Last night I spent the evening reading several short stories by Lorrie Moore. But this morning I heard that Alice Munro had died at 92, and I decided to read one of Munro's stories for my post this week instead. Luckily, I have several of her books of short stories, and the one I decided on was Runaway, published in 2004. I read the title story.
All of the stories in this collection are longer stories, usually between 35 to 45 pages in length.
In "Runaway," Carla and Clark run a stable for boarding horses; they also provide trail rides to campers nearby and riding lessons for children. They live in a mobile home on their land. One morning, Carla sees their nearest neighbor, Sylvia Jamieson, driving home from a trip to Greece. Carla is afraid of what will happen when Clark discovers that Sylvia is home. What happens after that is surprising and unexpected. The story is an interesting look at marriages and relationships.
I liked the story, but it was a little unsettling.
The next three stories in this book are about a single character, Juliet. I hope to read them soon.
I don't have a lot of experience with Alice Munro's stories, but overall, I have been impressed with those that I have read. She is a Canadian author, and the settings of her stories are usually in Canada, which is an added attraction for me. Last year I read a collection of her stories published in 2012, Dear Life. My comments on those stories are here and here.
18 comments:
This short story collection sounds interesting; I enjoyed spending time riding horses at a riding stable when a preteen so that title story sounds intriguing.
Munro really wrote such good short stories, I think. Her death is a sad loss, Tracy, and I'm very glad you chose to focus on her work today.
I've read a lot of Alice Munro over the years. Sad to see her go...
It's strange that once we get to a certain age, even 92 seems way too young. She will be missed.
Terra, I have had little exposure to horses at any time in my life, but the main character in this story certainly loves working with horses.
Margot, it amazes me that her first collection of stories was published in 1968. I only have a few of her short story collections to read, but they are some good ones.
So true, George. I haven't read that much by Munro, but I will remedy that. Some of her stories are available at the New Yorker too.
Jerry, I was thinking along the same lines recently. That any age seems too young to die. Munro certainly accomplished a lot in her life.
Indeed. I've had a copy of her first collection for some years, and have been meaning to pull it out...soon, perhaps. Sadly, she'd been suffering with dementia in recent years.
I don't have a lot of experience with Munro's work either, and largely know of her because of her reputation. But the stories I've read of hers left a positive enough impression on me that I always at least took the time to look at her new books as they were published. It's a sad day, for sure.
I saw that today, too, and while I certainly know her name, I don't think I've ever read anything of hers. I enjoy short stories, so I need to pick out a collection.
Todd, I will be reading more in the Runaway collection, and I have also pulled out two other collections to sample. I think most of the stories I have read have been later stories.
Sam, it has been interesting reading some of the articles and obituaries that have come out since she died. She was a very determined and persevering author. I would be interesting in a biography of her life.
Kelly, I read the last collection she published in 2023 and later that year found several more of her short story books at an annual book sale. I will look for more this year.
Nice. I'm glad you resurrected your Alice Munro books. I have read & liked two of her collections : Dear Life and Too Much Happiness. I think my book club wants to read a book of hers in the fall. She was good at what she did ... weaving these stories and characters.
Susan, I was glad to get back to reading Alice Munro. Too Much Happiness is one of the books I have; Dear Life I read a few years ago (and liked). I am at a point in my reading this month where I am ready to pause the novels and read more short stories by Munro and work on (maybe) finishing a huge book of letters between the Mitford sisters.
Nancy Pearl in Book Lust talks about reading the Alices: Alice Munro, Alice McDermott Alice Adams and they are all excellent writers. I should have read more from them by now but at most I have read a short story or part of an Alice McDermott novel. Not sure why I have been holding back. Maybe it's because these writers I believe deal with life as it's really lived and I'm looking for more drama so I can escape. LOL
Butvp that's a mistake. I need to read more quality real life fiction.
Kathy, I have only read a small number of Alice Munro's stories, but I remember a good bit of drama in some of the stories I read. However, for me, short stories do not provide the escape that novels do, unless they are connected short stories, like Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. That may be why I avoided short stories for so long. And that may be why I am not that enthusiastic about nonfiction (in most cases) and why the book of letters between the Mitford sisters is not as entertaining for me.
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