This one is not a part of the 20 Books of Summer challenge. I finished this while on the train back from Berlin.
I picked this book up a few years ago and it was sitting on my shelf–lugged from the States to Korea and now to Germany. I believe it was published shortly after Munro won the Nobel Prize for her contributions to literature. The collection is a group of stories that feature women characters and most were published previously in magazines or anthologies. I think maybe three or four were new for this book.
I really didn’t love this collection. Throughout, I found many stories to be without much substance. The characters often made choices that weren’t developed or just didn’t seem that important or sequential. I most enjoyed “Corrie,” where I felt like the characters were well-developed, believable, and that the twist at the end was entertaining and worth the investment. Otherwise, I found most stories to have enjoyable moments but to be mostly mundane overall.
Munro is celebrated for her contributions to the short fiction genre because she successfully manages great movements through a timeline within a story. She tells her stories with crisp detail that moves the reader along. This collection does exemplify these traits, but it’s not enough to excite me.
Stories From Out There 