moldy's review against another edition
returned to library (borrowed a different edition)
laurafd's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
michaeloconnor's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
zena_ryder's review against another edition
5.0
I rarely read short stories because I like to spend more time with characters, which typically happens in a novel. But this collection is a series of short stories that focus on the same main character (Rose) and are collected in chronological order — so the whole book reads almost like a novel.
The first story starts in post-war Ontario when Rose is a child, living with her father and stepmother. The stories progress through her life as she marries, has a child herself, has a career, and eventually goes back to her stepmother's home in Ontario.
Alice Munro is a brilliant short story writer. Her writing reminds me of Jane Austen. Both authors are masters of subtle subtext and witty understatement. Munro also beautifully describes little details that are highly evocative in very few words. Her characters are introspective without being self-indulgent.
This particular book was given to me by my husband's parents the first Christmas we spent together, in 1997. I read it back then, but don't think I've re-read it since. Now I'm eager to read some more Munro.
And here's a quote I enjoyed:
"Rose was just beginning to understand that the boys she knew, however incompetent they might seem, were going to turn into men, and be allowed to do things that you would think required a lot more talent and authority than they could have."
The first story starts in post-war Ontario when Rose is a child, living with her father and stepmother. The stories progress through her life as she marries, has a child herself, has a career, and eventually goes back to her stepmother's home in Ontario.
Alice Munro is a brilliant short story writer. Her writing reminds me of Jane Austen. Both authors are masters of subtle subtext and witty understatement. Munro also beautifully describes little details that are highly evocative in very few words. Her characters are introspective without being self-indulgent.
This particular book was given to me by my husband's parents the first Christmas we spent together, in 1997. I read it back then, but don't think I've re-read it since. Now I'm eager to read some more Munro.
And here's a quote I enjoyed:
"Rose was just beginning to understand that the boys she knew, however incompetent they might seem, were going to turn into men, and be allowed to do things that you would think required a lot more talent and authority than they could have."
crabbygirl's review against another edition
4.0
I was curious to re-read this book as an adult, or I mean precisely, an adult mother of teenage children. I remembered the stories being youth centered, meanwhile, they were not (did I only focus on the young one due to my age back then? or did I confuse it with Margaret Laurence books, like "bird in the house"?) And I remembered the mother/stepmother as hated by myself and the protagonist, but not so - rose has room in herself for much more layered emotions, including admiration and compassion. but the biggest surprise was finding, within it's pages, a story I had vividly remembered and retold many times in my life only to be NOT as I remembered. in my youth and innocence, I saw the protagonist as a victim of an action. with my matured viewpoint, I could see she had a more complicit role.
katrinkirjat's review against another edition
4.0
Munro on vaan huippu hyvä!
Kerjäläistyttö oli ihana kokonaisuus, mutta jotain jäin vähän kaipaamaan. En tosin tiedä että mitä. Jotain säröä ehkä?
Neljä ja puoli tähteä.
Kerjäläistyttö oli ihana kokonaisuus, mutta jotain jäin vähän kaipaamaan. En tosin tiedä että mitä. Jotain säröä ehkä?
Neljä ja puoli tähteä.
raulbime's review against another edition
4.0
"The thing she was ashamed of, in acting, was that she might have been paying attention to the wrong things, reporting antics, when there was always something further, a tone, a depth, a light, that she couldn't get and wouldn't get."
At this point I'm certain my friends are tired of hearing me talk about Alice Munro. But she's remarkable and they'll just have to put up with it, and this book, as well as the others by her, is testament to that. This is a collection of stories following Rose, a girl from a small town in Ontario, Canada, through childhood and well into adulthood.
Munro's mentioned influences of women writing of the American South, such as Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, are more pronounced in this book than any other by her I've read thus far. The setting, small poor towns; the attitudes of the people as complex as they are, bigoted and narrow-minded yet still empathetic, dignified and good-natured; the eccentric characters, usually in the peripheries, that help define the character of the towns.
Rose grows up in Hanratty, with her stepmother Flo, her father, and her step-brother. As a child it is attempted to instill a kind of humility in her. A humility that is a kind of self-preservation against ambitions that might turn into failure and humiliation, and that enforces a kind of belonging in individuals. Simplified: know your place, or as the title of a story (and the Canadian title of this book which I wish had been maintained for all editions) suggests, Who Do You Think You Are?
