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July 04, 2005

Alice Munro - Dance Of The Happy Shades

Alice Munro - Dance Of The Happy Shades

Often described as the best short story writer in the world, I had really high hope for this collection. Happily, they weren't completely dashed, though I did start to get a little bored by the stories mostly being set in the same time and place, and by the pace.

This collection from 1974 seems to draw on the simpler post war days of small town America. A young girl has a new dress made for her by her mother to go to a dance. She is full of self doubt about whether any boy will ask her. She discovers something about herself and grows up a little that evening. An old woman dreams of seeing her son, but thousands of miles away in a small convenience store with her daughter and granddaughter on a seldom driven road. A mother copes with a tragic accident where her baby boy is scalded when he is left alone while she visits a neighbour.

There is a lot about young people coming of age. There is something about simple societies concealing individual's complex emotions. There are stories that don't really have much of a point at all, but just describe a small incident. They usually have some kind of transition, a moment when a person has an idea that changes them, or has a realisation of something they should have known all along.

The writing is very calm, measured and I can't fault the quality of these stories in isolation. I was hoping for a little more variety, and maybe a few more surprises - there are some though. Perhaps this collection is meant to feel like everything is taking place at once in the same town (it is mentioned by name a few times in different stories). Maybe other collections will show that the writer does have a larger canvas to paint on. I hope so.

Posted by se71 at July 4, 2005 01:47 PM

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