- Paperback: 361 pages
- Publisher: Fitzhenry and Whiteside; Large Print Edition edition (May 30 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1550413163
- ISBN-13: 978-1550413168
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #804,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Munro's ( The Progress of Love ) unfailing sense of the timeless propels the stories in her seventh book to the point of quiet revelation. Writing often of Canadians in the provinces who look back on years past from the vantage point of middle or old age, she tells of an elderly man attempting a discreet exit from his life; a widow who seeks a better understanding of her late husband in his former Scottish stomping grounds; and a daughter who relates and then recasts a classic tale of female self-denial handed down as an uncomfortable inheritance by her mother. The last, the volume's title story, is an especially insightful work, suggesting both the opposition and communion between art and experience--between a daughter who will write as she likes and a mother whose steely mask forbids her to. It is difficult to do justice to Munro's magical way with characterization or to her unerring control of her own resources: she writes about the forging and dismantling of friendships, marriages, families and solitudes with a trenchant knowledge of life and fiction as conspiring forces of creation. BOMC and QPB alternates.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Munro is an established author, one of the few who have mastered the art of short story writing. This fine collection contains ten stories that are all good to read. Most--but not all--are about the inhabitants of small Canadian towns. The primary characters, mainly women, have diverse relationships with their families and other unusual acquaintances. The plots are sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, but always within the realm of realism. Very seldom does anything occur that seems too ridiculous to actually have happened to somebody one knows. Most readers will find these stories entertaining and often thought-provoking. Recommended for libraries already owning Munro's previous works and also for those that may have missed her in the past. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/89.
- Mary Prokop, CEL Regional Lib., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
- Mary Prokop, CEL Regional Lib., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brillant Characters,
By aphra "aphra" (california) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Friend of My Youth: Stories (Paperback)
This is the first collection of Ms. Munro's that I have read. Her insight into her characters is immense, the minute details she invests them with is remarkable. These stories have piqued my interest for Munro and I intend to read her other works. While Adultery is a theme in the stories, its more that the characters are adrift, searching for some kind of meaning.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Uncomfortable stories,
By Manola Sommerfeld (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Friend of My Youth: Stories (Paperback)
I was a bit let down by this compilation. I really enjoyed "The Love of a Good Woman", but the stories in "Friend of my Youth" started to sound a bit repetitious after a while. Of the 10 stories, 7 had a cheating spouse in them. There were some variations on the theme, but in the most common it was the wife who committed adultery, usually resulting in her abandoning her children and moving somewhere else. This common theme became too hard to bear after a while. After reading the book i felt overexposed to this (seemingly) widespread malaise of society. The writing is fine, and the character development is excellent (i can only imagine how hard it must be to achieve this in a short story), but i wish Alice Munro had explored other human passions and/or vices apart from infidelity.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful, understated characters leave one thinking,
By jennifer_thompson@hp.com (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Friend of My Youth: Stories (Paperback)
Reading stories such as "Differently," about a woman's reminiscences and regret about the people of her past made me reflect that life turns out differently than our original aspirations. It isn't always regret, but it is rarely indifferent. As soon as I finished a story, I immediately wanted to reread it, and understand the character better. These are beautiful, gentle stories about lives that sometimes meander, sometimes change abruptly, but that are always determined by the choices and accidents of living. Munro's love, sometimes curiosity, for her characters is a privilege to experience.
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