The first thing I remember hearing about Munro (besides that she is Canadian and a Man Booker Prize winner) was that she wrote stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives. Munro's particular gift is writing about relationships. Adultery seems to be a theme, with various outcomes. I've always thought it a strange statement when people describe a book or a movie (ha, or childbirth) "It will break your heart in the best possible way." However, I felt that truth in this collection. It gets gritty in highlighting ways we disappoint each other, but manages to be subtle at the same time- which packs an emotional punch with it's realness.
As far as writing quality, she was right in there with other great short story collections I've read, from Julie Orringer's How to Breathe Underwater to Joan Wickersham's The News from Spain: Seven Variations on a Love Story. Munro doesn't need flowery language or tons of dialogue, her sentences are often sparse and spot on.
I started off loving this collection of stories, but unfortunately toward the middle they started running together for me a little. The characters and situations were different, but the prevailing issues of adultery or some other form of abandonment started to wear me down. She does write realistically and well. While I realize life is rarely a fairy-tale with a storybook ending, I felt a sense of despair reading most of them, like I was waiting for the impending shoe to drop. I wanted some ice cream and tissues after 2/3 of the book, so that was a little taxing. Of course, this could be my mood at the time I picked this up as well.
Also, the same thing that frustrates me with short stories in general raised it's ugly head with this book too... going "meh" with some, and being bummed that others ended when I wanted so much more development. I always try to think of each story like a snapshot in time, but my love for novels makes this hard to do! This is obviously a personal reading preference and no reflection on the quality of this book. I would like to read more Munro when I'm in the mood for short stories, because I admire her prose and themes. She is also immensely celebrated and prolific, with many more collections. I'll return to her great writing when I'm in the right head space for these topics.
No comments:
Post a Comment