Away from Her

by Alice Munro

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE® IN LITERATURE 2013

Alice Munro has long been heralded for her penetrating, lyrical prose, and in “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” – the basis for Sarah Polley’s film Away From Her — her prodigious talents are once again on display. As she follows Grant, a retired professor whose wife Fiona begins gradually to lose her memory and drift away from him, we slowly see how a lifetime of intimate details can create a marriage, and how mysterious the bonds of love really are.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Romance, Canada, Love, Canadian Literature, Contemporary

76 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 1999

About the author

Collections of short stories of noted Canadian writer Alice Munro of life in rural Ontario include Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) and Moons of Jupiter (1982); for these and vivid novels, she won the Nobel Prize of 2013 for literature.

People widely consider her premier fiction of the world. Munro thrice received governor general's award. She focuses on human relationships through the lens of daily life. People thus refer to this "the Canadian Chekhov."

(Arabic: أليس مونرو)
(Persian: آلیس مانرو)
(Russian Cyrillic: Элис Манро)
(Ukrainian Cyrillic: Еліс Манро)
(Bulgarian Cyrillic: Алис Мънро)
(Slovak: Alice Munroová)
(Serbian: Alis Manro)

Reviews

[Rosh (on a short break) · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A long short story focussed on an elderly couple whose life changes after the wife is admitted to hospice care (possibly for Alzheimer’s) after almost fifty years of marriage. Good writing, unlikable narrator, overload of tropes, flat ending. Not a good start to my exploration of Alice Munro’s works.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plot Preview:

After almost fifty years of marriage, Grant has to let go of his wife Fiona when her memory issues lead to her being admitted to hospice care. When Grant goes to visit her after the mandatary one-month adjustment period, he is dismayed to find that Fiona is emotionally attached to another patient. As Grant ponders over their decades together, he realises what he needs to do to win back Fiona’s affections.

If the above makes you think that it is a story of love, you are not right. It is a story of hypocrisy.

This work explores the complications of human relationships, especially in the face of a challenge such as a devastating medical diagnosis. It presents a complex exploration of love, whether demanded, anticipated, or provided.

As this was my first Alice Munro story, I had had high hopes considering her stalwart reputation in short fiction. But I wasn’t blown away by this tale, which is really surprising as it promised to be emotionally intense. I think a part of the reason is that the characters didn’t endear themselves to me, despite their circumstances. Grant is especially annoying in the way he comments on women and their bodies without even realising his objectification. Typical of so many people of his generation! As the story comes from his third person perspective, it was tougher to connect with the proceedings as he seemed to ask for sympathy without deserving it. How can one sympathize with such a manipulative character, even when his machinations are subtle?

Another reason is that I am not fond of the infidelity trope, whether it is justified or not. And it is even more annoying when the infidelity is casually swept aside without any emotional evaluation.

The ending probably meant to be impressive but was just meh to me. A couple of my friends found it heartwarming, but I am stumped at that claim. Maybe I did miss something!

Basically, the writing style is good, but the characters are not appealing, the plot development is lacklustre, and the scene transitions are abrupt.

The title is a derivation from a children’s campfire song "The Bear Went Over the Mountain", which talks of a bear climbing a mountain with determination, only to find disappointment on the other side. Our bear in this case is Grant, who, at seventy years of age, has already climbed “over” the mountain, and still not happy with what he has, is constantly looking for and hoping for more.

A decent story if you want to try out this author’s writing, though I have no idea if it is among her acclaimed works or not. It’s free, so it’s not like you would lose anything. Frankly speaking, I was hoping for way better.

2.5 stars.


This story originally appeared in the December 27, 1999 issue of The New Yorker. You can read it online from this link:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

It was also published in the collection named Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories.

This story has been adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie titled ‘Away From Her’, but I haven’t watched it, nor do I intend to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || X/Twitter || Facebook ||

[Greta G · Rating 4 out of 5]

If infidelity doesn’t ruin your marriage, Alzheimer’s disease will.
Bleak and heartbreaking story that was also made into an Oscar-nominated movie ‘Away from Her’.
Alzheimer’s for beginners, more literary and romantic than reality, albeit more tolerable.

