Dear Life

Stories

By: Alice Munro

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr, Arthur Morey

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

A brilliant new collection of stories from one of the most acclaimed and beloved writers of our time.

Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro’s peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but always spacious and timeless stories is once again everywhere apparent in this brilliant new collection. In story after story, she illumines the moment a life is forever altered by a chance encounter or an action not taken, or by a simple twist of fate that turns a person out of his or her accustomed path and into a new way of being or thinking. A poet, finding herself in alien territory at her first literary party, is rescued by a seasoned newspaper columnist, and is soon hurtling across the continent, young child in tow, toward a hoped-for but completely unplanned meeting. A young soldier, returning to his fiancée from the Second World War, steps off the train before his stop and onto the farm of another woman, beginning a life on the move. A wealthy young woman having an affair with the married lawyer hired by her father to handle his estate comes up with a surprising way to deal with the blackmailer who finds them out.

While most of these stories take place in Munro’s home territory - the small Canadian towns around Lake Huron - the characters sometimes venture to the cities, and the audiobook ends with four pieces set in the area where she grew up, and in the time of her own childhood: stories “autobiographical in feeling, though not, sometimes, entirely so in fact.” A girl who can’t sleep imagines night after wakeful night that she kills her beloved younger sister. A mother snatches up her child and runs for dear life when a crazy woman comes into her yard.

Suffused with Munro’s clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, these tales about departures and beginnings, accidents and dangers, and outgoings and homecomings both imagined and real, paint a radiant, indelible portrait of how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be.

©2012 Alice Munro (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Both Kimberly Farr and Arthur Morey lend intuitive pacing to their nuanced performances of these works. The listener becomes steeped in the meaning and beauty of Munro's stories by virtue of the performers' deliberate pacing. They give each one the focus that is essential for the concentrated prose of the short story genre. Further, they convey the sense of profundity that these stories evoke with eloquent and clear deliveries." (AudioFile)

Not Munro's best

I have read or listened to most of Ms. Munro's work, and this is definitely not her best. The stories have little to go on, and in contrast to her previous work (Someting I've been meaning to tell you; Runaway) the characters are dull and uninteresting. The female narrator, Kimberly Fair, reads far too slowly and in an almost kindergarten-teacher kind of way, very annoying. The best are the first few stories, previously published in the New Yorker magazine, but even these are affected negatively by the narration.

Poor narration CAN ruin an audiobook...

How could the performance have been better?

Each of the short stories in this collection is read by a man or a woman. Neither reader is very good. All male voices performed by the female reader sound the same, and the female reader's inflection was completely inappropriate -- even occasionally changing the intended meaning or preventing it from being understood. Unfortunately, this stood in the way of my enjoyment of the stories, as well as my being able to learn anything from them. Very distracting. It's a shame; Alice Munro is supposed to be the best.....

Disappointed in this book

Based on the reviews I was excited to start and listen to these stories. I was very disappointed. There is not one single passage or character that moved me or made me sit up and pay attention. I don't know who these stories do appeal to but they do not appeal to me. I did listen to the end but I don't know why.

Duller Than Dull

What would have made Dear Life better?

Characters that were interesting.

Has Dear Life turned you off from other books in this genre?

I don't think this has a genre.

Did Kimberly Farr and Arthur Morey do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes, but only because they were a make and a female.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Dear Life?

I can't count that high.

Any additional comments?

I bought this book with great expectations. I consider myself to be an intellectual, and did expect the stories to be esoteric. What I didn't expect was that most of the stories had little plot and characters hard to relate to-such a disappointment. I was bored out of my mind by the fourth story. The narration was also very dull--it sounded like they weren't any more interested than I was. What a disappointment.

Good, but VERY skewed towards female readers

What was most disappointing about Alice Munro’s story?

I found them to be extremely catered to female readership, to the point of not being able to identify with the characters (even the male ones) or the story at all. Could not finish the whole book...

TERRIBLE BOOK

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Bottom feeders

Has Dear Life turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Dear Life?

The entire thing

Any additional comments?

Quite possibly one of the worst books I have ever read. This woman is atrocious. I guess growing up in Ontario means you lack family values and manners. To quote the author, "we say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do - we do it all the time." The entire book lives as if this "mantra" is acceptable and indeed a way of life. Maybe for Canadians, but not from where I come from! If I were to meet this woman, I would have nothing to say except, bless your heart.

Pleasantly captivating

Hard to put a finger on why her short stories are so engrossing. But I was captivated the entire time. The characters, the real inclinations they have and the observations each bar narrator makes are all experiences we wouldn't be able to absorb anywhere but Munro's words.

shimmering gems - jammed into too small a space

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

yup

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dear Life?

I would only say that I somewhat preferred the earlier stories to the final autobiographical notes.

Have you listened to any of Kimberly Farr and Arthur Morey ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I found her a bit limited. ALL of her men sounded the same. Not just voice but inflections. I actually found this a bit distracting. On a few occasions, I thought that her emphasis was misplaced. But generally acceptable.

Could you see Dear Life being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

oh for goodness' sake! who thinks up these questions?

Any additional comments?

Yes. Why in the world not leave at least 5 seconds between stories. I generally listen while driving - and frequently in the dark. So it's not that easy or safe to dive for the 'pause' button. A good short story - and these are - sometimes ends beautifully and abruptly, leaving the listener lost in thought. But no time for that here! We've got to push on to the next story pronto!!! Not even two heartbeats to absorb the ending.PLEASE reconsider this policy.

Engaging Stories

What made the experience of listening to Dear Life the most enjoyable?

Characters were both unusual and familiar.

What other book might you compare Dear Life to and why?

Flannery O'Conner similar engagement with normal quirky people. "Life is strange".

Any additional comments?

This is one of my favorite Audible books for both the stories and the narration. I do not understand the negative reviews. It was perfect for working on a task while listening.

If you want to be depressed..........read on

What disappointed you about Dear Life?

Everything. It was very hard to listen to........very, very depressing.

What was most disappointing about Alice Munro’s story?

Never completed the story.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

She did not.........she was great.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Dear Life?

No opinion

Any additional comments?

Please don't spend the time or money. Even if the author got one of the greatest literary awards...........it is just not a good collection of stories.