Minutes July book: Runaway

Runaway 

by Alice Munro

(chosen by KE)





KE was struggling to make a book choice, so I offered some suggestions that had been passed on to me by my osteopath who is a voracious and discerning reader.  Runaway by Alice Munro was one of those titles. KE chose it on that recommendation, and also based on the fact the we had never done a collection of short stories before.

About the author:

Alice Munro won the Man Booker International Prize for 2009 for her lifetime body of work. She has written eleven collections of stories, and one novel, Lives of Girls and Women. She is much-awarded and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The Beggar Maid. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, and other publications, and her collections have been translated into thirteen languages. She lives with her husband in Ontario, Canada.

(general biographical detail from the publisher's website)

What the publisher says about the book:

The bestselling collection by the greatest short story writer in the world. The matchless Munro makes art out of everyday lives in this dazzling new collection. At its centre are three stories connected into one marvellously rich narrative about Juliet - who escapes from teaching at a girls' school and throws herself into a wild and passionate love match. Here are men and women of wildly different times and circumstances, their lives made vividly palpable by the nuance and empathy of Munro's writing. Runaway is about the power and betrayals of love, about lost children, lost chances. There is pain and desolation beneath the surface, like a needle in the heart, which makes these stories more powerful and compelling than anything she has written.

What we discussed about the book:

• Did we all realize it was a collection of short stories when we started reading? At what point did that become clear?
• How did Munro create so much story in so few pages each time? What devices did she use to do that?
• Likewise, characterisation...how did Munro create such depth and richness in the characters, with fewer words than a novel?
• Was there a linking theme throughout all the stories? 
• Did all the stories contain an element of lack of hope?
• In what ways were these stories about women making choices and struggling to be free of conventional restraints?
• Were the women in these stories generally dissatisfied with their lives and/or choices?
• How did the idea of running away (i.e Runaway) feature in various stories?
• What effect did huge gaps in chronology have in some of the stories? i.e allowing the story to move forward rapidly
• The various styles of writing employed - e.g. 'Powers': written from several points of view, 'Tricks': reflecting Shakespearean tragedy, '
• Did we agree or disagree with the idea that 'plot is secondary and little happens' in these stories?
• Were all the female characters fatally flawed?
• In what ways did these stories turn on the 'chance moments' in life?

And then we were sidetracked into:

• Why does an author chose to write short stories rather than novels? 
• How popular are short stories? Who reads them? Why or why not?
• What is 'Southern Ontario Gothic'?
• What was the link with Jonathan Franzen? (i.e. introduction in revised edition)

In other news we discussed:

• Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, Penang, Langkawi...
• The appearance on Offspring of the Life's Little Treasures logo
• Sleep and/or lack of it. 
• Books people are talking about at the moment: 50 Shades of Grey, Game of Thrones, Bringing up the Dead, The Bolter. 

Ratings:
Range: 6 to 9
Average:  7.57

Next book: Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton (chosen by Domestic Goddess)