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Runaway

Stories

(40)

| Hardcover | 9781400042814

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Book Description

In Alice Munro’s superb new collection, we find stories about women of all ages and circumstances, their lives made palpable by the subtlety and empathy of this incomparable writer.

The runaway of the title story is a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaContinue

In Alice Munro’s superb new collection, we find stories about women of all ages and circumstances, their lives made palpable by the subtlety and empathy of this incomparable writer.

The runaway of the title story is a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband. In “Passion,” a country girl emerging into the larger world via a job in a resort hotel discovers in a single moment of stunning insight the limits and lies of that mysterious emotion. Three stories are about a woman named Juliet–in the first, she escapes from teaching at a girls’ school into a wild and irresistible love match; in the second she returns with her child to the home of her parents, whose life and marriage she finally begins to examine; and in the last, her child, caught, she mistakenly thinks, in the grip of a religious cult, vanishes into an unexplained and profound silence. In the final story, “Powers,” a young woman with the ability to read the future sets off a chain of events that involves her husband-to-be and a friend in a lifelong pursuit of what such a gift really means, and who really has it.

Throughout this compelling collection, Alice Munro’s understanding of the people about whom she writes makes them as vivid as our own neighbors. Here are the infinite betrayals and surprises of love–between men and women, between friends, between parents and children–that are the stuff of all our lives. It is Alice Munro’s special gift to make these stories as vivid and real as our own.

Critics

  • Runaway First Person

    He taps in extreme well-being . And right away, he's swamped. In a world of free information, the journey of a single step begins in a thousand microcommunities. Inconceivable hours of global manpower have already trampled all over every thought he m ... (read full critics)

    evesalexandria published on Sun, 20 Nov 2011

  • SEEING THE WORLD THROUGH BOOKS » Blog Archive » Yukio Mishima–RUNAWAY HORSES

    “Be it thus that we, emulating the purity of the League of the Divine Wind, hazard ourselves for the task of purging away all evil deities and perverse spirits. Be it thus that we, forging deep friendship among ourselves, aid one another as comrades ... (read full critics)

    marywhipplereviews published on Mon, 17 Oct 2011

7 Reviews

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  • 4 people find this helpful

    In his introduction to Runaway, Jonathan Franzen rants and raves about Alice Munro, saying she is one of the most underappreciated writers of our time. His theory is that you do not come away from one of her books feeling educated, but instead KNOWING the characters, in and out, and recognizing them ... (continue)

    In his introduction to Runaway, Jonathan Franzen rants and raves about Alice Munro, saying she is one of the most underappreciated writers of our time. His theory is that you do not come away from one of her books feeling educated, but instead KNOWING the characters, in and out, and recognizing them. The subjects of her short stories are not lofty or pretentious. She deals with people, people, people, as Jonathan says. This is precisely what I loved about the book.

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    annemarie said on Jun 4, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    I was a bit let down given the buzz from NY times' endorsement. Meek, docile and trepid women, no matter how vividly the writer portrayed them, never won my heart.

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    meowmeow said on Jan 28, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Alice Munro, always the best speculator of humanity, of what make you human, with all contradiction and painful little betrayals. The 'Runaway' eponym story is absolute perfection, and the others are pretty close.

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    sexy said on Nov 30, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • I really don't like Munro's description of women as really weak, sad, unlucky beings.
    I'm not feminist but this is way toooo pessimistic for me!

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    Bleedindarklove said on Oct 15, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • I remember people who read my first short stories and told me that they were too sad.
    Well... don't read this book then!
    Munro's stories are sad, depressing although very true. Not boring at all, but they leave you in a state of sadness; the reader finds it difficult to start one of these ... (continue)

    I remember people who read my first short stories and told me that they were too sad.
    Well... don't read this book then!
    Munro's stories are sad, depressing although very true. Not boring at all, but they leave you in a state of sadness; the reader finds it difficult to start one of these stories without wanting to desperately know how it ends and hoping in a happy end! No happy ends my dears!
    I can't say I liked this book!

    Ricordo chi, leggendo i miei primi racconti, mi aveva detto che erano troppo tristi.
    Allora alle stesse persone sconsiglio vivamente questo libro.
    Profondamente tristi, ma anche autentici, i racconti della Munro, ti lasciano in uno stato di sconforto. Attenzione! Non sono per nulla noiosi e, anzi, iniziato uno si deve andare avanti per sapere come finisce, ma più che altro è la speranza in un lieto fine che ti spinge avanti. Scordatevi il lieto fine.
    Non posso sicuramente dire che mi é piaciuto!

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    Katia Guido said on Feb 10, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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