This review of Alice Munro’s new collection of short stories, Dear Life (McClelland & Stewart), appears in the November issue of Q&Q.

Feature reviewer James Grainger writes:

Critics have been saying for so long that a typical Alice Munro story is as rich and textured as any novel that they seem not to have noticed that her recent stories don’t resemble novels much at all. Beginning (roughly) with Runaway (2004) and continuing through to Too Much Happiness (2009), Munro has gradually shifted away from the complex, oblique narratives and intricately layered portraiture of her mid-career work toward a pared-down, almost expressionist form of storytelling.

Read the rest of the review.

Buy the book.