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kierscrivener's review against another edition
4.0
Alice Munro is a renown Canadian author, particularly well known for her short stories in the style of Southern Ontario gothic, where she draws on the uncomfortable and unnerving current beneath the veneer of polite society.
She captures the changing dynamic of the twentieth century, particularly in the trilogy of the short stories following Juliet throughout her life.
In some parts, I am reminded of Shirley Jackson's short stories that poke through the veneer of society to the insidiousness beneath. But these are not so unnerving as they are uncomfortable. I would read more Munro, but less out of compulsion then curiosity, I think. Her stories are off kilter hues of ordinary, though nothing deeply sinister happens. As every time we could veer into horror, she surprises us with the mundane, substituting a goat for a wife, a letter for a confrontation. The most disturbing route we take is in Trespass where the plot is tied to substitution most strongly.
But Runaway is a collection that the more I think on, the more I read on, the more I write on, the more I am compelled. I am one of the strange ones who delights most in analyzing and researching and I love most: stories that make me dwell, think, and read outside the text. And I am more than a little partial to writing that makes me want to write. She creates an allure to writing short stories when also demystifying them with her plainness.
Part of my road to reading this collection is tied to last year's realization that outside of my childhood and poetry I had consumed vertically no Canadian literature. Throughout last year and kicked into high gear this year, I have been reading Canadians – both acclaimed and more niche. And it is a little like a drug, I spent my life reading of places not my own, which was fine in fantasy, but reading contemporary literature always felt strange, off putting; with places, customs, and attitudes represented as universal that I had no window to understand.
So everytime I see geography, read attitudes and things distinctly Canadian I am consumed. I know the landscape of these people, of these places, and after years of being told that America and American stereotypes of Canada is what our world is – it's like taking a gasp of air without pollution.
Little things like the Stratford Festival, and the large population of Dutch immigrants in southern Ontario following World War II. Of Carleton Place and Guelph and all the little towns I can trace in my mind but have never seen in a book. It adds a level that I can't fully explain. That makes me outlandishly happy and emotional.
Many themes and archetypes carry through these eight stories, most notably a female protagonist who is unmarried. The circumstance around her singleness changes from age to age (whether young or widowed), or like Juliet in a relationship but decidedly unmarried and proud of the untraditional relationship, except for Carla in our title story, who is running away from her abusive husband – but unable to escape. This again reminds me of Jackson and her exploration of femininity, relationships and age. Characters like Nancy, Tessa, Eileen and Juliet do spend part of the time married (or married adjacent) but like Carla none of them are particularly happy or satisfied or peaceful in their matrimony. All of them at one time or another are betrayed or hurt by their partner, and it is only Robin in her lifelong singleness (though not virginity as she notes both her school friends and old friends assume) that remarks is happier for the relationship dissolving in an instance and not in a slow hurtful way. It is easy to see her and Grace as mirrors for Carla and Juliet. The way Robin meets/interacts with Danilo seems uncannily similar to Juliet and Eric earlier. Thusly, the collision of working class and middle/upper class in two people at a workplace is similar in Runaway and Passion. And Grace's rejection and Mrs Travars breakdown can be seen as the two choices Carla was in between. As she once was a young girl with dreams and now is a married woman stuck in an unhappy, stifled life.
Published in 2004, but set primarily in mid twentieth century, we see women who continually break the mode intellectually from what is expected. Carla was once on a path to become a veterinarian, Juliet is a classics major/teacher, Grace took grade thirteen not once but twice so she could receive as much free education as possible (in Canada until 2003 grade thirteen was a non compulsory fifth year for those who wanted to pursue post secondary, so for Grace who never had any hopes of pursuing university, the idea of a first grade thirteen would have been 'vanity' despite a second).
"Not worn out like their car"
Is one of the many lines that struck me in its simplicity, beauty and explorable depth. It is a short line that conveys character and dynamic, socio-economic status and so much more. It is the kind of line that she masters and why I am unsure I can write short stories – exhibit one: this needlessly long and in depth review, analysis and reflection.
When focusing on my own experience I don't want neglect the reality that representation is a much bigger conversation that hurts and harms people much more than it does Canada. Our exclusion and misrepresentation is mostly benign compared to the often racist, xenophobic, cruel, and dehumanizing ways most non American/UK countries and people of colour have been represented or excluded in stories. And Munro is not innocent in this, she repeatedly uses the slur for the Romani people as an adjective throughout these stories. An though this is not done in a malicious way, it still furthers the harmful stereotypes that have real life consequences in marginalization and violence against the Romani people.
CW: domestic abuse (particularly verbal), animal cruelty, loss of a child, drug and alcohol use, mental health, death (of a child), fatphobia, mentioned sexual harassment/molestation, sexism (especially in academia), suicide, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, electroshock therapy, institutionaliztion, Romani slur used as adjective
She captures the changing dynamic of the twentieth century, particularly in the trilogy of the short stories following Juliet throughout her life.
