Thursday, January 5, 2012

See for yourself

Okay team, so I feel like I did the superb Alice Munro a bit of an injustice on Monday. Really, I was trying to say how good she was, rather than make her sound merely confusing. So, I present to you I link to her short story "Floating Bridge." Check out the first two sections and decide for yourself. If you like it, read the whole thing, because it's beautiful with interesting characters, complex emotions, and some ooh la la!

11 comments:

  1. That was interesting. A bit 'disorienting' as well. But very nice. And genuine. I don't know if I could read that "style" all the time, but it's nice for a bit of reprieve. Thank you for sharing it.

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  2. Ooh..thanks for the link..I searched around but couldn't find the complete story..off to read

    Lavanya

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  3. That's a lovely story. It seemed pretty straightforward to me, at least in the telling. Jinny's situation is complex, but the narrative isn't.

    I liked the line When you died, of course, these wrong opinions were all there was left.

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  4. Anne, I enjoyed this story a lot, and I read one other story from that collection, but then I moved on to another book myself. I realize I've never been able to read several of her stories all at once.

    Lavanya, I hope you can connect with it in some way!

    Scott, I think the narrative is complex in a sense that the section about the oncologist is vague and lacking information that we don't get until much later. The same thing happens for me in the scene where Jinny meets the young woman for the first time. We have to read a ways in before we know what's going on. So, for me, I'm having to constantly loop back in my mind to really see the full story.

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  5. I guess I've seen enough stuff like the oncologist trick before that it seemed commonplace. Though I was expecting it because you talked about it on Monday, so I'm not a fair test, am I?

    I guess I knew we'd hear what the news was at some point. I like that when the reveal finally comes, the oncologist's report is both good and bad, but not in any way you'd expect, and has more power than if Munro had just told it outright in the hospital scene early on. Why it might be bad news is the heart of the story, don't you think?

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  6. I think that's definitely at the heart of the story. And, when it's revealed, I like the impact it had.

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  7. Yeah, there's irony working in every single scene of this story. The characters are all so clumsy and ill-at-ease.

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  8. Hey Domey- I read the story and really liked it..I didn't find the narrative disorienting or confusing (or maybe that is because I was primed for it)..

    I liked how the supposed good news is, in a way, not so good news for Jinny..The narrative seemed to be going in one direction till the cornfield bit (and I expected her to run away again- which might have been a little trite at that point). But after she returns from the cornfield the narrative seems to turn and almost float- very like the name of the story..I liked it a lot- I need to read more of her stuff. Any other suggestions?

    Lavanya

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  9. Lavanya, My favorite story of Munro's is called "A Real Life." "Open Secrets" is also interesting, as if the first story of her collection Too Much Happiness. (I don't remember the name of the story.) I'm glad you liked it!

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  10. Open Secrets is the collection we have at home, not Too Much Happiness, as I'd thought. Anyway, I'll have to read it now, won't I?

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