[Srivalli (Semi-Hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.7 Stars

The entire review will be marked a spoiler as I'm copy-pasting my comments from the story discussions (too lazy to type a proper review).


There are too many themes for one to make a proper impact. It would be better summed up as the hidden truth in the lives of an old privileged couple and men will be men.

The author distanced herself a bit too much from the story for it to make the kind of impact I prefer. Or maybe it is her loving indulgence in Grant that makes me care less about the story.
I'm not sure I'd call it love as such.

Fiona knows exactly what makes Grant have a crush on her and she keeps up the image for decades. The classic case of 'she is not like other women', so no matter how many he sleeps with, his wife is special coz he is still in awe of her (and doesn't understand her).

For Fiona, I think her parents' marriage made her that way. The mom and dad are on opposite ends (in a way) even if the mom rules the house. Also, there's this sort of inference where Foina's mother may not have given her child the kind of love she needs. Trail and error (mostly), Fiona likely found out that being a surreal butterfly with a mean steak would attract men, and it did. Grant was her choice coz he comes from a lower background. Even if he goes around cheating on her, he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave her. And her whimsical attitude is another hook. She is out of her family home and can do what she likes while he does what he likes. Together, they have a marriage that works for both of them. This MAY have turned into some form of love (affection due to familiarity) over the years.

When Fiona is in the care center, she naturally loses control over him. It is like setting him 100% free. She can't do anything if he doesn't come back for her. So, what can she do to make sure he does? In comes Audrey. That leads Grant to Marian but it also keeps him hooked to Fiona.

This will sound cynical but I don't subscribe to the notion of a man loving his wife so much that he can sleep with anyone and not let it affect his marriage. It's a convenient way to have the cake and eat it too, while others go 'awww how cute' over it.

Multiple interpretations, yes, in a way. The characters are uni-dimensional so if someone wants to add depth to them, they can.

Did I enjoy her style of exploration? Nope. After one point, I didn't give a damn about what happened to them.

Are there emotions in there? Can't really say. Maybe some. I appreciate the lack of OTT drama but I don't feel any kind of empathy towards Fiona either.

It actually reminded me of The Half Moon where I thought it was good the characters limited the damage to others by being together. I'd say the same here, I suppose.

[Dolors · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best short stories by Munro that I have read, and what a memorable way to finish this collection.
In this last story, Munro takes the concept of love and offers a very realistic view of how it evolves along the years using a long married couple as example.
Fiona and Grant have been together all their lives. Grant wasn't the most faithful of husbands, and Munro makes a point showing the way Grant's mind worked every time he had an affair with one of his students. The story seems to be condemnatory of Grant's need to deceive his innocent wife over and over again, and yet the reader meets Fiona when she is an elderly woman who has developed a very advanced stage of Alzheimer that forces her to live in a hospice. As Grant gets used to the weekly visits and the loneliness of his days, we learn about his past liaisons in a sort of confessional manner.
Munro has an incredibly acute eye to capture the hard edges of love, but also its soft, rounded alleys, the unexpected selfishness of someone who loves fully, if not faultlessly.
Humans are not perfect, so why should real love between two people be perfect?
Munro brings awareness to the reader, showing him that love is never the easy way out, rather the consequence of being true to oneself. What a brave tale to finish this collection with.

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I promise this is my last review for the month. I have been wanting to read Alice Munro for years and decided to get my feet wet so to speak with a short story to end the month with. I am far too familiar with Alzheimer’s. Both my grandmother and her first cousin suffered from it. It has been ten years now but the pain doesn’t go away. On my last visit to my grandmother on my own, I had brought pictures of my kids. She asked me what school I went to and is that a picture of your brother (my son). The only granddaughter, my grandmother could not recognize me without my father by my side to coax the memory out of her. A few years before my grandmother’s passing, Alice Munro published The Bear Came Over the Mountain in the New Yorker. A highly regarded story at the time, it became the basis for the film Away From Her by Sarah Polley. No one in my family saw it; it would have been too painful. Wanting to read Munro, I selected a story available online at random. The first few lines seemed enticing enough, and, honestly, if I knew the story centered on how Alzheimer’s effects relationships, I doubt I would have selected it. I just like bears. To end women’s history month, Nobel prize winning writer Alice Munro.