In some parts, I am reminded of Shirley Jackson's short stories that poke through the veneer of society to the insidiousness beneath. But these are not so unnerving as they are uncomfortable. I would read more Munro, but less out of compulsion then curiosity, I think. Her stories are off kilter hues of ordinary, though nothing deeply sinister happens. As every time we could veer into horror, she surprises us with the mundane, substituting a goat for a wife, a letter for a confrontation. The most disturbing route we take is in Trespass where the plot is tied to substitution most strongly.
But Runaway is a collection that the more I think on, the more I read on, the more I write on, the more I am compelled. I am one of the strange ones who delights most in analyzing and researching and I love most: stories that make me dwell, think, and read outside the text. And I am more than a little partial to writing that makes me want to write. She creates an allure to writing short stories when also demystifying them with her plainness.
Part of my road to reading this collection is tied to last year's realization that outside of my childhood and poetry I had consumed vertically no Canadian literature. Throughout last year and kicked into high gear this year, I have been reading Canadians – both acclaimed and more niche. And it is a little like a drug, I spent my life reading of places not my own, which was fine in fantasy, but reading contemporary literature always felt strange, off putting; with places, customs, and attitudes represented as universal that I had no window to understand.
So everytime I see geography, read attitudes and things distinctly Canadian I am consumed. I know the landscape of these people, of these places, and after years of being told that America and American stereotypes of Canada is what our world is – it's like taking a gasp of air without pollution.
Little things like the Stratford Festival, and the large population of Dutch immigrants in southern Ontario following World War II. Of Carleton Place and Guelph and all the little towns I can trace in my mind but have never seen in a book. It adds a level that I can't fully explain. That makes me outlandishly happy and emotional.
Many themes and archetypes carry through these eight stories, most notably a female protagonist who is unmarried. The circumstance around her singleness changes from age to age (whether young or widowed), or like Juliet in a relationship but decidedly unmarried and proud of the untraditional relationship, except for Carla in our title story, who is running away from her abusive husband – but unable to escape. This again reminds me of Jackson and her exploration of femininity, relationships and age. Characters like Nancy, Tessa, Eileen and Juliet do spend part of the time married (or married adjacent) but like Carla none of them are particularly happy or satisfied or peaceful in their matrimony. All of them at one time or another are betrayed or hurt by their partner, and it is only Robin in her lifelong singleness (though not virginity as she notes both her school friends and old friends assume) that remarks is happier for the relationship dissolving in an instance and not in a slow hurtful way. It is easy to see her and Grace as mirrors for Carla and Juliet. The way Robin meets/interacts with Danilo seems uncannily similar to Juliet and Eric earlier. Thusly, the collision of working class and middle/upper class in two people at a workplace is similar in Runaway and Passion. And Grace's rejection and Mrs Travars breakdown can be seen as the two choices Carla was in between. As she once was a young girl with dreams and now is a married woman stuck in an unhappy, stifled life.
Published in 2004, but set primarily in mid twentieth century, we see women who continually break the mode intellectually from what is expected. Carla was once on a path to become a veterinarian, Juliet is a classics major/teacher, Grace took grade thirteen not once but twice so she could receive as much free education as possible (in Canada until 2003 grade thirteen was a non compulsory fifth year for those who wanted to pursue post secondary, so for Grace who never had any hopes of pursuing university, the idea of a first grade thirteen would have been 'vanity' despite a second).
"Not worn out like their car"
Is one of the many lines that struck me in its simplicity, beauty and explorable depth. It is a short line that conveys character and dynamic, socio-economic status and so much more. It is the kind of line that she masters and why I am unsure I can write short stories – exhibit one: this needlessly long and in depth review, analysis and reflection.
When focusing on my own experience I don't want neglect the reality that representation is a much bigger conversation that hurts and harms people much more than it does Canada. Our exclusion and misrepresentation is mostly benign compared to the often racist, xenophobic, cruel, and dehumanizing ways most non American/UK countries and people of colour have been represented or excluded in stories. And Munro is not innocent in this, she repeatedly uses the slur for the Romani people as an adjective throughout these stories. An though this is not done in a malicious way, it still furthers the harmful stereotypes that have real life consequences in marginalization and violence against the Romani people.
CW: domestic abuse (particularly verbal), animal cruelty, loss of a child, drug and alcohol use, mental health, death (of a child), fatphobia, mentioned sexual harassment/molestation, sexism (especially in academia), suicide, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, electroshock therapy, institutionaliztion, Romani slur used as adjective
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Dementia, and Abortion
hollymaley's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Well written, but I'm not sure what the point of the book is. Filled with sad stories of selfish people, and made me feel icky and upset. Didn't get much out of it at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, and Abortion
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Alcoholism and Rape