Engaging story with interesting characters. Well told. ( )

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

After recently reading the wonderful [b:If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This: Fiction|9638482|If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This Fiction|Robin Black|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320554433s/9638482.jpg|7175136], I've been in a sort of short-stories binge these last few days. I enjoyed Robin Black's acclaimed short-stories so much that it certainly made me reconsider my preconceived notions about this genre.

So I went looking for a few more samples of good short stories and of course I had to start with the author that most people consider the queen of this genre, Alice Munro.
I have tried reading her in the past but perhaps I was not a mature enough reader to get her writing.

After reading some blogs on Alice Munro's writing, I decided to get some samples of her stories. [b:The Office|25483960|The Office (A Vintage Short)|Alice Munro|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430818820s/25483960.jpg|45257545] is the fifth story in Alice Munro’s first short story collection, [b:Dance of the Happy Shades: And Other Stories|863507|Dance of the Happy Shades And Other Stories|Alice Munro|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320488279s/863507.jpg|848931], which was published in 1968.

[b:The Office|25483960|The Office (A Vintage Short)|Alice Munro|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1430818820s/25483960.jpg|45257545] is set in the early 1950's and relates the story of an aspiring writer and her attempts to find the perfect place to do her writing.
Our narrator, who remains nameless throughout, believes that an office would provide an ideal place away from her home with all the interruptions and mundane distractions she encounters as a homemaker, a "Room of One's Own" as Virginia Woolf put it.

Working inside the home is very different for a man than it's for a woman.
She remarks:

Imagine . . . a mother shutting her door, and the children knowing she is behind it; why, the very thought of it is outrageous to them. A woman who sits staring into space, into a country that is not her husband’s or her children’s is likewise known to be an offence against nature.

With her husband's support, she sets out to find her idyllic writer's shangri-la.
She eventually finds an office formerly occupied by a chiropractor and comes to an agreement to rent it with Mr. Malley, the landlord.
This is after all the 50's, so the idea of a woman writer seems to bother many people, including Mr. Malley, who truly becomes a nuisance interrupting and invading her space every chance he gets.

The interactions between our protagonist and Mr. Malley are delightful and funny, but you also feel her frustration with the lack of respect she's shown by this man.

I think that many writers would relate to this story, starting with its description of people providing ideas for their next book to trying to get a peek into their latest unfinished novel.

So overall this was a very rewarding short story. For what I've read, it might not represent Munro's typical style of writing but I truly enjoyed and I highly recommend it.

And the good news for me is that since she's been such a prolific writer I can look forward to many more great stories by her.
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