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Runaway [Paperback]

Alice Munro
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

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Book Description

November 8, 2005
The incomparable Alice Munro’s bestselling and rapturously acclaimed Runaway is a book of extraordinary stories about love and its infinite betrayals and surprises, from the title story about a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband, to three stories about a woman named Juliet and the emotions that complicate the luster of her intimate relationships. In Munro’s hands, the people she writes about–women of all ages and circumstances, and their friends, lovers, parents, and children–become as vivid as our own neighbors. It is her miraculous gift to make these stories as real and unforgettable as our own.

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Runaway + Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories + Dear Life: Stories
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Alice Munro has a strong claim to being the best fiction writer now working in North America. Runaway is a marvel.” –Jonathan Franzen, The New York Times Book Review

Runaway may very well be the synthesizing work of one of literature’s keenest investigators into the human soul.” –USA Today

“She outjoices Joyce and checkmates Chekhov. . . . Each of the stories in Runaway contains enough lived life to fill a typical novel. . . . Her women are heroic. . . . They endure in the mind of the reader.” –The Boston Globe

“As with so many of Munro’s stories, you read to have your premises altered and deepened. Could anything be better? . . . A beautiful new work.” –Los Angeles Times

“The great Alice Munro proves again why short-story writers bow down to her.” –Vanity Fair

Runaway is a big dish of Beluga caviar, sailing in on a sparkling bed of ice, with a mother-of-pearl spoon. You remember: This is why you eat, read, make love, whatever–to be left silly with admiration and delight.” –The Washington Post

About the Author

Alice Munro grew up in Wingham, Ontario, and attended the University of Western Ontario. She has published eleven new collections of stories-Dance of the Happy Shades; Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You; The Beggar Maid; The Moons of Jupiter; The Progress of Love; Friend of My Youth; Open Secrets; The Love of a Good Woman; Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; Runaway; and a volume of Selected Stories-as well as a novel, Lives of Girls and Women. During her distinguished career she has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including the Man Booker International Prize, three of Canada's Governor General's Literary Awards and two of its Giller Prizes, the Rea Award for the Short Story, the Lannan Literary Award, England's W. H. Smith Book Award, the United States' National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Edward MacDowell Medal in literature. Her stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, and other publications, and her collections have been translated into thirteen languages.Alice Munro divides her time between Clinton, Ontario, near Lake Huron, and Comox, British Columbia.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (November 8, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400077915
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400077915
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alice Munro grew up in Wingham, Ontario, and attended the University of Western Ontario. She has published eleven previous books.During her distinguished career she has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including the W.H. Smith Prize, the National Book Circle Critics Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction, the Lannan Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and the Rea Award for the Short Story. In Canada, she has won the Governor General's Award, the Giller Prize, the Trillium Book Award, and the Libris Award.Alice Munro and her husband divide their time between Clinton, Ontario, and Comox, British Columbia.

Customer Reviews

Runaway was the first collection of short stories by Alice Munro that I've read. Cinnamintz  |  14 reviewers made a similar statement
I just finished this and I am ready to start reading another of her collections of short stories. M. Bradley  |  12 reviewers made a similar statement
It will be high on my list of books to be given as a gift this year. frumiousb  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Northern Star January 22, 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Somebody around here nominated Munro for a Nobel prize and for the title of strongest writer in the English language. Tempted by so much praise from a trustworthy source, I tested/tasted the Runaway and I second the motion.
The title story itself is one of the best long short stories that I can remember. (But I would still like to know what happened to Flora...)
The story called 'Silence' is a very troubling horror story out of real life.
Munro writes about daily life and 'human' relations and neighborhood problems and life stories, including several versions of plausible horror, with a simplicity and precision that can only be achieved through hard work (or through lucky genius). She is entirely free of mannerisms and of cheap tricks (unlike other contemporary American writers that I am just having a big disagreement about.)
Outstanding.
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68 of 74 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Stories December 24, 2005
Format:Paperback
If you have not read Alice Munro, how I envy you. You have so much pleasure ahead of you. She writes for us about wonder- the wonder of everyday life; the small things; the touching things; the things that make you say, yes, this is the human heart; all of these are her fictional world, much as they are our pasts, and our presents. This is a strong collection and an excellent place to get to know what she is about. After this, explore her backlist. My personal favorite besides this is an early collection called,The Moons of Jupiter, which is still in print in a nice paperbak format. I hope you enjoy discovering her as much as I have.
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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars So beautiful, you hardly know that it hurts. August 6, 2006
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Munro is an absolutely gorgeous writer. I was discussing this book with some friends over dinner and we all realized that the more we talked, the more sadness we saw in the stories. The prose is so luminous and the characters are so real, it is easy to forget the quiet and unquiet desperation that their lives are describing.

Runaway seems to be a meditation on several themes. The obvious one is the idea of flight. Her characters flee in a multitude of ways-- successfully, unsuccessfully, with large rebellion and small. Small town life with all its constraints and beauty is explored through the context of young women trying to come to terms with its limitations.

This book would be suitable for anyone who is a lover of strong character-driven fiction (short or otherwise). If you read and appreciate writers like Marilynne Robinson, then this will likely be a book for you. It will be high on my list of books to be given as a gift this year.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars I don't like short stories
I would rather read a 600 page book than a short story. Stories were okay, but canadian. I couldn't relate to her tales.
Published 2 months ago by Patricia A. Roberts
4.0 out of 5 stars This book was just okay.
I don't remember very much about this book. Sometimes I get tired of reading "coming of age" stories. I have read several stories that are similar to this. Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Tindell
5.0 out of 5 stars Astounding on so many levels.
When you read a collection of stories by Alice Munro, you need to give yourself a lot of time to intake what you have read. To so to say, "soak in" the experience. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Vivek Tejuja
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written short stories
This was my first foray into the world of Alice Munro's short stories and I am hooked, as they say, line and sinker, and I couldn't be more pleased. Read more
Published 14 months ago by CACurtis
5.0 out of 5 stars Quiet Yet Powerful
A friend recommended Munro's collection Runaway to me, and I'm eternally grateful! The storis included in this collection are touching and sad. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Nadria B. Tucker
5.0 out of 5 stars These Canadian Lives
When I read stories by Alice Munro, I feel as if her characters, who mostly live what one might call ordinary lives, represent the whole range of human emotions. Read more
Published 16 months ago by M. Feldman
5.0 out of 5 stars Good as always.
Rarely am I displeased with a book by Ms. Munroe, and this one was no exception. If you have read other loosely connected short stories of her this one will not disappoint. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Rachel Baldes
5.0 out of 5 stars Flawless
Runaway is a collection of short stories written by Alice Munroe. I first discovered her last year when I was actively working to read more women authors. Read more
Published 20 months ago by AgnesMack
2.0 out of 5 stars Good writer but bad story teller.
This book was extremely boring. I forced myself to read the first half of the book and had to stop. If I have to force myself to read something then its not worth reading. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Among the best short stories I've ever read
Runaway was the first collection of short stories by Alice Munro that I've read. The stories are extremely well-written and penetratingly perceptive. Read more
Published on August 28, 2010 by Cinnamintz
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Interpretations of "Powers" by Alice Munro
I think that we don't know what the truth is. Even Tessa with her infrequent clairvoyance couldn't tell us that. I, like you, felt that Ollie was probably lying (he was at one point a writer) and that Tessa's memory is swiss cheese from the treatments she was given, so he can't be sure that she... Read more
Nov 30, 2010 by M. Winslow |  See all 3 posts
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