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Fixed on Fiction

Dear Life by Alice Munro

For our September meeting, Fixed on Fiction discussed Alice Munro’s Dear Life. Below is a brief summary of the short story collection, courtesy of Goodreads:

With her peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but spacious and timeless stories, Alice Munro illumines the moment a life is shaped -- the moment a dream, or sex, or perhaps a simple twist of fate turns a person out of his or her accustomed path and into another way of being. Suffused with Munro's clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, these stories (set in the world Munro has made her own: the countryside and towns around Lake Huron) about departures and beginnings, accidents, dangers, and homecomings both virtual and real, paint a vivid and lasting portrait of how strange, dangerous, and extraordinary the ordinary life can be.

Overall, Dear Life was not very well received by our group. When I asked for everyone’s thumbs up or down votes, we ended up with three thumbs down, three so-so, and two thumbs up. Here are some of the comments made when I asked for initial thoughts:

  • While I was reading, I kept asking myself- “Where is this going?” Then I realized there was no beginning, middle, and end. Instead it’s a collection of observations…snippets of life.
  • This was dismal, depressing, and disappointing. I expected a lot from a Nobel Prize winner…but this wasn’t extraordinary.
  • I found that about 80% of the stories were boring. The stories that did catch my interest actually made me angry (“To Reach Japan” and “Amundsen”). I wanted every story to pack a punch and they didn’t.
  • I normally like short stories and I kept waiting for the Nobel quality writing to start…but it didn’t.
  • This was a very dark read. My favorite story was “Amundsen” because the narrator had some sort of happy ending. Ultimately, I felt bad for all of these people, but I found it interesting to explore this period of time. These are all stories of loss and it was interesting to see these characters purposefully looking at unimportant things (like scenery) to avoid the important, difficult issues in their lives.
  • I enjoyed Dear Life and I’ve read Munro before. She is noted for her economy of words and taking a lot of time to write each story. Dear Life evoked a Southern Gothic feeling- similar to Flannery O’Connor. I especially enjoyed “Train” and the last four stories in the collection, which might be the closest Munro will come to telling her own story.
  • I appreciated the writing and I appreciated Munro being so concise. But I’m not a short story reader and I struggled to pick up on some sort of theme.

While we were unable to discuss all fourteen stories in the collection, we did have a few stories that stood out amongst our group.

“To Reach Japan”

  • I couldn’t understand how someone could expose her child to that sort of behavior (in which the narrator leaves her daughter alone on the train to pursue an affair). Readers then discussed if this was believable- if a parent would really behave this way. Sadly, we could quickly reference a few recent incidents in the news in which a child suffered greatly from a parents’ negligence.  
  • This was one of the few stories I enjoyed because there was a clear plot with a nice wrap-up
  • I couldn’t understand why the narrator would behave this way when the men were all unattractive and there was no joy in their union.  

“Dolly”

  • I read this story and immediately connected it to the dangers of Facebook…of how easy it is to contact people from your past. Getting in touch with your ex is just grounds for trouble.
  • This is a great example of how we tend to only remember the good times with someone from our past.
  • I thought the story’s introduction was really interesting…I was wondering if they would still carry out their own demise.

“Gravel”

  • I found this story especially disturbing because the narrator had to live with that guilt. But I did like how she spoke to Neal at the end as an adult-offered some sort of resolution for both the narrator and the readers.

These are just a few notes from our discussion. Please feel free to add additional thoughts on Dear Life in the comments section.

 

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