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Extended Audio Sample Runaway: Stories Audiobook, by Alice Munro Click for printable size audiobook cover
3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 3.00 (6,477 ratings) (rate this audio book) Author: Alice Munro Narrator: Kymberly Dakin Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Format: Unabridged Audiobook Delivery: Instant Download Audio Length: Release Date: July 2008 ISBN: 9781482977813
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The incomparable Alice Munro’s bestselling and rapturously acclaimed Runaway is a book of extraordinary stories about women of all ages and circumstances—and about love and its infinite betrayals and surprises. The runaway of the title story is a young woman who is incapable of leaving her husband. In “Passion,” a country girl emerging into the larger world via a job in a resort hotel discovers, in a single moment of insight, the limits and lies of passion. Three stories concern a woman named Juliet—in the first, she escapes from teaching at a girls’ school into a wild love affair; in the second, she returns with her child to the home of her parents, whose marriage she finally begins to examine; and in the last, her vanished child turns up caught in the grip of a religious cult. In these and other stories, Alice Munro’s understanding of the people about whom she writes makes their lives as real as our own.

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Quotes & Awards

  • “Alice Munro has a strong claim to being the best fiction writer now working in North America…Runaway is a marvel.”

    New York Times Book Review

  • “Runawaymay very well be the synthesizing work of one of literature’s keenest investigators into the human soul.”

    USA Today

  • “The great Alice Munro proves again why short-story writers bow down to her.”

    Vanity Fair

  • “As with so many of Munro’s stories, you read to have your premises altered and deepened. Could anything be better?…A beautiful new work.”

    Los Angeles Times

  • “She outjoices Joyce and checkmates Chekhov…Each of the stories in Runaway contains enough lived life to fill a typical novel…Her women are heroic. They endure in the mind of the reader.”

    Boston Globe

  • “Dakin, who also narrated Munro’s last story collection, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, works successfully in a narrow band of vocals and tones, grasping that these are stories of voice and of distance, in which motive and outcome often remain mysterious, and in which evenness of delivery is part of the drama of the telling.”

    AudioFile
  • A New York Times bestseller
  • One of the 2004 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Fiction
  • Winner of the 2006 Audie Award
  • Winner of the 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book: Canada and the Caribbean
  • Winner of the 2004 Scotiabank Giller Prize
  • A 2004 Governor General’s Literary Award Finalist
  • A 2004 New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book of the Year
  • A 2004 Time Magazine Top 10 Book

Listener Opinions

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Jennifer Hornick | 2/16/2014

    " OK book - would not recommend...but wouldn't be the end of the world if you spent some time on it. Not that exciting. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 MaryAdair | 2/15/2014

    " I thought about these stories for weeks after finishing the book! "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Chris Gager | 2/8/2014

    " Alice Munro has been able to get inside the life and mind of a narcissistic woman. How? Maybe it's her own life? "

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Kim | 2/8/2014

    " Read this for a book club. Very hard to follow and understand. Very choppy. Most of the book club agreed. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Dana | 1/28/2014

    " I haven't read anything else by Munro, but I'd like to. These short stories are simple and thoughtful, particularly the title work. Good summer reading. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Kyle | 1/25/2014

    " I just discovered her stories for the first time. Immediately went out and bought another collection of them. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Nick | 1/10/2014

    " I read Runaway immediately after it got the Giller Prize. It was my first reading from Alice Munro, and I know it won't be the last. She writes with ease, the stories flow smooth, although fully emotionally charged. It was no surprise to learn that she won the Man Booker Prize in 2009 (in addition to many Canadian awards, including 3 GGs and two Gillers). "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Robin Yaklin | 1/9/2014

    " Was just getting acquainted with Munro when I read this. I like the stories and, definitely would go with her through a whole book. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Damara | 12/23/2013

    " Ordinarily I'm not one for short stories, for whatever reason, but this came recommended to me. Very good, very human, immediately absorbing. Read the intro by her superfan Jonathan Franzen. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Jaelene | 12/12/2013

    " I love short stories. This was the first collection of Munro's that I have read. I didn't enjoy the entire collection equally but I enjoyed them enough that I would read some of her other collections. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Madhuri | 11/23/2013

    " Alice Munro is hands down the best writer of short stories! Loved this collection and Hateship, Friendship, Loveship, Courtsthip. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Tuan Phan | 10/19/2013

