روزها میگذشت و من همچنان منتظر بودم، تا این که یک روز به زنهایی فکر کردم که اینگونه فکرشان و زندگیشان را نابود کرده بودند. زنهایی که ماهها و سالها چشم به راه نامهای مانده بودند، اما سرانجام هیچکس برایشان نامهای نفرستاده بود. خودم را تصور کردم که سالهای زیادی گذشته است، موهایم دیگر سفید شدهاند و من همچنان منتظرم. سپس فکر کردم که نباید این کار را انجام دهم، بنابراین از آن روز به بعد نرفتم که آنجا بنشینم و انتظار بکشم؛
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."
این کتاب اولین خوانش من از خانم آلیس مونرو بود تصویرسازی هر چهار داستان عالی بود دو داستان اول به مراتب بهتر از دو داستان بعدی بودند چون برخلاف آنها خط مشخصی رو دنبال میکردند ولی دو داستان آخر جابهجایی ها بین زمان حال و اتفاقات گذشته,ناگهانی و بدون پیشزمینه و گاها بدون ضرورت بود و موضوع مشخصی دنبال نمیشد ولی همچنان فضاسازی داستانها بسیار خوب بود نکتهای که توجه من رو جلب کرد این بود که در مورد حسها و اضطرابها و تفکرات دورهی نوجوانی خیلی ملموس و روانشناسانه بحث شده بود که یک چنین توصیفاتی رو در رمانهای بلندی که حتی شخصیت اصلی سن نوجوانی رو میگذرونه به این زیبایی ندیدم
Been meaning to read this for a while, picked it up, started reading and... have you ever read anything that is just... aggressively, obstinately boring? Like it dares you to feel interested, it dares you to find some will within you to care and then it takes out a rifle and just mows that sucker down.
I mean... in the first story, there’s a body in a river and i promise you at this stage I would pay you not to tell me who, what or how. That’s how shockingly boring Munro manages to make the discovery of this body. Even an objectively interesting event is rendered beyond dull by her talent.
I’m no literary expert. She won a Nobel Prize and so someone somewhere clearly thinks this has merit. If I were a betting woman, I’d say she threatened them with submitting another story for their consideration and they were like “okay, okay, Jesus, so drastic, take your prize and leave us alone! Two of our judges are in a coma! Have you no mercy?” That’s what must have happened. I’d stake money on it. Anyway, if it wasn’t obvious, this is not for me.
Picture this - you are traveling by a train and it's going to be a long journey. You notice an old lady sitting in front of you and keenly observing the rest of passengers around her. She smiles to herself every now and then. You are curious to know what is she up to!
The stories in this book are the products of her observation and fertile imagination. It's as though the old lady took these everyday characters that she met during her journey, understood their life stories and recorded them with a twist for her own amusement.
The stories speak to human nature and responses of individuals to different situations - ordinary and extra ordinary! And the thing that appealed the most to me was the tone adopted for the narration - neutral that bordered on indifferent without feeling a need to insert any specific opinion or message through the stories.
This book is not for speed-reading. The beauty of storytelling rendered by the author is best savored slowly.
'She went right on talking, listening, working, keeping track of the children, while some memory of her secret life disturbed her like a radiant explosion. Then a warm weight settled, reassurance filling up all her hollows. But it didn't last, this comfort leaked away, and she was like a miser whose windfall has vanished and who is convinced such luck can never strike again.'
'Sobered and grateful, not even able to risk thinking about what she'd just escaped, she took on loving me, because the alternative to loving was disaster.'
'...books that seemed to me not like things bought in a store at all, but like presences in the house just as the trees outside the window were not plants but presences rooted in the ground.'
'The story seemed to be a horrible treasure to them, something our family could claim that nobody else could, a distinction that would never be let go. To listen to them had always made me feel as if there was some obscene connivance going on, a fond fingering of whatever was grisly or disastrous. Their voices were like worms slithering around in my insides.'
