The Progress of Love by Alice Munro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve decided to get all of Alice Munro’s work and go back and read them all … eventually. Previous to this one, I finished ‘Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You’ from 1974, and have skipped ahead by two books to 1982 and ‘The Progress of Love’. My new way of reading Alice Munro is to read a story, and then go to the excellent blog ‘Mookse and Gripes’ where I can read some excellent reviews and analysis by two of their writers. The blog tells me that ‘The Progress of Love’ was just before Munro started publishing her better-known work. Myself, I’m surprised at what a difference I found between these stories and the previous ones, which I can’t say I liked as much. Pretty much immediately, from the first story, I was back in the Munro world that I knew and admired.
What I love about these short stories is that they give me a complex view on the characters, and then going backwards and forwards in time, these moments are illuminated where decisions are made that perhaps change everything. There are profound moments of hope, disappointment, expectation. And I feel a sense of wonder and emotional weight, where I may or may not understand or relate to what is happening, but it feels interesting and significant.
What I didn’t like or connect with is realising that Munro’s careful descriptions of the characters’ wardrobes and clothes are lost on me, as I just can’t picture what she’s talking about nor would know what she’s trying to say, by telling us that the characters are wearing those clothes. She often seems to comment on her women’s characters’ shape and waist size, which is uncomfortable. And after the news from last year of how she was already a bad mother (prioritising her writing and career over being a good mother) and then wouldn’t show any empathy or sadness that her daughter was sexually abused by her partner, I have to say that any stories that explicitly deal with relationships between mothers and daughters are uncomfortable to read now.
Still, I think Munro’s stories are mysterious and masterful and this collection is an excellent example of that. I’m glad to have read it.