Too Much Happiness: Stories (Alice Munro)

I'm ashamed to admit I've never read anything by Alice Munro before. Of course, she's a critically acclaimed writer. This book garnered her the Man Booker Prize, though she lost to a pseudo-romance novel for a big prize in Canada. Actually, I read an article in the Washington Post about how this was a travesty. So, I decided to check it out from the library.

This is a collection of short stories, so if you're looking for a novel, move along. If you're looking for something easy to read, move along. The writing isn't particularly complicated, but I will admit that I felt all these stories had a point and it went totally over my head. The first story, about a woman who had basically the most awful thing possible happen to her at the hands of her husband, I did understand. Surprising, since my situation is nothing like hers, but I found the story heartbreaking and beautiful in its tragedy.

Most of the characters in the stories are older, so that's probably why the stories went a little over my head. I can't say that I've shared similar life experiences with them, although that should stop me from understanding them to a certain extent. Adultery makes up a good chunk of these stories and Munro takes a look at it from several sides. I did find her grasp of this theme fascinating.

The story that stuck with me the most, however, was Child's Play. The narrator of that story is an older woman that recounts her experiences with a special needs girl whose family rented a floor in the house where the narrator and her family live. I didn't like her from the beginning and I totally hated her at the end. Munro totally masters the subject. Her writing isn't judgmental at all, but it still manages to create quite a reaction. 

None of these stories have happy endings, actually, so if you're looking for something uplifting to read, move along. Still, I can't deny the power of Alice Munro's writing. She keeps it relatively simple, but you feel the undercurrents of complexity behind the deceptively bare writing. I can't say I will go out of my way to read more of her works for now, but I will be looking her up again later.

Next up: Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris, by Graham Robb