'There was a danger whenever I was on home ground. It was the danger of seeing my life through eyes other than my own.'
'Every few pages she seemed to have had an orgy of underlining. She was drawn to these passages, but when she read them she found what she had pounced on with such satisfaction at one time now seemed obscure and unsettling.'
'...filling my mind with one sentence after another, slamming them into my head just so I would not have to think about what had happened.'
Never knew what the next word was going to be, never mind the next sentence or the next idea. Each character was so real, without cliche, psychologically whole. An absolute joy to read.
As far as short stories go, Canadian Alice Munro is one of the most revered authors in the field, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in recognition of her craft. Lying Under the Apple Tree is made up of selected stories, all of them previously published in some of the author’s other collections. The tales here come from the following books respectively, demonstrating how Munro’s work has progressed over the course of just over a decade: The Love of a Good Woman (1998), Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001), Runaway (2004), The View from Castle Rock (2006), and Too Much Happiness (2009). Many of them can also be found within the pages of the wonderful and far-reaching Selected Stories, which showcases three decades of Munro’s work.
As one might expect, almost all of Munro’s tales are set in and around Lake Huron, where the author herself lives. Some of the stories take small towns and rural homes as their backdrops, and others are set within large and crowded cities. The wealth of inspiration within Lying Under the Apple Tree is vast, and each story presents a clear and thoughtful slice of life. None of the tales are similar, despite the settings which are occasionally used more than once, and the use of a couple of protagonists who carry themselves through a series of stories, rather than just one.
There are tales which include such plot details as holidays spent with families, and how such sojourns impact upon them, both as individuals and a complete unit; motherhood; grief; dementia; and those which touch upon such things as museums ‘dedicated to preserving photos and butter churns and horse harnesses and an old dentist’s chair and a cumbersome apple peeler and such curiosities as the pretty little porcelain-and-glass insulators that were used on telegraph poles’.
One noticeable element within Lying Under the Apple Tree is that the prose which Munro crafts is utterly sublime, even when she is turning her hand to describing the most mundane and everyday things. She has the most stunning way of making both objects and events, which are so usual and are taken for granted by the majority of us in the modern world, appear afresh. It is clear throughout her writing that she never fails to notice the magic in everything, and one gets the impression after reading just one of her many tales that she adores her craft.
Her characters throughout are so very realistic, and her turns of phrase are stunning. Each story is marvellously built, and not a single word has been wasted throughout. Munro manages to weave the unexpected – be it a small detail, or something rather more pivotal – into each tale. She deftly captures emotions, and shows how they can alter over time. Indeed, Munro’s stories are so well written and crafted that even re-reading them is a real treat. Lying Under the Apple Tree is a stunning collection, which really does showcase Munro’s talent as an author, and one which deserves to be widely read.
سه داستان اول را در سفر خواندم. بعد از خواندن داستان سوم، زیر درخت سیب، میخواستم کتاب را و خودم را از پنجرۀ هواپیما پرت کنم بیرون، چون به وضوح اصل داستان سانسور شده بود و برایم قابل باور نبود که مونرو داستانی به این بیسروتهی بنویسد. داستان آخر را همین امروز در تاریکی خواندم. برقها رفته بود. مونرو داستان کوتاه مینویسد. از زندگیهایی تعریف میکند که روزمرگی و روند خطی آنها را احاطه کرده است. در این میان اتفاقاتی میافتد که داستان زندگی بعضی از کاراکترها را به کل تغییر میدهد یا اگر تغییر ندهد احساسی را تا عمر دارند در وجودشان زنده نگه میدارد.
نکته جالب این بود که تو ریویوهای انگلیسی خیلیا گفته بودن کتاب براشون خسته کننده و غیرجذاب بوده. برام قابل درک نیست که دقیقا دنبال چی هستن؟ داستانا آرومن و قرار نیست یهو با یه معما یا جنایت رو به رو شیم. مثل زندگی اکثر مردم. میایم و میریم. اتفاقات و غمامون برای خودمون سنگینن و رنج میبریم ازشون، در آخر هم می میریم و فراموش میشیم. در کل که البته همه ش نظرات شخصی منه.
