Alice MunroThe Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose

I have read all thirteen volumes of Alice's short stories, and even at her ordinary, she surpasses most modern writers. "The Beggar Maid" or "Stories of Flo and Rose", traces the life of a young woman born into poverty in a tough little Canadian town,learning from her demanding, but street wise step-mother and finding her place in the world as a radio commentator and writer. This is early Alice Munro, but still great writing. I got hooked with Alice with her story 'The Bear Came over the Mountain", a story I read in The New Yorker, after watching the bitter sweet indy movie "Away From Her", starring the great Julie Christie. I started at the beginning, reading "The Dance of the Happy Shades", her initial collection first, and working my way through her 12 volumes of short stories published over a 40 year span. One of the joys of reading Alice Munro in this manner is enjoying how her skills grew as she grew older. Some of her best writng she accomplished in her sixties. I usuallly read her stories twice, the first time for the story and the second time to enjoy her descriptive power manifested in the way she puts words together. WARNING: Alice says there is no such thing as a dirty word and the sexual adventures of her heroines or villains are not for prudes. In fact, the "Progress of Love" was banned in many Canadian schools. Hard for me to to name a favorite, but "The Love of a Good Woman", "Open Secrets", and "Hateship, Friendship, Loveship, Courtship, Marriage" are all truly wonderful.Take an Alice Munro collection to bed with you, read one story a night and you will have a cozy bed fellow for quite some time .

About half of these stories are great. All the stories about Rose's childhood are intensely felt and lived in, and the two central stories, Wild Swans and The Beggar Maid, are two of the best short stories I've ever read. The Beggar Maid in particular is so complexly emotional, and draw's Rose's character so brutally-but-sympathetically, that I was in complete awe of it.Unfortunately, after the next story, which is, at worst, very good, the rest take on a very samey air. Rose loses the defiance and individuality that endeared her to me so much in The Beggar Maid. For several stories Rose is just sitting around, waiting on a man. There are still strong observation tucked into these stories, but Rose seems almost disconnected from the action--it's just happening to her, and unfortunately, what's happening to her is basically the same thing over and over. Things pick up a bit when she goes back home to Flo, but the Rose who had come into such sharp focus in The Beggar Maid remains a fairly indistinct figure until the book's end. Bummer.

Had this been my first Alice Munro book, I probably would have quit. The character Flo, in the title, was merely a bookend. Flo was, however, clearly drawn. I kept hoping I could get a handle on this wishy-washy character Rose. She was, from my view, the essence of ambivalence. Now, ambivalence is an interesting character trait, but too much of an interesting thing becomes a bore. The descriptions of place were, as always remarkable. I can still remember the house where Flo raised Rose. I remember Hanratty and West Hanratty. I remember the house where Rose met Patrick's parents, and the small house sitting high where she entertained friends in later life. BUT I CAN NOT DESCRIBE ROSE. I don't know what she looked like and I have no idea what motivated her except that she could never make up her mind and then seemed to act aimlessly. It didn't work for me.

Alice Munro has so many published stories and over a long stretch of time and with numerous awards, yet this was the first collection I have read. I ordered five others after reading this collection. That is my highest compliment to a writer. I want to see if there is a pattern or progression to her writing. Her stories are crisp, pack a lot of emotion without being overly sentimental. I think she gives a special voice n this collection to late middle age women--women who know life is not a straight line of life events, but a curvy road with dead ends, retreats, and avenues of full speed ahead occasionally. I am recommending this (or another collection after I read some of her others) to the retirement-age women n my book club

Dislike? That I can’t read fast enough. I chose this book because it was available. With Alice Munro it doesn’t matter if the next story seems at first to have nothing to do with the rest. It’s all in her language, in personal detail, a little from everybody so no one no thing gets ignored. Go! Alice!

Not being a fan of short stories in general, I wanted to see what generated Alice Munro's Nobel prize in literature. I was delighted at the completeness of the novel with 2 main characters. This was a different approach from "Dear Life" which were several stories, all of them, also complete. She is a brilliant writer who uses the simplest of words with extremely far reaching effect.

It took me a while to adjust to Alice Miller's writing as I had not read any of her books before. I soon started to enjoy the characters and became absorbed by their stories. By the time I had finished the book, I wanted to read more of her work. I found the stories comforting because they were about real people trying to get by in real life. Life is not always pretty. Her stories are insightful with detailed writing; each story a clear picture woven into a whole life story.

Very, very disappointed, especially after all the hype this book received. The initial naievite of the character of Rose seemed reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's Bell Jar, particularly the sexual undertones. I did not care about any of the characters in this lightweight novel. The progression of Rose and Flo's relationship did not hold my interest nor did Rose's endless dalliances with married men intrigue me. Finally, the "poor me" pride about poverty Rose endured did not elicit any sympathy. I definitely would not recommend this book to anyone.