Customer Reviews

Friend of my Youth

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book so much I decided to write my Master's Thesis in Literature on it; we've all got parents, friends, or someone we know that turn up in every one of these stories. Munro's insights into how humans deal with relationships, death, and collective community social consciousness are continually profound and eye-opening. Pay special attention to things "Gothic" in this collection as in Open Secrets: repressed sexuality, pleasurable dread, anxiety, remorse, unnatural silences....the list goes on and on. No-one better captures the paradox of connected everyday surfaces and hidden, underground nightmares than Munro.

Reading stories such as "Differently," about a woman's reminiscences and regret about the people of her past made me reflect that life turns out differently than our original aspirations. It isn't always regret, but it is rarely indifferent. As soon as I finished a story, I immediately wanted to reread it, and understand the character better. These are beautiful, gentle stories about lives that sometimes meander, sometimes change abruptly, but that are always determined by the choices and accidents of living. Munro's love, sometimes curiosity, for her characters is a privilege to experience.

With this collection of stories, Munro secured her place as one of the best short fiction writers of our time. These are thick, meaty pieces, inhabited by characters as real as any that walk on land, as multifaceted and confused as you or I. Munro's shocking control of the English language and profound understanding of human nature make these ten stories among the most important of the twentieth century.

This is my least favorite of Munro's story-suites, the only one I wouldn't give five stars. Perhaps I'm simply defensive as a male reader, but the men in these stories seem more despicable than most of my friends and I find the women hard to share time with. These stories attend more to Munro's identity as a writer, also, making them annoyingly self-referential and literary. Whatever you do, don't make this collection your first encounter with one of the greatest writers of our lifetimes.

Part travelogue (with a touch of humor), part current affairs, "Lost in Transmission" has the perfect combination of intense vs. not-so-intense moments. It is enlightening about the roles of India and Pakistan in the escalation to the "War on Terror" and these countries' interaction with the Taliban. It is also, in parts, a travelogue about south Asian countries and what it is like be a reporter in remote locations. You have to be careful about reading the book in public places, however, because there are portions where the author will have you laughing out loud at the ridiculous situations and cirumstances in which he finds himself. I hope Harley writes more books because it will be a waste of a great talent if he does not.

I picked up this book at Stansted Airport and was already absorbed by the time I got to the check-in desk. Riveting account of a reporter in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The author was actually in Kabul on September 11th, 2001. It was very refreshing and fascinating to learn the fears and thoughts of a war reporter on the politics leading to the 'Crusade' against 'evil-doers' and the way the press can and will manipulate images to increase ratings. Also very honest and even touching portrait of people who are so often ignored or misunderstood. The author also manages to reveal a fantastic sense of humour in the face of adversity.
Some of his accounts related to his girlfriend sounded oddly familiar, until I realised I had read her book ("Holy Cow") months ago, which deals with her adventures and quest for the meaning of life after moving to India to join him!

The Book Description on this page is wrong. Here is the correct one taken from Amazon.co.uk:

Synopsis
Jonathan Harley knew that becoming the ABC's man in South Asia at the age of only twenty-eight was a dream job. But he'd just fallen in love and wasn't so sure he really wanted it. It took a weekend of soul searching to realise that this would be the experience of a lifetime. From covering India's endearingly over-the-top response to the death of cricketing legend Don Bradman to being the only Australian journalist in Afghanistan on September 11 2001, Lost in Transmission is Harley's exciting, often moving, funny and disarmingly honest account of the three years he spent, lurching from one hair-raising misadventure to the next, reporting from one of the most exotic and, as events unfurled, alarming corners of the planet. Shifting effortlessly between the serious, the sublime and the ridiculous, this is the story of a stranger at something of a loss in an even stranger land - a young man struggling to comprehend and comment on life in a part of the world that never quite makes sense...

I was a bit let down by this compilation. I really enjoyed "The Love of a Good Woman", but the stories in "Friend of my Youth" started to sound a bit repetitious after a while. Of the 10 stories, 7 had a cheating spouse in them. There were some variations on the theme, but in the most common it was the wife who committed adultery, usually resulting in her abandoning her children and moving somewhere else.

This common theme became too hard to bear after a while. After reading the book i felt overexposed to this (seemingly) widespread malaise of society. The writing is fine, and the character development is excellent (i can only imagine how hard it must be to achieve this in a short story), but i wish Alice Munro had explored other human passions and/or vices apart from infidelity.

With this collection of stories, Munro secured her place as one of the best short fiction writers of our time. These are thick, meaty pieces, inhabited by characters as real as any that walk on land, as multifaceted and confused as you or I. Munro's shocking control of the English language and profound understanding of human nature make these ten stories among the most important of the twentieth century

i bought this book a while ago and sat on my bookshelf, somehow i sort of forgot about it and what the subject was actually i even forgot i had it until one day i just picked it up and started reading it.

Bought it whilst i was still living in Oz. Read it last week, after residing in Portugal for over 1 year... and i am so glad i waited.

It made me miss australia, all the familiar names and tv shows and journalists and lingo...

The book is fabulous, recomend it no worries but i wont bore you with details, they are available just up in the editors area.

Just buy it and read it!

Alice Munro certainly has the ability to create complex and fascinating situations, and to make them flow beautifully this way and that in time. Unfortunately, she only succeeds in using this ability about half the time. The other half, she's overly-self-serious, inaccessible, vague and flighty. Here are the stories that make the book worth checking out: Friend of My Youth, Five Points, Oranges and Apples (great story!), and Pictures of the Ice. You can skip Meneseteung and Hold Me Fast Don't Let Me Pass.