Not a lot I can say about Alice Munro's work that hasn't been said numerous times before and by people more articulate than myself.
Previously I'd only read a few things by her, so this was the first time that I immersed in a collection. It really brought home her amazing ability to create convincing characters in such short a space. Characters so true that no matter how mundane or bizarre the circumstances she places them in they are completely believable. And varied, there is no feeling of her having a cache of stock types that she draws on over and over again.
It's such a shame that here in Britain there is widespread prejudice against short stories. Even after winning the Nobel she isn't as widely read as she should be.
Urgh... I had to read this book for English and it took a whole lotta time because it is boring as hell... Being a very optimistic person, each and every of the fifteen stories of this book end badly... Great... Even though the author has extremely good writing skills, the plot of the stories aren't interesting and are sad and boring. Sorry...
Lying under the apple tree by Alice Munro is a short story collection which won a Nobel prize in Literature in 2013. I received this book back in highschool for my Language and Literature class. At that time it was not a mandatory read, so I skipped it to read it later. I picked this up just before summer, out of the blue, and am glad that I waited till now. This short story collection is well written. The pace in most of these stories is pretty low, which might make it feel boring at times, but it makes it easier to digest that which the story brings to the table.
The first story, the love of a good woman, is one of my favourites. I read the story very slowly, but consistently, which gave me an interesting experience and is part of the reason why I liked it so much. The author works in layers to reveil the unreliability of perception and centres around the themes of secrets and lies. The slow reveal pared with the slow pace of reading enabled me to more carefully analyse each perception and created space for wonder. I got to read the author’s analysis, which I find to be valuable throughout the book, but I also got time to think about if I agree or disagree with any of her interpretations. I will continue to start my reading of short story collections in the same fashion, so I can get used to a new author’s way of writing and telling stories, but also so that I can analyse it and then compare it to later stories in the book. This was my first short story collection, so I am glad I organically stumbled upon this method so soon.
Another short story, or should I say another collection of three stories in this book is called Runaway. It consists of three stories, all related to each other. We follow the main character, and jump in time when we move to the next story. This story works similar to the story mentioned above which works in layers and in that way unravels the relationship between a mother and her daughter. I found the main character annoying, but the analysis of her character and her relationship with her daughter very interesting. It felt like a thriller at some point, but changes as you continue the story. Overall, I would describe it as a fun experience.
Additionally, a reoccurring theme throughout the whole book is illness. It was interesting to see the way every character dealt with illness differently, but it also made it a very realistic read for me. It shows characters from different ages dealing with their illness. Some of these illnesses, like in the first story, are now uncommon, but were not so back in the day. It gave me an insight which will add to my understanding of illnesses in general, but also compared to those in the past.
I am glad to have read it, and although I did not always enjoy all stories as much, I think it would be very valuable to reread this at some point. As I read a big chunk of this on the beach I took no notes, or wasn’t able to research some things. For better understanding, I would like to take notes next time, but also research for example the illness which is being spoken of, or the time period and location, and if the story and analysis created by the author makes sense to me. I understand now why this book was chosen for my lang and lit class, and would have loved to been able to dissect and discuss this with fellow readers.
I don’t know whether I would recommend it, but if you are interested in character analysis, I think properly reading and taking notes from this book would be valuable. If you are looking for an easy read, you will take less from this book, but it was still worth it for me.
