or friends of friends and how profoundly they can affect you without ever knowing it. I also liked that it isn't really a novel but also isn't really a collection of short stories either...it imitates the patterns of life in a lovely way, highlighting small moments while sweeping over large accomplishments. This was my first Alice Munro book and I have a hunger for more.