Fiona and Grant had been married for fifty years. They attended the same university and were very much in love. It was Fiona who wanted to get married more so than Grant, probably because she detested her parents’ political views and wanted to get away. Grant might have been ready for marriage or not but he didn’t want his girl to get away, so he said yes. A woman instigating a marriage proposal is very much a part of women’s history month so yay. Fast forward those fifty years. Fiona and Grant live in a home once belonging to Fiona’s grandparents. They are still in love as is evident by them cross country skiing and preparing supper together each night. For the first ten minutes at bed time they are intimate in a way only a couple married fifty years can be. Yet, Fiona has started to be more forgetful than usual. She writes reminders to herself of where things in the house are located and gets lost on her way to the store. Without the need for Grant to take her for a medical evaluation, I knew this was the beginning of Alzheimer’s without Munro having to give a name to it. Grant, not knowing how to care for his wife in her mentally deteriorating state while still desiring a semblance of normality for himself, places her in a local continuum of care facility. This is all too familiar to me but I read wanting to know the outcome.

For the first month, residents may not receive visitors so as to acclimate themselves to their new home. Grant uses this time to reflect on his past marital infidelities. A college professor, he taught classes dominated by women. Perhaps he had the reputation on campus of being a hunk and young college girls always seem to have a crush on a professor or two, as they are human, after all. Grant, Munro notes, engaged in multiple affairs until eventually the university forced him out. His now tainted reputation spoke for itself and he became much of a liability to the college’s own reputation. One thing Grant always did was return to Fiona each night. He remained devoted to her and never stopped loving or sleeping with her. This made the transition to the nursing home all the more painful for him because his wife of fifty years, of whom he remained a devoted husband, could barely remember who he was. Other readers note that maybe Munro had never encountered Alzheimer’s patients before, but I find this story realistic and fleshed out for its short length. Others think that Grant did not advocate enough but he did with the nursing staff. Each Alzheimer’s case is different and some people do deteriorate quickly. Sadly, it seems like Fiona is one of those unlucky ones.

One memory I have is the closet full of Boost in my grandmother’s apartment before my father and his siblings moved her into an assisted living facility. She could have lived for ten years drinking Boost, and once Fiona gets depressed, that is exactly what the nursing staff had her drink. This hit just a little too close to home. Also the love interest in the facility. It did not occur to my grandma because she was too far gone at the time, but Fiona does develop a love interest, and one can only wonder the emotions Grant is feeling at the time. I do wonder is what the residents experience is love or comfort in knowing that someone else is close by. The reason being is that most Alzheimer’s patients cannot remember what they ate on a given day, but they will remember things from their childhood. When it became apparent that my grandmother no longer knew who I was, I took solace in knowing that with prodding she remembering the art museum and her favorite baseball player. Fiona remembered a boyfriend from her youth and that her family originally came from Iceland. This normalized the story for me, and I envisioned Fiona’s mind churning as she tried to place who Grant is as she apologized for not being good with names. I do not think I could make it through that particular scene on film without breaking down.

The Bear Came Over the Mountain might be a short story. Most of the time I do not gravitate toward short stories because they do not flesh out characters in the short amount of space allotted to them. Alice Munro made a career out of creating short stories. When she was awarded the Nobel Prize, it was not due to one specific work but for her career as a short story writer. One of my goals this year is to attempt to read a few short stories a month, usually by master writers who began their careers by writing stories prior to the publication of their novels. Munro is in a category of her own in that her novels were in actuality interlocking short stories. These would flesh out characters over the course of a number of stories featuring them. Whether or not readers thought that Fiona was a realistic portrayal of an Alzheimer’s patient or not, she came across as believable to me. Her relationship with Grant and how he coped with her deterioration brought back unhappy memories to me. My grandmother lived to be ninety. She lived a long life and got to know her great grandchildren. I just wish that those last ten years were not within the auspices of this disease that still does not have a cure. Alice Munro brought it all back. I know that I have just read a quality story when I am feeling the emotions I normally experience after reading a full length novel. I look forward to finally delving into more of her body of work.

4.5 stars

[William Gwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short story I have read in preparation for a university seminar. I read quite a lot of Alice Munro a few years ago, so her expert characterisation was no surprise to me.

