Hateship, friendship, courtship, loveship, marriage

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Summary

A collection of short fiction explores the complexities of human relationships and emotions in stories about a housekeeper entering old-maidhood whose life is transformed by a practical joke and a lifelong philanderer who finds the tables turned.

Contents

Hateship, friendship, courtship, loveship, marriage
Family furnishings
Comfort
Queenie
Nettles
Post and beam
What is remembered
The bear came over the mountain.

Published Reviews

Booklist Review: "It's said that the devil is in the details, but in Munro's pristine and enrapturing stories, the details hold magic. Her celebrated stories work not only because her characters are so utterly human in their mixed feelings but also because she lavishes keen attention on every article of clothing, body feature, setting, and carefully dealt line of dialogue. Munro's people are insular country folk living simply and earnestly in small towns in Ontario or outside Vancouver, and while they chafe against tradition, they are leery of outright conflict or any talk that might seem intrusive or self-aggrandizing. Thoughts and feelings, especially women's, are to be kept to one's self. Munro's male characters, such as the biology teacher done in by creationists in "Comfort," are fascinating, but her piercing and witty stories revolve around women navigating the vagaries of marriage, bolstering frail egos and burying desire while coming to the rescue in the face of illness and death. But there are women, too, who walk away from duty, seeking solitude, even the solace of writing. Opulent in their beauty and gem-bright psychology, the extraordinary stories in Munro's tenth stellar collection span the spectrum from romance to tales of manners to deep meditations on love and mortality, and all evince Munro's profound understanding of the power of memories and the stories we tell ourselves. Donna Seaman"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "A writer of Munro's ilk hardly needs a hook like the intriguing title of her 10th collection to pull readers into her orbit. Serving as a teasing introduction to these nine brilliantly executed tales, the range of mentioned relationships merely suggests a few of the nuances of human behavior that Munro evokes with the skill of a psychological magician. Johanna Parry, the protagonist of the title story, stands alone among her fictional sisters in achieving her goal by force of will. A rough, uneducated country girl, blatantly plain ("her teeth were crowded into the front of her mouth as if they were ready for an argument"), she seems doomed to heartbreak because of a teenager's trick, but the bracingly ironic denouement turns the reader's dire expectations into glee. The women in the other stories generally cannot control their fate. Having finally been reunited with the soul mate of her youth, the narrator of "Nettles" discovers that apparently benevolent fate can be cruel. In a similar moment of perception that signals the end of hope, Lorna in "Post and Beam" realizes that she is condemned to a life of submission to her overbearing, supercilious husband; ironically, her frowsy country cousin envies Lorna's luck in escaping their common origin. In nearly every story, there's a contrast between the behavior and expectations of country people and those who have made it to Toronto or Vancouver. Regardless of situation, however, the basics of survival are endured in stoic sorrow. Only the institutionalized wife of a philanderer in "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" manages to outwit her husband, and she has to lose her sanity to do it. All of the stories share Munro's characteristic style, looping gracefully from the present to the past, interpolating vignettes that seem extraneous and bringing the strands together in a deceptively gentle windup whose impact takes the breath away. Munro has few peers in her understanding of the bargains women make with life and the measureless price they pay. (Nov.) Forecast: Munro's collections are true modern classics, as the 75,000 first printing of her latest attests. Expect vigorous sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Additional Information

Subjects	Women Canada Fiction Women Psychology Fiction Literature Short Stories Fiction Canada Social life and customs 20th century Fiction. Electronic books. 20th century
Publisher	New York :Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group2007 2007
Contributors	OverDrive, Inc.
Language	English
System Details	Mode of access: World Wide Web. Format: Adobe EPUB eBook Format: Kindle Book Format: OverDrive READ Requires Adobe Digital Editions or Amazon Kindle
Description	1 online resource
ISBN	9780307426192 030742619X
Other	Classic View