Rose however leaves this town and goes to university, marries and moves up the social ladder, divorces and moves down the social ladder, and becomes a known actress. Putting physical and formative distance between herself and her town, which on a certain level she can't outrun and is always coming back to in different ways.
This book is similar to [b:Lives of Girls and Women|14285|Lives of Girls and Women|Alice Munro|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320391660l/14285._SY75_.jpg|1322861], still by Munro, in structure. Each is a series of stories following a girl's development in a small town, and the stories are so interconnected and consistent that both books could be novels. The distinguishing feature being that each chapter or story in the books doesn't function as a chapter in a novel typically would, meaning that they can and do stand by themselves; whereas a random chapter in the standard novel can make for a disorienting reading experience when read by itself. This book is just as great a read as [b:Lives of Girls and Women|14285|Lives of Girls and Women|Alice Munro|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320391660l/14285._SY75_.jpg|1322861] too.
At this point I'm certain my friends are tired of hearing me talk about Alice Munro. But she's remarkable and they'll just have to put up with it, and this book, as well as the others by her, is testament to that. This is a collection of stories following Rose, a girl from a small town in Ontario, Canada, through childhood and well into adulthood.
Munro's mentioned influences of women writing of the American South, such as Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, are more pronounced in this book than any other by her I've read thus far. The setting, small poor towns; the attitudes of the people as complex as they are, bigoted and narrow-minded yet still empathetic, dignified and good-natured; the eccentric characters, usually in the peripheries, that help define the character of the towns.
Rose grows up in Hanratty, with her stepmother Flo, her father, and her step-brother. As a child it is attempted to instill a kind of humility in her. A humility that is a kind of self-preservation against ambitions that might turn into failure and humiliation, and that enforces a kind of belonging in individuals. Simplified: know your place, or as the title of a story (and the Canadian title of this book which I wish had been maintained for all editions) suggests, Who Do You Think You Are?
Rose however leaves this town and goes to university, marries and moves up the social ladder, divorces and moves down the social ladder, and becomes a known actress. Putting physical and formative distance between herself and her town, which on a certain level she can't outrun and is always coming back to in different ways.
This book is similar to [b:Lives of Girls and Women|14285|Lives of Girls and Women|Alice Munro|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320391660l/14285._SY75_.jpg|1322861], still by Munro, in structure. Each is a series of stories following a girl's development in a small town, and the stories are so interconnected and consistent that both books could be novels. The distinguishing feature being that each chapter or story in the books doesn't function as a chapter in a novel typically would, meaning that they can and do stand by themselves; whereas a random chapter in the standard novel can make for a disorienting reading experience when read by itself. This book is just as great a read as [b:Lives of Girls and Women|14285|Lives of Girls and Women|Alice Munro|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320391660l/14285._SY75_.jpg|1322861] too.
silviasbookreviews's review against another edition
3.0
No sé muy bien qué poner en esta review más allá de que creo que este libro no era para mí. Soy capaz de admirar los puntos fuertes de esta novela, como una pluma bastante ligera y reflexiva, la nostalgia del pasado y la búsqueda de uno mismo. Sin embargo, a mí no me ha terminado de convencer. Sí, Rose como protagonista es muy potente: pone de relieve no solo sus defectos, sino también de los de su alrededor. Y es que al final todos los personajes están marcados por su incapacidad para cambiar. También puedo ver el potente atractivo de recrearse en el pasado y de hacer esa yuxtaposición entre el pasado y el presente/futuro. Pero, aun así, me ha sido muy difícil empatizar con la protagonista o con cualquier otro personaje. Aunque puedo reconocer que es una novela bellísimamente escrita, no es una lectura que me haya cambiado la vida, mucho menos que me haya marcado en cualquier aspecto. Es otro libro que añado a la pila de leídos, sin más. Es, en cierto modo, un poco triste cuando eso ocurre, pero bueno, supongo que no todas las lecturas son espectaculares 😅.
lkj795's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bersta's review against another edition
Very slow paced and characters that aren't relatable