- Hardcover: 616 pages
- Publisher: Douglas Gibson Books; 1 edition (Nov 22 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0771085141
- ISBN-13: 978-0771085147
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.3 x 5.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 Kg
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #343,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
How the world sees Alice Munro (and Runaway):
“Alice Munro has a strong claim to being the best fiction writer now working in North America.”
—Jonathan Franzen, The New York Times Book Review
“Cynthia Ozick has said of Munro, that she is our Chekhov. But . . . she is our Flaubert, too. We couldn’t ask for more.”
—Claire Messud, Globe and Mail
“Alice Munro has devoted her career to the short story, and when reading her work it is difficult to remember why the novel was ever invented.”
—The Times (U.K.)
“Alice Munro has a strong claim to being the best fiction writer now working in North America.”
—Jonathan Franzen, The New York Times Book Review
“Cynthia Ozick has said of Munro, that she is our Chekhov. But . . . she is our Flaubert, too. We couldn’t ask for more.”
—Claire Messud, Globe and Mail
“Alice Munro has devoted her career to the short story, and when reading her work it is difficult to remember why the novel was ever invented.”
—The Times (U.K.)
Book Description
This is the book about one of the world’s great authors, Alice Munro, which shows how her life and her stories intertwine.
For almost thirty years Robert Thacker has been researching this book, steeping himself in Alice Munro’s life and work, working with her co-operation to make it complete. The result is a feast of information for Alice Munro’s admirers everywhere.
By following “the parallel tracks” of Alice Munro’s life and Alice Munro’s texts, he gives a thorough and revealing account of both her life and work. “There is always a starting point in reality,” she once said of her stories, and this book reveals just how often her stories spring from her life.
The book is chronological, starting with her pioneer ancestors, but with special attention paid to her parents and to her early days growing up poor in Wingham. Then all of her life stages — the marriage to Jim Munro, the move to Vancouver, then to Victoria to start the bookstore, the three daughters, the divorce, the return to Huron County, and the new life with Gerry Fremlin — leading to the triumphs as, story by story, book by book, she gains fame around the world, until rumours of a Nobel Prize circulate . . .
For almost thirty years Robert Thacker has been researching this book, steeping himself in Alice Munro’s life and work, working with her co-operation to make it complete. The result is a feast of information for Alice Munro’s admirers everywhere.
By following “the parallel tracks” of Alice Munro’s life and Alice Munro’s texts, he gives a thorough and revealing account of both her life and work. “There is always a starting point in reality,” she once said of her stories, and this book reveals just how often her stories spring from her life.
The book is chronological, starting with her pioneer ancestors, but with special attention paid to her parents and to her early days growing up poor in Wingham. Then all of her life stages — the marriage to Jim Munro, the move to Vancouver, then to Victoria to start the bookstore, the three daughters, the divorce, the return to Huron County, and the new life with Gerry Fremlin — leading to the triumphs as, story by story, book by book, she gains fame around the world, until rumours of a Nobel Prize circulate . . .
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Must for Munro Fans, July 9 2006
By Kyle Minor "reader" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives: A Biography (Hardcover)
Robert Thacker has written a respectful, enlightening biography of Alice Munro that focuses mostly upon the critical reception to her work and the personal and business circumstances that made possible her surprisingly large audience. He also spends plenty of time making the case, one way or the other, that Munro ought to be regarded as one of our great writers.Like many biographies written while their subjects are still alive, the memoir is fairly shallow in its probing of Munro's personal life. It sticks to the facts and avoids digging around much in the darker places, except to show where the work is reflective of difficult personal circumstances.
All this is very forgivable, because this is the only Munro biography we yet have, and it is plenty readable, and it is pleasing to spend a little more time thinking about Munro and her fine stories.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
I was a little disappointed, July 21 2008
By Reader in NYC - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives: A Biography (Hardcover)
As the previous reviewer points out, the treatment of Munro's life here is shallow. But I think the point of a biography is to reveal something about the real life of the public figure. There is nothing intimate or even especially human about this book. The better part of it seems devoted to recording all the praise Munro has ever received by editors, reviewers, etc. No one would buy a $40, 616-page book about Alice Munro if not already convinced that she is an extraordinary writer. I didn't feel I needed to read every scrap of adulation ever accorded to her. I wanted details about her life, her writing process, maybe an in-depth discussion of different stories. She's written tirelessly about adultery, tortured love affairs, estranged daughters. I was hoping for something specific or in-depth about how these themes have informed her own life. Again, that doesn't seem unreasonable for a biography. I'm not saying Thacker was wrong to resist visiting these places, especially as he is so star-struck and respectful of his still-living subject. But I am saying that this book was just too safe and careful to be interesting.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thacker's artistry, Sep 10 2011
By Ulrica Hume "author, An Uncertain Age" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives (Paperback)
It's true that there's nothing salacious about this book. Also that, at 600+ pages, it's the weight of a brick. Yet I obsessively read it. Robert Thacker writes well. I found myself wondering who he is. I know that he has "followed" Alice Munro for thirty-five years, because it says so in his bio. It's strange to devout one's life to gathering the (often dry) details of another's, but he has done just that. Thank God he doesn't attempt to explain her stories, rather he fixes them (sometimes ploddingly) to her past. If you can get through Part One: Ancestors, Parents, Home, you'll likely feel quite dizzy as a result. Learning the branches of her family tree is both fascinating and tiresome.That said, this scholarly work is something I cherish for the perspective it does give. It tells no more than I need to know, for to know too much might destroy the mystery. It tells enough. We learn that Alice Munro struggled, paid attention, was reasonably kind, and that throughout she was true to herself. Oh, and she wrote, since of course that is what a writer does. I don't know if she ever made grape jelly, nor do I particularly want to.
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