Dance of the Happy Shades: And Other Stories
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Book Overview
Fifteen stunning short stories from Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro, "a true master of the form" (Salman Rushdie).
"How does one know when one is in the grip of art--of a major talent? . . . It is art that speaks from the pages of Alice Munro's stories."--The Wall Street Journal A young girl gets an unexpected glimpse into her father's past when she realizes the sales call they've made one summer afternoon during the Great Depression is to his old sweetheart. A married woman, returning home after the death of her invalid mother, tries to release the sister who'd stayed behind as their mother's caretaker. The audience at a children's piano recital receives a surprising lesson in the power of art to transform when a not-quite-right student performs with unexpected musicality and a spirit of joy. In Dance of the Happy Shades, Alice Munro conjures ordinary lives with an extraordinary vision, displaying the remarkable talent for which she is now widely celebrated. Set on farms, by river marshes, in the lonely towns and new suburbs of western Ontario, these tales are luminous acts of attention to those vivid moments when revelation emerges from the layers of experience that lie behind even the most everyday events and lives.
"How does one know when one is in the grip of art--of a major talent? . . . It is art that speaks from the pages of Alice Munro's stories."--The Wall Street Journal A young girl gets an unexpected glimpse into her father's past when she realizes the sales call they've made one summer afternoon during the Great Depression is to his old sweetheart. A married woman, returning home after the death of her invalid mother, tries to release the sister who'd stayed behind as their mother's caretaker. The audience at a children's piano recital receives a surprising lesson in the power of art to transform when a not-quite-right student performs with unexpected musicality and a spirit of joy. In Dance of the Happy Shades, Alice Munro conjures ordinary lives with an extraordinary vision, displaying the remarkable talent for which she is now widely celebrated. Set on farms, by river marshes, in the lonely towns and new suburbs of western Ontario, these tales are luminous acts of attention to those vivid moments when revelation emerges from the layers of experience that lie behind even the most everyday events and lives.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:067978151X
ISBN13:9780679781516
Release Date:August 1998
Publisher:Vintage
Length:240 Pages
Weight:0.58 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
Unabashed joy for an unabashed fan!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
If I could write a letter to Ms Munro, it would simply say...thank you for sharing your gift, and then probably, quit reading your fan mail and write some more short stories! Munro's gift is to make the simplest tale accessible to every reader, and whatever twists and turns she may take you on, your brain in sheer delight will exclaim..."of course!" She is capable of making the most isolated 1930's farm come alive to modern urban condo dwellers. Like a Rosetta stone of feeling and emotion, she allows the readers to inhabit the characters fully, regardless of gender or personality or circumstance. This collection is further evidence and testament to that gift, and of that genius. Write on, Ms Munro, write on!
You're in Luck!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
If you haven't read Alice Munro before, you're in luck! you have some ten volumes of the best writing in English to select from! This collection includes some of Munro's earliest stories, at least as early as 1968, and one of her best known, "The Red Dress". It's a good starting place. If you've already read Munro's later story-suites, such as Runaway, then you'll be intrigued to find a less distinctive but equally crafty word-artist in Happy Shades. The stories in this collection are less interpenetrating, less like a novel in the form of a suite, than in other collections, but that's not a flaw, just a difference. One story (I won't declare which) ranks in my mind as a classic equal to any in English. If a short-story writer is ever to win the Nobel Prize, in my opinion it should be Alice Munro.
Intimate and Touching
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
I hadnt read much Alice Munro before but I was very impressed with this collection of stories. There's a wonderful understatement about the entire collection, but each story resonates with its own life and people. I loved the melancholy and moody landscapes, the other-worlds of women and children mainly on farms and villages. I think good stories create their own unique life; after all, why else would we care about characters who we meet and get to know so briefly? But we DO care about the characters; somehow they matter and though nothing is resolved sometimes, somehow everything has changed. The ordinary transformed.
Dance of the Happy Shades Mentions in Our Blog
Remembering Alice Munro
Published by Ashly Moore Sheldon • May 17, 2024
Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro passed away this week at the age of 92. Often referred to as "the Canadian Chekhov," she was well known for her collections of short fiction that explored the secret dreams, desires, and heartaches of ordinary life. Here we celebrate her life and legacy.
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