Diciassette racconti scelti dalla Munro per questa raccolta. Come sempre la prosa è raffinata, scorrevole. Alice Munro ambienta i suoi racconti soprattutto nei piccoli centri dell’Ontario sudoccidentale, offrendo scorci di vita, con descrizioni attente alla realtà circostante ma anche con una straordinaria capacità di introspezione psicologica. I temi su cui ritorna sono le inquietudini adolescenziali, il rapporto con la famiglia, il matrimonio e le crisi, la vecchiaia e la solitudine. Margaret Atwood ha curato la prefazione individua il punto di forza dell'opera di Alice Munro affermando come "la grazia è ovunque, ma stranamente è nascosta: niente può essere previsto. Le emozioni prorompono. I pregiudizi si sgretolano. Le sorprese proliferano. Lo stupore balza fuori all'improvviso. Le azioni malvagie possono avere conseguenze positive. La salvezza giunge quando meno la si aspetta, e in forme singolari". ( )

Insightful short story into how life's decisions are made based on fear and insecurity. ( )

I read somewhere that Alice Munro's work is particularly difficult to write about and so it is. I left a gap between reading each story (necessary I think) and kept thinking how was it possible to make small town life and the people in it so interesting. I liked the way we are often surprised as readers to the jumps backwards and forwards in time without feeling these devices were too tricksy. ( )

This is a great intro to one of our greatest living writers -- a selection of the author's favorite stories, from across her long writing career.

Sigh....what to say about Alice Munro, other than she is a genius? She is a close observer of the internal struggles of her characters, and of domestic life. Like Alice McDermott, she has a wonderful eye for detail, and a talent for drawing characters that are incredibly real.

What I think sets her apart, though, is that while her writing is truly believable, she also has a knack for surprising the reader. There are twists and turns in her stories that will take you aback -- but they never feel contrived or thrown in for the sake of cheap effect. Rather, they are surprising in the way lives of regular, every day people can be suddenly surprising or startling.

Added bonus: though she is not a comic writer, you will find yourself laughing at some of the wry observations of her narrators.

Cannot recommend this book any more highly. Read all her books -- there isn't a bad one among the bunch. ( )

I've read other anthologies by Alice Munro. I got this to especially read "The Bear Came Over the Mountain", in anticipation of seeing "Away from Her". Munro's stories are not light reading -- one at a time is usually enough. The telling is rarely straightforward, often several threads are woven at the same time. Relationships are fascinating. Definitely a writer's writer. ( )