Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage

Alice Munro does not disappoint. Each of these stories has such ripe nuance, and perfectly-paced builds, often to unexpected places. Each story features strong women at relationship crossroads, all with backdrops of mortality. Sounds grave when written that way, and I guess these stories are, in a sense, heavy. But more heavy in these nuanced, but relatable internal feelings. I think that's what's so fascinating about these stories to me — those complicated, nuanced feelings. How many more times can I say nuance in this review? What I'm saying is that Alice Munro is a great writer and I enjoyed this collection very much.

It‰ЫЄs an interesting concept, right, of the dedicated and loving wife finding an idea of passion or happiness or something in a man other than her husband, but the positive proliferation of the idea in this book made me uncomfortable, as though I should expect shortly to become silently obsessed with a man other than my boyfriend.