I borrowed "Runaway" from the library. Now that I have read it, I have no choice but to go out and buy it. One read will never suffice.
On the surface the stories seem straight forward, perhaps more so than Munro's other recent books and yet they are rich and complex.
These are stories of great humanity. Outcomes are not predictable and the smallest of decisions can change a life forever. A word not said, a second glance not taken, have huge consequences. The characters and plots do not follow a predictable course as they would in a lesser fiction.
Even the less sympathetic characters are drawn in shades of grey and we feel their pain and humanity. In the title story, a bully of a husband is a complex man who may or may not destroy, depending upon so little. We hold our breath in dread, hoping that those around him tread lightly.
This collection of stories is simply breathtaking and deserves to be savoured again and again.
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