Dear Life (book)

Dear Life
First edition
AuthorAlice Munro
LanguageEnglish
GenreShort story collection
PublisherMcClelland and Stewart
Publication placeCanada
Media typePrint (hardcover)
ISBN978-0143180661

Dear Life is a short story collection by Canadian writer Alice Munro, published in 2012 by McClelland and Stewart.

The book was to have been promoted in part by a reading at Toronto's International Festival of Authors, although the appearance was cancelled due to health concerns.[1]

Publication history

Most of the stories collected in Dear Life had previously been published elsewhere. "Amundsen", "Corrie", "Dear Life", "Gravel", "Haven" and "Leaving Maverley" were all originally published in The New Yorker. "Dolly" was first published in Tin House.

Critical reception

According to Book Marks, the book received "rave" reviews based on eighteen critic reviews, with eighteen being "rave".[2] On The Omnivore, a British aggregator of press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 3.5 out of 5.[3][4][5] On Bookmarks January/February 2013 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "Critics compare Alice Munro favorably to Tom Wolfe, William Trevor, and Anton Chekhov--but also agree that she stands in a class of her own".[6][7]

Kate Kellaway in The Guardian describes these stories as "concise, subtle and masterly" noting that they have a "subtle, unshowy, covert brilliance".[8]

Ruth Scurr, writing in The Telegraph, points to the autobiographical aspect of the collection and declares the collection to be "a subversive challenge to the idea of autobiography: a purposeful melding of fact fiction and feeling".[9] The reviewer goes on to suggest the collection might be Munro's last, but if so would be a "spectacular" finale.

Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature in October 2013 for the body of work over her lifetime.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Alice Munro reading cancelled amid health concerns". CBC News, October 12, 2012.
  2. ^ "Dear Life". Book Marks. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Dear Life by Alice Munro". The Omnivore. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Alice Munro". The Omnivore. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Dear Life". The Omnivore. Archived from the original on 14 Aug 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Dear Life". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Dear Life" (PDF). Bookmarks. p. 2. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  8. ^ Kellaway, Kate (29 December 2013). "Dear Life by Alice Munro – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  9. ^ Scurr, Ruth (21 November 2012). "Dear Life by Alice Munro: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  10. ^ Bosman, Julie (2013-10-10). "Alice Munro Wins Nobel Prize in Literature". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-09.


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