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Runaway | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Vintage
Category: EBooks
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $3.61
You Save: $6.34 (64%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 6339
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B0012DZ356
Publication Date: December 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
In Alice Munro’s superb new collection, we find stories about women of all ages and circumstances, their lives made palpable by the subtlety and empathy of this incomparable writer.
The runaway of the title story is a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband. In “Passion,” a country girl emerging into the larger world via a job in a resort hotel discovers in a single moment of stunning insight the limits and lies of that mysterious emotion. Three stories are about a woman named Juliet–in the first, she escapes from teaching at a girls’ school into a wild and irresistible love match; in the second she returns with her child to the home of her parents, whose life and marriage she finally begins to examine; and in the last, her child, caught, she mistakenly thinks, in the grip of a religious cult, vanishes into an unexplained and profound silence. In the final story, “Powers,” a young woman with the ability to read the future sets off a chain of events that involves her husband-to-be and a friend in a lifelong pursuit of what such a gift really means, and who really has it.
Throughout this compelling collection, Alice Munro’s understanding of the people about whom she writes makes them as vivid as our own neighbors. Here are the infinite betrayals and surprises of love–between men and women, between friends, between parents and children–that are the stuff of all our lives. It is Alice Munro’s special gift to make these stories as vivid and real as our own.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 I don't get what all the fuss is about!! Its pretty average! October 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I only read the title story, Runaway. I'm not sure what all the hoopla is about surrounding this book - but i wasn't impressed at all.
The characters are are neither interesting, nor memorable. You don't really get a clear sense of who they are or what makes them tick, they have no depth, no character, no personality.
The storyline was equally uninspiring and uninteresting. I kept expecting something to happen or some kind of epiphany or insight but it never came and when i was done i just thought, "huh??!!"
I've enjoyed many books that don't have such distinct or interseting stories but are so beautifully written the words carry you along, and i've also enjoyed books that have a compelling story but are very simply written. This book was neither style or story driven.
Whatever genre this is, i really don't like it!
 Amazing Short-Story Writer! October 8, 2008
This is more of a testimony than a review. A friend of mine loaned me this book several months ago, and it went into a pile of papers on my desk and I promptly forgot about it. When I discovered it last week, I was blown away, and had to call my friend to thank them... but not until I ordered my own copy. While reading the first story in this collection, I realized how rare it is that a short story sorta works miracles in your head. How a good writer can somehow pack pages of understanding into a couple of lines. I will never forget the first time I read short-stories by such writers. Raymond Carver is one. Flannery O'Conner another. And definitely Alice Munro. Speaking from experience, Runaway makes for a great introduction to Munro's writing. But there is a lot more out there, and I'm off to read it!
 Interesting, but not earth-shattering, stories June 29, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Alice Munroe is widely lauded as one of the most brilliant modern short story writers. As a lover of short stories, I was expecting to really enjoy this collection. Certainly the stories are well-written and enjoyable to read. They are peopled largely with women, many of whom seem to exhibit a host of stereotypical feminine flaws (far too subservient or braggingly independent, ready to throw their lives away for randomly met men, etc). It isn't necessarily that the characters are not realistic; they seem real, but in such a way that I think I would despise or pity them if I met them out in the world. A few of the stories also employ thematic elements which struck a false note, at least with me (the main offenders - the mistaken identity of murdered adopted baby, a deaf-mute twin brother, sudden defection of a beloved child to a cult camp). That said, I did enjoy reading the stories, especially the title story (Runaway) and Passion. Worth reading, but I think I will reserve judgment concerning Monroe's status at the pinnacle of the craft.
How to deal with melancholy June 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This offering of short stories by Alice Munro is just about perfect. The stories' characters are unusual, sensitive, vulnerable. Some are isolates. The author uses some of the characters in linked stories. She covers the passage of time in competent, realistic fashion, hiding her mastery of the literary form.
In "Runaway" the goat and the woman both take off and return to the starting points. Temperamentally they resemble each other in their capacity to bring cheer to others. Their parallel development is thoughtful.
In another story Sara and Sam, Juliet's parents, are encountered. Sam had been a dynamic school teacher, but had seemed to undermine authority. As a consequence he was passed over for administrative positions. Sara and Sam were happy to meet Juliet's daughter Penelope. Years later, reading a letter she had sent to Penelope's father during her visit, Juliet winced at the sprightly cover-up of it, the false tone.
The plot turns are particularly good in the story, "Tricks".
 Gorgeous April 2, 2008
I hope that everyone who can appreciate good writing will have a chance to read Alice Munro's works at some point. Her stories are lovely little works of art. This is a fine, fine collection. Highly recommended.
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