Fiona and Grant live in relative seclusion in their older age, and Fiona's capacity for independence begins to decline. She is placed in a home, and Grant visits her every day.

This is a very tangential story, with short, sharp separations from the central narrative that, contrary to most tangents, actually produce more energy and drive for the story, as their shortness and efficiency at building character makes these central figures feel like they have lived rich lives with must we will never discover.

We touch on mortality of life, infidelity, jealousy, what it means to have a fulfilled life, and more. But for me The Bear Came Over the Mountain does not go deep enough into any of these themes to be truly thought-provoking, or powerful, or satisfying. But, it is definitely a magnetic read that manages to achieve a lot in a short space of time. Incredible fluid prose, wonderful characterisation, and an intriguing ambiguous ending.

3.75/5 STARS

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raises questions as to nature of loyalty to one's spouse. Grant has had extramarital affairs all his life without any feeling of guilt. But when his wife gets amnesia in old age, he doesn't want to leave her with care-house (though she doesn't remember him) and, later, even tries to arrange her meeting with her guy friend for her happiness despite the feeling of jealousy. Will you call him loyal?

Skip the introduction.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The realities of a long marriage, the forgiveness required for the many mistakes made, the togetherness and routines that foster closeness, all of these are told with clear and sometimes brutal honesty.

Does love stop when one partner gets sick? What will one spouse do for another, when one is in a place literally and figuratively, that the other cannot go? I love so many stories that Munro has written, but have never read this one. This is one I will not soon forget, that will stay with me because I so loved the ending and the honesty shown in this novella.

[Nabila Tabassum Chowdhury · Rating 4 out of 5]

যখন এই বইটি পড়ার জন্য হাতে নিলাম, এমনকি পড়াও শুরু করিনি তখনিই মনে হলো যেন অনেক চেনা প্রিয় কারো দরজায় কড়া নাড়ছি, দরজা না খুললেও ওপাশে অপেক্ষা করছে নিশ্চিত উষ্ণতা যার আঁচ অপেক্ষাতেও পাওয়া যায়। এমন নয় যে আমি অনেক মুনরো পড়েছি, Dear Life: Stories পড়েছি এবং আরও কিছু গল্প আলাদা আলাদা ভাবে, এগুলোর সাহায্যেই মুনরো এই ব্যাপারটা আমার সাথে ঘটিয়ে ফেলেছেন, ভয়ানক মহিলা একজন।

বইটিতে রয়েছে একটি মাত্র গল্প, The Bear Came over the Mountain। আর রয়েছে গল্পটি নিয়ে Away from Her শিরোনামে নিয়ে চলচ্চিত্র তৈরি করেছেন যিনি, Sarah Polley, তার লেখা একটি মুখবন্ধ। সারাহ পলি বলেছেন কীভাবে একটি গল্প তার জীবনে পরিবর্তন এনেছে এবং এক পর্যায়ে গল্পের কিছু ব্যাপার তিনি নিজের জীবনে প্রত্যক্ষ করেছেন। তবে এ থেকে সিদ্ধান্ত আরোও পাকাপোক্ত হয় যে মুনরো আসলেই ভয়ানক মহিলা।

মুনরোর যে সমস্ত গল্প আমার সবচেয়ে প্রিয় তার মাঝে হয়তো The Bear Came over the Mountain থাকবে না, কিন্তু তারপরও কতটা নিপুণভাবে গল্পটি লিখেছেন তা দেখে মুগ্ধ না হয়ে পারা যায় না। হয়তো এই গল্পটি আমার সবচেয়ে প্রিয় হয়ে উঠতে পারেনি কারণ জীবনের নানা পর্যায় আমি পেরুইনি, দেখেনি। দীর্ঘমেয়াদী বিবাহিত সম্পর্ককে সম্পূর্ণভাবে উপলব্ধি করবার মানসিক পর্যায়ে আমি এখনও উত্তীর্ণ হইনি, এই গল্পের যেটি ছিল মূল আখ্যানবস্তু। তবুও একধরণের ভাল লাগা আছে, থাকার কথাই। ওই যে বললাম, প্রিয় কারো সান্নিধ্যের কথা, তাদের সান্নিধ্যে কাটানো সকল সময়গুলো যেমন সমানভাবে মনে দাগ কাটে না, চিন্তায় আলোড়ন ঘটায় না, হয়তো কখনো ঠিক বুঝে উঠতেও পারা যায় না কিন্তু দিনশেষে মানুষগুলো সেই একই থাকে, স্থান-কাল-অবস্থা নির্বিশেষে লেপটে থাকে ব্যাখ্যা করা যায় না এমন কিছু চিরাচরিত ভাল লাগা।

[Nathalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a slap in the face. The short story The Bear Came Over The Moutain tells the truth. About love, relantionships, time, age. It´s not the kind of story that will make you smile or laugh or hope. At least for me.
It´s a real story, with real people. I would enjoy much more a sweet love story most of the time, but this deserves 4 or more stars because it´s the real deal. It´s life as we know it.
The way Munro constructs the story can be a little boring sometimes, but it´s so well written that we´ve to keep reading it. You´ll get the whole picture in the end. And it will probably stay with you.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally appearing on December 27, 1999 in The New Yorker and reprinted in October of 2013, The Bear Came Over the Mountain is a spare, subtle story of marriage and memories. Fiona's memories have begun to flicker in and out. From post-it note reminders of wheres and whats to wryly noted misrememberances, deterioration has become a reality. With the eventual acceptance of this reality, her husband, Grant, follows her into this next chapter of their life together - trailed by a reflection on his own memories.

While Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories has inhabited a sizably populated neighborhood of my bookshelf since I pillaged it at a library book sale some time ago, I haven't read anything by Munro prior to this short story. I love a first introduction with a new-to-me author, that first sup of a new style and voice. When the style and voice is Munro's, well, it's a sup well-enjoyed and more reads are eagerly anticipated.

The Bear feels fully writ, fully contained. Its the intricacies of a relationship, of memories, of our decisions and their legacies - both personal and shared. Its experience meets perspective, for better or worse. I'm savoring small, sharp tastes such as "cup rings bitten into the table varnish" and lengthier looks into those aforementioned legacies that are so sparingly rendered, a personal acceptance sketched with skillful introspection and adherence to voice.

[Maria Roxana · Rating 4 out of 5]

O poveste despre viață. Nu este nimic lacrimogen, nu este povestea eternă a lui Romeo și a Julietei, este povestea unor oameni normali cu lucruri bune, cu scăpări, cu regrete și cu amintiri puternice care să asigure loialitatea și dorința de a rămâne chiar și atunci când pare prea târziu.
Sunt curioasă acum de ecranizare.

[Ammar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful short novella

[Barb H · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my short story book group decided to read this story, I was resistant. I have encountered people with the affliction of Alzheimer's Disease, in fact I have friends and family members lost to this dementia. So, I figured, why would I subject myself to this painful topic when I try to avoid it?

True to her usual mastery, Alice Monroe has written this tale from the husband's point of view following his wife's placement in an extended care facility. His attitude and feelings are carefully exposed in the author's writing. The most important aspects of this narrative that it was actually written with some humor and definitely sensitivity without dwelling on lamentation. I actually enjoyed reading this!

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure why, but I did not connect to this couple. I never got the feeling that Grant understood Fiona. He was selfless in trying to give her what she needed and did not just leave her alone, despite the fact that she no longer knew who he was, but I had a hard time believing this was a reflection of his love for her. Perhaps it was more motivated from guilt?

Mostly, I'm not convinced that Munro has ever spent any time with an Alzheimer's victim. Fiona was certainly not like any of the victims I have known, and unfortunately I have known several.

[Zinat · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the first few lines of the book, the author introduces us to Fiona & their large house. The reader gets a taste of Fiona's elegance, her grace & wants to read more about her life with Grant, whom the author even compares to the stray dogs that Fiona took in.

The story deals with how the meaning of love changes as relations & people age. It finds new definitions of loyalty, of respect & how far you're really ready to go for the ones you love. A book much enjoyed.

[denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

~1⭐️~
Nahh 'cause I'm giving this 1⭐️ until tomorrow's class. Maybe after I'll change it if my teacher convinces me💀
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't even know how to rate this. Read this book for class, was confused 99% of the time and the other 1% I was zooming out. What did I just fucking read?😭

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Stars. The best short story I ever read, what a way to end a year in books! How she wrote about the complexities, the depth of love in this short story is mind boggling. A must read.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed reading Alice Munro stories, and this is another well written one. It is about a man and his wife who has Alzheimer's disease. Or does she?

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels like cheating to count this as a whole book, but I've now read everything this volume consists of: the short story "The Bear Came over the Mountain" (reprinted in The New Yorker after Munro won the Nobel Prize) and Sarah Polley's preface (fun fact: if you download the free Kindle sample of this book, you get the entire preface). Besides, this is my first-ever Munro story, so I guess it's good to commemorate it this way. Anyway, the story really was excellent. Spare and subtle and moving, it didn't fall prey to any of the common traps short-story writers fall into today. It felt like a complete story, not a fragment of one, and it didn't contain any of the gimmicks and magical realism you see so much these days. But there are elements of this story that I think will stay with me for a long time, and I would recommend it for other Munro newbies. As for Sarah Polley's preface, it was pretty self-absorbed, but it was well written enough and did a decent job of explaining why the story is important to her and why she felt compelled to make a movie of it.

[Sheida · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well ... this was certainly depressing as heck. A short story that included both infidelity and the deterioration of memory, two of my least favorite subjects, oh joy.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a great lover of short stories - I always feel they end too quickly for me. I enjoyed some of Munro's stories. Munro's writing stems from her small town Ontario experience. She weaves small occurrences into interesting stories. Some, like Away from Her, are very successful. Others, are nice but not memorable. Munro uses words brilliantly to paint vivid pictures of what she is seeing. Away From Her is her iconic short story and is brilliant. A professor who has been unfaithful to his wife, but loves her, starts to notice the notes around their home. His wife used to leave reminders of appointments, etc. but now is leaving notes about where things are in the kitchen. Before he knows it, she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is moved to a home. He waits a month (as suggested) before seeing her and then encounters a new woman - one in love with someone else and one who treats him like a stranger. The musings of the professor are insightful and sad. Although traumatic, Munro showed that decisions we make sometimes impact us in the most unexpected ways, especially when we make decisions out of love.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to see these people deal with the consequences of Alzheimer‘s disease. Grant you are an asshole though…

[Daniela Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ✨

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always taken aback by (usually older) female authors writing old-guard misbehaving male authors/professors in such flattering or at least affectionate/indulgent terms (it was of an age, everyone was doing it, they didn't have to seek it out... etc and look! - they're good husbands/fathers/friends/people now!) The Friend tweaked me in a similar manner. It is both relevant to and sideways to the central story here but in many ways, I start to wonder if it is actually the central gist and then what is the author doing in her apologetics? Is she writing to deal with the type of colleagues she must have observed getting away with this for years with little notice of their impact while she fought to be taken half as seriously? or is she truly affectionate towards these grown manchildren?

Story summary: a man married to his wife of 50 years observes her forming an attachment to another resident at the Alzheimer's facility she now resides. Somehow this causes the man to continually reflect on his own past and present virility and attraction and the possibilities for new relationships (how exciting! this late in life!) of his own. Of course while analyzing how his contemporary options will have old-lady bodies - too bad! Ah well, nice to be still considered attractive!

[Dz.Book Fairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful and heartbreaking short story!!
This is the real deal, this story is real life. It's about love, respect, loyalty and things we can't describe unless we had a relationship of more than 10 years.
This novella is not only about this couple and their story about facing Alzheimer, it's more than that. It's a thought-provoking one... At least for me.
I recommend it.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Толкова малко страници, а толкова емоции предизвиква.
Много трудно ми беше да не я оставя тази история, натовари ме.
Ядосва. Трогва. Свива гърлото.

Then the look passed away as she retrieved, with an effort, some bantering grace. She set the book down carefully and stood up and lifted her arms to put them around him. Her skin or her breath gave off a faint new smell, a smell that seemed to Grant like green stems in rank water.

“I’m happy to see you,” she said, both sweetly and formally. She pinched his earlobes, hard.

“You could have just driven away,” she said. “Just driven away without a care in the world and forsook me. Forsooken me. Forsaken.”

