Reviews

Kärlek, vänskap, hat by Rose-Marie Nielsen, Alice Munro

bobkat's review against another edition

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5.0

I have never been able to read Alice Munro, and I've always wanted to understand why she is so good. I think listening to this collection on audiobook was the way to go, because I really appreciate her now. Munro's stories might seem a bit mundane and quiet, involving relationships and secret truths rather than action plots. But they are literary gold. She is a very sympathetic author, kind to her characters and readers without breaking from honesty into schmaltz or needless negativity. I think this is what John Gardner would call moral fiction.

tentatividiauro's review against another edition

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4.0

i racconti che se letti da un uomo comunque non vengono capiti. con molta invidia delle donne "nemico, amico, amante" Munro #1tweet1libro

mellalee_d's review against another edition

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I read the first three stories and couldn't read any further. The characters are not compelling and the writing doesn't do anything to make up for that. I guess she's just not my cup of tea.

emmajannes's review against another edition

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4.0

Vanhuus, sairaus, kuolema
Tai
Syrjähyppy, uskottomuus, aviorikos

larry_williamson's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A wonderful series of shorter stories. Each was so beautiful. The last one was especially heartbreaking at times but with a lovely finish. 

dr_dick's review against another edition

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4.5

when i am frustrated in my search for a good novel to read, like lately, i turn to short stories and am never disappointed.  case in point...Alice Munro.  this is my forth or fifth collection of her stories and i'm always impressed. here we have a collection of really good stories, two or three being excellent, of women in relationship to the men in their lives...fathers, brothers, lovers, and husbands.  Alice may have been truly deficient in the motherhood department, as has come to light lately, but she is a master at her craft.

jamichalski's review against another edition

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3.0

Pretty disappointed—a series of stories which, though competently written, lack sufficient tension and narrative arc to justify their existence as formally straightforward short stories. Felt like Munro was trying to be more subtle/withholding in her psychologizing, but accidentally left the reader at too far a remove from her characters.

Honestly, not a single story stood out more than the others here. Maybe the one where the woman with cancer kisses the boy on the floating dock. That’s quite an image.

She is more hit-or-miss than I’d expected when I started reading her.

saydeerulz's review against another edition

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2.0

For the entire book I alternated between mild interest and active dislike. 2.5 stars, rounded down.

hawkia75's review against another edition

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5.0

This book is shockingly good. Mostly women, but single, married, with children, without, and with every kind of disposition — it's like she's lived inside each one and can tell you the feelings that skim along the top of a person, but then the yearning, the desire, the hatred, the deep love that swims underneath. Often, when I read a prize-winning author, I have to steel myself for a disappointment, but I won't read Alice Munro with that fear again.

auntmine84's review against another edition

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3.0

Actual rating: 3.5