A lovely collection of short stories which hangs together well as a set of companion stories. Some are quite long, may be even short novels. All are beautifully described with exquisite characterisation and a strong sense of place. I particularly liked the 3 Juliette stories - 3 slices of life from different aspects of Juliette’s life. The twist at the end of Deep Radicals and Dimensions were great. The build up of the explanation of the story, and the return to the impact of love and fate in Hateship, Friendship, Courtship was very effective. More details of each story are below
چهار داستان کوتاه. بعضی خوب و بعضی روالی یکنواخت و خسته کننده داشت. گاهی خواننده ممکنه احساس کنه که راوی چیزی برای بیان نداره و صرفا با فضاسازی بیش از اندازه سعی در شکل دادن یک داستان کنه. گاهی نویسنده انقدر مشغول حواشی شده که ناگهان در انتهای داستان فک میکنه باید پیامی رو برسونه و خیلی عجولانه پیام چندان نامرتبط با متن داستان اشاره میکنه. البته فکر میکنم بیربط به ترجمه هم نباشه. ترجمه ضعیفی.بود به نظر من و حتی غلط های تایپی نسبتا زیادی در کتاب بود. در داستان ها دو نسل حضور دارن، نسل نویسنده که نسبتا مدرن هست و نسل قبل تر که همه آدم های مذهبی هستن و نویسنده اونها رو نمادی از مهربانی و خوبی میبینه. نویسنده تا حدودی سعی میکنه که عقاید کهنه رو نقد کنه اما بنظر شیفتگی نویسنده به پاکی و مهربانی آدم های نسل قبل بخصوص بخاطر اعتقادات مذهبیشون بیشتر هست. در حالی که نویسنده میتونست با صراحت بیشتری مذهب و کلیسا رو نقد کنه. همه امروز میدونن که کلیسا چه جنایاتی در حق بومیان کانادا کرده و فک نمیکنم که نویسنده هم از مساله بیخبر بوده باشه.
This is a sort of "Best of" collection, with three stories each from five of Alice Munro's short story collections. I had read three of these (The Love of a Good Woman, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage and Too Much Happiness) but not the other two (Runaway and The View from Castle Rock, which includes the title story). They're all really good, as per usual, though I remembered very little about the nine out of fifteen that I know I had already read. (More than five years ago.) I think I'd recommend getting the individual collections separately, rather than the "Greatest Hits".
Contains some of Munro's best stories, and some I had not read. This would be a good gift for someone who has not read her. One thing I very much like about her stories -- they are long, and feature characters who are repeated (in spirit if not name) and leave a more lasting impression than most short stories. The humor and honesty are always astringent and wake me up. I missed the Albanian Virgin in this collection, and the harrowing story of a wife on the Canadian frontier. Speaking of those, Munro shows amazing range not reflected as well as it could be in this collection.
An author who is new to me, can't believe I've not come across her before now! Great writer and this compilation is particularly useful as I can pick which stories I might want to read in full in future. I won't deny that some were emotionally difficult but the quality of writing is beautiful and I will certainly add Alice Munro to my list of favourite authors from now.
A selection of Alice Munro's short stories spanning several decades. Her characters are well drawn and interesting and struggling with a range of problems. For anyone who likes find writing, detailed observation and satisfying endings.
'Spanning her last five collections and bringing together her finest work from the past fifteen years, this new selection' ---so I've probably read many, and perhaps have several of the 5 collections these were drawn from?
Not a book to be read all at once. More like a cup of coffee or strong tea - to be served in small sips over the course of however long it pleases your tastebuds.
Haven’t read all the short stories. I liked some, I found some boring, but i love tragedy / sad stories so that made it mostly bearable to read. Also Munro’s writing style is really enjoyable so i’ll give her that
Didn’t read this book out of free will btw , had to read some of the stories for English Lit
I do not often prefer to read one story just after the other, yet Munro convinced me to do so this time. It is undeniable that there is a unity in these stories and just when you get the feeling that you are not going to get surprised in the next one, you take your thought back. Every time Munro manages to shed some new light on a hidden part of an ordinary life and despite not being in exactly the same situation with some character, you feel it in the depths. I guess this is what a writer is supposed to provide the reader with, or at least the inevitable ultimate feeling created.