He kept his face against her white hair, her pink scalp, her sweetly shaped skull.

He said, “Not a chance.”

- whether Fiona's dementia is an act, to punish him for his past indiscretions?
- *But in his "moment alone" before he brings Aubrey into Fiona's room, Fiona temporarily remembers him and the love she has for him. They embrace.

***
She went for her usual walk across the field into the woods and came home by the fence line—a very long way round. She said that she’d counted on fences always taking you somewhere.

***
“Homemade,” she said as she set the plate down. There was challenge rather than hospitality in her tone. She said nothing more until she had sat down, poured milk into her coffee, and stirred it.

Then she said no.

***
Wrinkled neck, youthfully full and uptilted breasts. Women of her age usually had these contradictions. The bad and good points, the genetic luck or lack of it, all mixed up together. Very few kept their beauty whole, though shadowy, as Fiona had done. And perhaps that wasn’t even true. Perhaps he only thought that because he’d known Fiona when she was young. When Aubrey looked at his wife did he see a high-school girl full of scorn and sass, with a tilt to her blue eyes, pursing her fruity lips around a forbidden cigarette?

***
Money first. They had believed that when other people did not think that way it was because they had lost touch with reality. That was how Marian would see him, certainly. A silly person, full of boring knowledge and protected by some fluke from the truth about life. A person who didn’t have to worry about holding on to his house and could go around dreaming up the fine generous schemes that he believed would make another person happy. What a jerk, she would be thinking now.

***
“Do you think it would be fun—” Fiona shouted. “Do you think it would be fun if we got married?”
He took her up on it, he shouted yes. He wanted never to be away from her. She had the spark of life.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I vaguely remember seeing this movie a long time ago, and then I read an interview with author Elizabeth Strout, where she said that Munro was one of her biggest influences--so I decided to start with this book. Strout's one of my favorite authors and I can definitely see many similar themes and the same sort of emotional observations in Munro's storytelling.

This book really hits home for me bc my father-in-law is in assisted living and has met a woman he's now attached to (and wants to marry) despite having recently left his live-in girlfriend of twelve years to go to this assisted living care center.

His newfound and deep attachment to this new woman who lives in this facility has been very hard on the woman he left behind, and it has been an awkward situation for my husband. It's also tough when my father-in-law mixes up memories of my husband's mother, and the woman he was with after, with memories with his new lady-friend.

Yet, it's a common thing that people make these attachments in senior living centers, and so the assisted living care staff reacts much like they did in Munro's novel. I think Munro has done a huge, empathic service to humanity with this book, b/c this is an extremely hard topic that would be hard to write about, but does happen to so many people. I'm sure this novel has given many people the feeling that someone else out there understands what it is to lose someone to dementia, or to another, w/out physically losing them yet. This book was very sad but also beautiful, and honest about the way we show up for the people we unconditionally love.

[Julia Du · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elegant writing and interesting, realistic relationships, but a bit lacklustre in story and conclusion.

I think this work does a good job of exploring hypocrisy and mutual acceptance, and maybe the idea that every love and relationship is different and there are a multitude of ways to make it enduring. Grant reminds me of Tomas in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, although I don’t feel that this story did nearly as good of a job fleshing out the characters; understandable given that it’s much shorter. I’m also not sure that Fiona had much dimension as a character, but maybe that has to do with the story being from Grant’s perspective, and further cements the question of whether or not their relationship was a healthy one. However, I also just didn’t feel particularly inspired by the story itself, and it was a bit too trope-y for me. Perhaps I’m not at a stage of life where this would touch me that deeply, but I think I was hoping for more from the story and characters and it left me a bit unsatisfied.

[Himali Kothari · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is a love story? Proclamations about eternity? Fidelity no matter what? For better or for worse? Maybe in the books... But when mixed with a dose of reality, it is an emotion that shifts with time. It wiggles about looking to make space for itself between two people and if the two are accommodating, it settles there else it slips out and moves on.

#readingkeepsmesane #powerofstories #bookstagram #readingchallenge #alicemunroshortstories #alicemunro #shortstories #bibliophilelife #doodleaday #doodleobsession #doodlesofinsta #doodlesofinstagram