Dear Life, Stories by Alice Munro

The master story teller returns.

By Athena McKenzie

These fourteen short works show how a moment can completely change a life, as sudden decisions turn a story in a completely different direction. Like in “Train,” when a soldier leaps off the back of a train just before a long-awaited reunion with his fiancée. The voices of Munro’s narrators range from young women recounting teenage years, to an old woman dealing with Alzheimer’s, to the older man in “Pride” who realizes aging has lessoned the impact of his harelip as,”Everybody’s face will have suffered, never just yours.”