A review by mamalemma
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories by Alice Munro

3.0

Alice Munro is a master of the short story. Truly — a genuine master. But as much as I want to, I just can’t love short stories. I need to immerse myself in someone’s life, sit with them awhile, know everything. Short stories are over too quickly, even when they are written superbly. Invariably, after a short story collection, I have forgotten everything, though later on — even years later — a fleeting moment or memory will come to me, almost as if I were recalling a story about a friend’s life, and I will realize it was from a short story. Then, I will know I have read something extraordinary, but I don’t often feel it in the moment. I can’t say for certain, but I think one of the stories in this book (whose name I already can’t recall — something Bear Mountain or so?) will come back. It’s a haunting tale of an elderly husband as he struggles with the mental decline of his wife. I could spend a lot more time with that couple — and in the end notes, it appears a movie has been made so I can. The rest of the stories? Sadly, I have already forgotten. If you are a short story fan, this is a gem; of, like me, you need more, I would pass this one by.