Word: munroã
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...Munro??s stories may be the yogurt of the literary world, but there is a reason yogurt is so popular—it is impossible to truly dislike. At their best, her stories in “Too Much Happiness” are proof that the best writing need not reach for grandeur. However, Munro runs into the inevitable danger of writing within a narrow world, and her stories begin to seem undistinguishable from one another. Instead of presenting readers with a slice of Munro??s world, it starts to feel as if she were reaching...
...Despite Munro??s clear attempts to move outside her comfort zone—even making one story’s narrator a man—the stories of “Too Much Happiness” still firmly belong in Munro Land. And despite subject matter that includes a fair amount of sex, drugs, and violence, her stories still read with the same quiet calm, so much so that it often takes a couple minutes for the full weight of the subject matter to sink...
...first stories in “Too Much Happiness” exhibit Munro??s power at its best. Possibly due to the repetitive nature of her subject matter, her later stories become less and less fresh and she resorts more and more to the formula that she knows cannot fail. She becomes overly romantic about the characters she is describing and can’t help but hide her enthusiasm. Describing the third craftsman we encounter, she says, “He can lie awake nights thinking of a splendid beech he wants to get at, wondering...
...final and titular story of the book exemplifies this tendency. It is Munro??s imagining of a short period in the life of an exceptional woman from history: Sophia Kovalevsky, a mathematician and novelist who lived in the late 19th century. Munro writes that she encountered Sophia’s story in an encyclopedia, and the story begins to read more like a factual entry than anything else. Sophia is a fascinating character and a perfect example of a powerful woman, but by portraying her as a saint, Munro makes this woman less accessible to her readers...
...Munro??s final story, the particular world she is writing about begins to feel real. This can be a comforting thought—who doesn’t want to believe that in every ordinary person is a kernel of resilience and power? It is certainly impressive that she manages to create a portrait in miniature of the world that feels so authentic. But just like yogurt, while one or two can be refreshing, after a whole book of stories, it might be time to get something a little more sustaining...