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

4.0

This is a selection for one of my book groups and initially, I was not happy as I am not a short story fan. I have several volumes on my shelves and have read pieces from each, but I really struggle to enjoy them. When I first started The Beggar Maid, I was struggling with Alice Munro's style which included a lot of reminiscing and details. I was looking for more action. By the third story, I was hooked on the story of Flo and her step-daughter Rose who are from a small town. This series of interconnected stories follows Rose from childhood through her placing Flo in the town nursing home. Alice Munro writes beautifully and captures the nuances of this very fraught relationship with spare phrases of dialogue while saving words for descriptions. It is all the unsaid which made this book for me. All the characters assume things about each other, for to say them out in the open would be showy or rude which leads to many misunderstandings and hurt feelings as well as opportunities missed. These stories start soon after World War II and it is very much of its time when feelings were not discussed and dissected.I am looking forward to very interesting discussion later this week.