Alice Munro: A Double Life

by Catherine Sheldrick Ross

Canadian-born Alice Munro has established herself as one of the world's finest contemporary short story-writers. Since the publication of her first collection, Dance of the Happy Shades in 1968, she has tantalized a steadily expanding readership with her ability to present, “ordinary life so that it appears luminous, invested with a kind of magic.” In Alice A Double Life, the first full-length biography of Munro, Ross charts the development of Munro as a wife/mother and serious writer, and her struggle to balance the demands of this “double life.”

Genres: Biography, Canada, Literary Criticism

97 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

Catherine Sheldrick Ross FRSC (November 4, 1945 – September 11, 2021) was a professor and later dean of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at University of Western Ontario. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Ross earned her undergraduate and master's degree at the University of Toronto before completing her PhD at the University of Western Ontario. In 1995, Ross was awarded the Jesse Shera Award for Research by the American Library Association for her article “If They Read Nancy Drew, So What? – Readers Talk Back."

In 2013, Ross was the recipient of the NoveList's Margaret E. Munroe Award for her “significant contributions to library adult services.” In 2015, her book "Shapes in Math, Science and Nature: Squares, Triangles and Circles" was shortlisted for the Information Book Award by the Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada.

In 2018, Ross was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. -- Wikipedia

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about Alice Munro’s life and motivations. It is fascinating how she wove parts of her life and the love of people she was interconnected with into her stories. I had never read anything by her prior. It encouraged me to try something by her. The collection Runaway became available and it has not disappointed! The way she writes about interior thoughts and motivations is completely engaging. It is sometimes like trying not to watch a car wreck. You can’t look away.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

At just under a 100 pages I read this biography of my favorite Alice Munro in a single sitting. Though short, it is packed with wonderful information about Alice, her life and her writings. This was written as part of the Canadian Biography Series and perhaps that is why the author had access to so many interviews and documents that are now difficult to find. She also interviewed Alice and her second husband, Gerry Fremlin at their home near Alice's childhood home in Wingham Ontario. If you like Alice Munro, you will enjoy this slim volume of her life.

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com

230913: comparing this to my father's recollections very interesting. aunt a is his elder sister. when growing up she was famous/infamous in the locales she writes about. certainly famous to me. this abstracted, incident, name-only recording, shows the difference between biography (this) and art (her work) however close...

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting to read about the author. we know the Laidlaw family in Halton and they have a connection with Alice Munro,s family. small world.

[Marianne Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Litt rotete bok, med altfor mange sitater og referansenotater til at leseopplevelsen ble god. Fikk likevel et veldig godt inntrykk av Alice Munro fra barnsben av. Verd å lese. Kort bok, 97 sider.

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book barely scratches the surface. I was disappointed.