Product Description

The only novel from Alice Munro-award-winning author of The Love of a Good Woman--is an insightful, honest book, "autobiographical in form but not in fact," that chronicles a young girl's growing up in rural Ontario in the 1940's.

Del Jordan lives out at the end of the Flats Road on her father's fox farm, where her most frequent companions are an eccentric bachelor family friend and her rough younger brother. When she begins spending more time in town, she is surrounded by women-her mother, an agnostic, opinionted woman who sells encyclopedias to local farmers; her mother's boarder, the lusty Fern Dogherty; and her best friend, Naomi, with whom she shares the frustrations and unbridled glee of adolescence.

Through these unwitting mentors and in her own encounters with sex, birth, and death, Del explores the dark and bright sides of womanhood. All along she remains a wise, witty observer and recorder of truths in small-town life. The result is a powerful, moving, and humorous demonstration of Alice Munro's unparalleled awareness of the lives of girls and women.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #239949 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-13
• Released on: 2001-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From AudioFile
Aspiring narrators and writers will be awed by the melodious symphony created by Judy Mahbey's interpretation of Munro's words. Mahbey's inflections, tones, and pacing harmonize beautifully with the unique imagery woven into the story of Del Jordan's adolescence. The narrator's pretty voice highlights the protagonist's struggles with religion, scholarship, and sex, and lends itself to characterization of Del's forward-thinking mother and more traditional best friend. Mahbey captures the genuine emotion wrapped up in a young girl's coming-of-age and is equally capable in moments of joy, despair, embarrassment, triumph, and confusion. It is difficult to imagine a better pairing of storyteller and reader. J.J.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen
Alice Munro's novel, "autobiographical in form but not in fact," is full of piercing and detailed observations tempered, but never dulled, by tenderness. Del Jordan romps, stumbles, and races toward womanhood in her home town of Jubilee, Ontario. She knows she will someday be a famous writer and keeps journals, memorizes poetry, and makes lists in preparation: "A list of all the stores and businesses going up and down the main street and who owned them, a list of family names, names on the tombstones in the cemetery and any inscriptions underneath. A list of the titles of movies that played at the Lyceum theater from 1938 to 1950, roughly speaking." When her mother, Ada, "goes on the road" alone to sell encyclopedias to farmers, Del is outwardly mortified and secretly proud. At first disgusted, then fascinated, and finally obsessed with sex, Del resents her growing breasts and tries to rationalize her sexual cravings; still, she can't make herself fall in love with the first boy that makes her want to wash her hair. Del Jordan is sharp, sexy, tender, and hilarious. Let the world beware: she's about to become a woman. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.

Review
?Munro has an unerring talent for uncovering the extraordinary in the ordinary.??Newsweek

Customer Reviews

lovely writing
I hadn't read Munro prior to this "novel" loosely woven from a series of short pieces connected by sequence and character, but found this work delightful. I took the most pleasure in the texture of the prose. Sentences frequently contain, mostly conclude with, these interesting, nearly polar modifiers, so that they say the thing and it's opposite in rapid succession. And both are true in the way that ripened fruit contains within it its future rot. I'm encouraged to discover other Munro.

maybe I missed something?
I agree with many of the other reviewers that the characters and the story were generally enjoyable to read. Though it did take me a bit to get invested into the book I found myself deeply involved with them, of course Del primarily, toward the end. The descriptions of Del's adventures and curiosity were tangible and brought back childhood memories and feelings. However, I expected a much different outcome; I expected this curious, intelligent, intellectual Del to develop into a different woman. I can't help but wonder if this book is popular among women who are looking for reassurance in their decision to follow relationships rather than personal ambitions (and maybe that is ok to a certain degree). Hate to sound cynical, but I was outraged at Del's decisions toward the end of the book and in my opinion she made some serious and more importantly, uncharacteristic decisions that really ruined the book for me and made me wonder how this is a major book for women. I couldn't tell if it was condoning her behavior or simply displaying it as the constricted and likely course for women of a time period and even to (I think) a lesser extent today. Still I think that Del's character in the last chapter was entirely too emotional and irrational given her previous actions and thoughts. I myself am in my mid-twenties and I know that life options for women now are not what they were for women in their 50s, 60s, even 40s today, so perhaps it is more relatable for those a little older, and maybe it is important that I've read it to gain a bit more understanding about where we've (women) have come from; but I'd hate for a young girl today to read it and think that she should emulate Del.

What a load of crap
Typical anti-male diatribe disguised as a work of literature. This was assigned reading for one of my college literature courses over twenty years ago, and the memory of the distaste I felt while reading it is still fresh in my mind. The symbolism and 'moral of the story' is heavy-handed and overtly obvious. I recommend avoiding it like the plague.