Munro lost me in the prologue, where the writing and thoughts were scattered. As I read the stories, really one family story, the writing became more focused. Ultimately I felt the book had the potential to be a series of wonderful afternoons sitting around with an elderly friend hearing about their life. But it wasn't Munro's memoir and the stories didn't grab me.

A series of short stories that trace the author's family line from Scotland to the present day. The early stories are of course entirely fabricated beyond the dates and names, but the later ones are heavily autobiographical. Grouped together, they form a series that is elegiac without being sentimental. The disjunction between distant past and recent past is a little too jarring for me--I can see what she's doing, the connections she's making and the themes she's drawing out, but being able to see them doesn't make me feel them more. Each story stands well on its own, and the later stories about her parents' mortality and then her own are very moving, but as an organic whole it feels there's something missing at times. That might just be me, though.

So it turns out the view is actually pretty fucking boring.

Much of this book is so turgid and willfully glacial that it reads like a parody of Alice Munro. I couldn't do it, man!

My first Alice Munro book and despite all of the negative reviews, I rather enjoyed it.

A book recommended by a wonderful second cousin who - like me - has been digging into our family history and Scottish ancestry. Munro's family came from Scotland (from a different part than my ancestors), and settled as farmers in Ontario (also in a different part than my ancestors); it was still interesting to read about how decisions were made to leave, the passage, and the years of settling in. While Munro's retelling of her family's history was somewhat fictionalised, it is based on research and stories from her parents and grandparents. The book also has some short stories from more recent times, and they tie back into some of the earlier pieces. It is difficult to tell what may be autobiographical and what is fiction, but this does not detract from the book at all.

Sometimes a book is so personal to the author that only she can understand and appreciate it. A good editor makes a book universal. This book needed a better editor.

marvelous! great writing, part family history, personal memoir, and even a smattering of natural history.

Interesting, semi-fictional account of Munro's ancestors and of Munro herself (or her narrator-persona). Many of the stories (chapters?) are as good as anything I've read by her.

One of the best types of memoir. This is history and geography and has some great stories too.