Lives Of Girls And Women
Canadian writer Munro is known for her excellent short stories. However, in this, her only novel, she proves that her ability to tell a wonderful story with lovable and intriguing characters extends to the novel format.
The story is told from the point of view of Del Jordan, a perceptive young girl living on her father’s silver fox farm with an eccentric cast of characters. These include “Uncle” Benny (nobody’s actual uncle), who always has a business scheme going; Del’s two aunts, Elspeth and Grace, who sing as they milk the cows; Uncle Craig, for whose funeral she wore her “black watch plaid funeral dress”; her mother, Addie, an agnostic who sells encyclopedias to keep the family fed; and Del’s best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares life and learns how girls become women.
Although the novel is set in Canada, readers of any locale will feel nostalgic and at home with this story. It has the flavor of a Southern novel without the angst.
