Munro-bagging

Alice Munro's reputation drew me to her short story collection "Runaway". She creates so much so sparingly and with a sense of containment, yet whole lives are being dissected in the space of a few restrained pages with the skill of a surgeon. Layers are peeled back to reveal just how a character fits into their 'skin', or what happens to them when that 'skin' is rubbed sore by the pinching, poorly fitting existence they inhabit.

Learning crops up frequently in the stories: a lack of it, the 'wrong' sort, too much of it, even, setting people apart when they are seeking acceptance, or at least to find their own level relative to others. Themes of loss, leaving, perception and illusion are all explored. She says of one character: "Her memories, and the embroidery on her memories, just kept wearing a deeper groove", while another woman revisits the scene of major events in her early life looking for "Perfect preservation, the past intact, when nothing of the kind could be said of herself" or to find "something so diminished, still existing but made irrelevant....might be less hurtful in the long run."

While the stories are melancholic in their portraits of delapidated lives, (and interestingly the 'sunroom' seems to be a recurring motif, suggesting the need for light and energy to be let into otherwise stifling environments), this is not a depressing collection but a powerful work, compelling and meaningful.

Comments

[Peg]

Your beautifully written comments make me want to get another Alice Munro book to read. I will borrow from the library, but watch for a copy to come into our book sort and buy one. I am in charge of the adult fiction, and even though the books sell for $1.00, they are a tough sell. The used book stores here will only take pocket books and the tradebacks, and 'readers' sell their books back to the used bookstores!

[Charity]

This sounds very interesting, Karen. Yet another author I haven't read before, but one I'd like to check out! :0)

[Bluestalking Reader]

Okay, even more reason for me to overcome my natural aversion to short stories... Will bump it up a few levels on the TBR list. Wish it luck! ;-)

[Nan]

Sometimes short stories are just the ticket. Three of my most beloved writers use this form often; John Mortimer, Rex Stout, and P.G. Wodehouse. They use the same characters as in longer works, but just tell a shorter story. I haven't read too many others except for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. I am always amazed at how much can be said in so few words. A whole life experience told in 20 pages. Speaking of pages, is there a number that moves the short story into the novella category? Maybe what I call short stories are really not?