Lives of Girls and Women

Munro is a big Canadian writer, mostly known for her short stories. This is the only novel she wrote, so naturally this is the book of hers I chose.

The book is a series of snapshots of a girl's coming-of-age in a town in rural Ontario during the 1940s. Her father breeds white foxes at the end of a dirt road, her mother sells encyclopedias to farmers while mourning her own ambitions, her family's boarder is gossiped about for being an unmarried woman. There's humor and wisdom yet also darkness in the way Munro portrays the mundanity of these small town characters. And threading through all the stories is the subtle story of girls and women, enduring or trying to overcome the sexist conventions of that time.

This is great writing. I enjoyed the quirkiness of the earlier stories (uncle Benny and his mail-in-bride) and the harsh reality of the later stories (the ending of Del's love story, what an education). Just the middle had maybe too much exploration of different religions.