The recent passing of Alice Munro, the respected and famous Canadian writer who won a Nobel Prize for Literature has created a rush on her books at the library and bookstores across the country. As I added my name to the waiting lists for her various books at the library, I ordered The Lives of Girls and Women from Amazon to read on Kindle and have been engrossed in it for more than a week.
To my great embarrassment and shame, I posted Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore eleven years ago when I first started my BoomerBroadcast.net blog. At that point, I had attempted to read Alice Munro’s books at various times over the years and just couldn’t get into them. Was I expecting too much plot, salacious sex, or mind-boggling mysteries? I don’t know why, but the appeal of her writing escaped me—until she died and like hordes of other Canadian women, I decided to re-read her writing. Now, I get it.
Have I matured? Have my tastes in reading material changed? All those years ago I found her stories tedious and boring, but now I thoroughly enjoy her writing, ironically for the same quiet, contemplative detail that women in particular understand.
Perhaps it is because we both come from a similar background. I too was born and raised in a small town in Southern Ontario. All her touchpoints are relatable—the physical and geographical makeup of her town, the river, the churches, the high school, the local restaurant, the hierarchy and value systems of the people in her community, their habits, and the secrets no one speaks of or shares.
I could relate to so much in The Lives of Girls and Women. She follows her main character Del from Grade Eight to Grade Thirteen (remember those days?). While this story takes place in the years immediately following World War II, life was not that different in the fifties and sixties when we boomers were growing up. Del’s mother was ahead of her time and their boarder, Fern, who worked at the post office is a familiar character to anyone who grew up in a small town. Just when I got all comfortable with the flow of her story based on my own experience growing up in a small town, Munro throws a curve and derails my smugness. Small-town life is not all church socials and simplicity. It’s complicated, complex, and often ugly, no different from real life anywhere.
We all make mistakes and I was dead wrong about Alice Munro all those years ago. I plan to repent by reading as much of her writing as I can get my hands on. It’s like she’s Canada’s own Jane Austen, or Grace Metalious (Peyton Place). How could I have been so wrong? I’ll be on the lookout for the next Alice Munro Festival.
If you are unable to obtain an Alice Munro book at your local bookstore or library, click on the Amazon links from the selection below to have it delivered to your front door.
Disclosure: I may receive a teeny, tiny commission. Thank you.
Family Furnishings: Selected Stories
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
And, there are so many more on Amazon. Dig in and have fun.
While you’re at it, order my latest book We’re Not Dead Yet about baby boomer lifestyle. It’s a great read for yourself or gift to a friend.
Discover more from BoomerBroadcast
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.