    " My favorite collection from one of my favorite short story writers. Short stories that contain substance enough to be novels. Narrators that remind me of more wry, ironic and aware versions of Chekhovian heroes & heroines. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Laura Bowlby | 10/16/2013

    " Enjoyable short stories, a few which are linked by their characters. A quick, enjoyable read "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Kat | 7/12/2013

    " Liked the writing a great deal but really missed the pace of a short story...these are so long. More like novellas. "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 Frederick Bingham | 3/10/2013

    " A book of short stories by an acclaimed author. I listened to 3 CD's out of 9, two and 1/2 stories and lost interest. They were all set in Canada, a small town on the Pacific coast and the suburbs of Toronto. One was about a teacher who left her job to live with a man in the small town. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Ellie | 12/30/2012

    " She such a great writer: so much world in so little space. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Aileen | 5/26/2012

    " These tales were wrenching. I lived a little more through Alice Munroe's characters. Well crafted, many of the stories involve overlapping characters and points of views on a variety of topics. "

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Kaipai | 8/23/2011

    " Not a big fan of short stories, they leave me hungry for more and i feel I don't have time to "bond" with the characters. In this case, i couldn't wait to find another book to read. I found Runaway pointless, predictable and old fashioned. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Mrs.Blattner | 7/17/2011

    " This collection of short stories is very dark, without happy and tidy endings. Each story is about a missed opportunity, an unrequited love, a disenchanted something... "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Sarah Honenberger | 7/16/2011

    " I've re-read these stories several times. She has a wonderful natural way of writing. Her characters are no where near perfect and you ache with them. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Immy | 6/24/2011

    " Alice Munro must be one of the best short story writers ever - especially when it come to writing about women. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Wilhelmina | 6/20/2011

    " Beautifully written and engaging short stories. Stories like these are why I love short stories so much. "

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5 Cv | 6/16/2011

    " I really couldn't pay attention to any of these stories. They were banal and self-indulgent and had no relation to the world in which I live. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Chris | 6/11/2011

    " Alice Munro has been able to get inside the life and mind of a narcissistic woman. How? Maybe it's her own life? "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Jennifer | 4/26/2011

    " Another great collection of short stories! "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Christina | 4/20/2011

    " Munro is a very talented writer, that much is obvious. Unfortunately I just wasn't as interested in the stories as I hoped I'd be. I'd like to try out her other stuff in the future, but I'm not sure why this particular collection didn't click with me. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Amar | 4/17/2011

    " This was my first time reading Munro. But for such a big name in the short story writing world, she disappointed me with this story collection. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Lily | 4/11/2011

    " LbW. Interconnected set of stories. Canadian writer. Considered a writer's writer. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Georgie | 3/29/2011

    " I found it to be a bit of a slog, while I appreciate it was beautifully written and ehr characters were delicately drawn. Munro sure packs a punch in a short story. I don't think its really my medium... "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Katherine | 3/27/2011

    " Munro's work is interesting because you expect it to go one way, but it doesn't or it ends abruptly and sometimes with a good ironic twist. Of the stories here, I enjoyed "Tricks" the most, then "Trespasses". "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 Sue | 3/27/2011

    " i just couldn't get into these stories...i guess short stories are really not my interest. it feels like they should be in magazines instead of a full book "

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About the Author
Author Alice Munro

Alice Munro, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, grew up in Wingham, Ontario, and attended the University of Western Ontario. She has published eleven collections of stories and two volumes of selected stories, as well as a novel. During her distinguished career she has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including three of Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Awards and two of its Giller Prizes, the Rea Award for the Short Story, the Lannan Literary Award, England’s W. H. Smith Book Award, the United States’ National Book Critics Circle Award, the Edward MacDowell Medal in literature, and the Man Booker International Prize. Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Paris Review, and other publications, and her collections have been translated into thirteen languages. She lives in Clinton, Ontario, near Lake Huron.

About the Narrator

Kymberly Dakin is a professional actress with over twenty years’ experience and has been a featured performer both on Broadway and in national tours. Kym has also played roles on The Guiding Light, One Life to Live, and All My Children, and has appeared on PAX-TV’s It’s a Miracle and on PBS’ Math Monsters.

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