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The View from Castle Rock Audiobook
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(3.01) - 1,734 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In stories that are more personal than any that she has written before, Alice Munro pieces her family history into gloriously imagined fiction. A young boy is taken to Edinburgh Castle Rock, where his father assures him that on a clear day he can see America, and he catches a glimpse of his father's dream. In stories that follow, as the dream becomes a reality, two sisters-in-law experience very different kinds of passion on the long voyage to the New World. Other stories take place in more familiar Munro territory, the towns and countryside around Lake Huron, where the past shows through the present like the traces of a glacier on the landscape, and strong emotions stir just beneath the surface of ordinary comings and goings. Evocative, gripping, sexy, unexpected–these stories reflect a depth and richness of experience. The View from Castle Rock is a brilliant achievement from one of the finest writers of our time.
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"Sometimes I find myself telling the story of what is happening in my life to myself in such a way that it would make narrative sense. Or I imagine the way my grandmother must have felt as she saw my grandfather and his two friends walk up the path on the day she first met him on a triple blind date with her sister and cousin. Alice Munro's collection The View from Castle Rock reminds me of this tendency in myself, which makes me feel kind of like a real writer... I particularly enjoyed the stories in the latter half of the book, in which Munro herself is a character. I find myself wondering what degree of embroidering is there, and what is bald truth. The settings of her other stories make more sense to me after getting a sense of where she comes from. I found myself linking facts to moments in stories from purely fictional books, playing the "how much of this is 'Fiction'" game that was an undercurrent of every fiction workshop I took in grad school. Not necessarily the most useful or craft-directed game, but there you are. I enjoyed looking at Munro's work with a different kind of lens."
— Ginna (4 out of 5 stars)
Awards
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One of the 2007 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Fiction
The View from Castle Rock Listener Reviews
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" I tell everyone I know who reads about Alice Munro and William Trevor. For all the good it does... "
— Chris, 2/2/2014 -
" I like the present parts of the book - am somewhat disinterested in the long ago Scottish ancestry. "
— Navida, 2/2/2014 -
" This is Alice Munro's latest collection of stories/book. The stories are fictional but also partly autobiographical. She says that the stories are inspired by events in her own family down through the generations. I found the book a bit tough going at the beginning but by the middle, the stories are written as Alice's first person stories, set during her lifetime. You can't help but wonder what is fiction and what is real? "
— Raffaella, 1/10/2014 -
" She should stick with her novelistic short stories, which are superb. This story drags badly. "
— Gretchen, 1/10/2014 -
" Overall, its very good. Some stories drag out a bit. However, stories such as "Hired Girl", "Under the Apple Tree", and "Fathers" are quite something. Still recommended reading for those who love good short stories, and those who appreciate the enormous talent that is La Munro. "
— Marcos, 1/3/2014 -
" I'm an avid fan of Munroe - a great glimpse into Candian life over the past century "
— Suesaroo, 12/30/2013 -
" I started this many times, and wasn't in the right zone until now. A more personal and less classical short story collection, View From Castle Rock is nonetheless engrossing and bracing, like everything Munro has ever written. Loved it. "
— Kirsten, 12/19/2013 -
" This book definitely deserves 3.5 stars rather than plain old 3. These stories provided an interesting window into the life of Alice Munro, and anyone who enjoys her writing should pick up a copy! "
— Erin, 12/18/2013 -
" Extremely creative memoir. My favorite chapters were the early ones where the author brought to life the experiences of her own ancestors as they emigrated from Scotland and started fresh in North America. "
— Kendall, 12/7/2013 -
" man, alice munro is my new favorite lady. "
— Mia, 11/18/2013 -
" Interesting, semi-fictional account of Munro's ancestors and of Munro herself (or her narrator-persona). Many of the stories (chapters?) are as good as anything I've read by her. "
— Teresa, 11/13/2013 -
" Nice writing with some beautiful scenes, but the stories were too fragmented and piecemeal for my tastes. Reading it felt like leafing through a family scrapbook. I enjoyed the account of the immigrant ship crossing the Atlantic and the fox farming, though. "
— Wayne, 10/27/2013 -
" Another gem from Alice Munro! Her stories are nuanced, tender, and manage to capture relationships and the aching complexities of love and family in ways that stay in my mind and heart long after I have finished reading.. She is one of my all-time favorites. "
— Badcat, 10/19/2013 -
" Just not my cup of tea as an audio book despite the gorgeous Scottish accents that peppered the first story. "
— Jamie, 7/23/2013 -
" It's interesting to read this along with her early work, Lives of Girls and Women. The basic semi-autobiographical story is similar, but given fictional and nonfictional treatments. Alice Munro had such fantastic insight into the human condition, even in her early work. Extraordinary. "
— Grace, 5/20/2013 -
" Just couldn't get into it... "
— Jessica, 4/6/2013 -
" I thoroughly enjoyed these stories of Alice Munro's family history and the Canadian early emigrant experiences. Her language captures the sparse landscape of southern Ontario. "
— Ma'lis, 8/4/2012 -
" I just lost the review of this when I changed editions, a review which I had spent considerable time creating. May try later today to recreate. D..... "
— Lily, 7/15/2012 -
" This book started off really boring, and then it got soooo much better. In the beginning it's all of this arcane stuff about her family in Scotland which didn't interest me that much, but the stories about the lives in Canada are great. "
— Jason, 6/4/2012 -
" I read this book twice--most recently as our book club selection. I really appreciated and noticed the nuances of language on second reading tho this characteristic of hers is what appeals to me. A slightly better one by her is Runaway which I read several years ago. "
— Gaile, 6/3/2012
About 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 Kimberly Farr
Kimberly Farr is an actress and winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for narration. She has appeared on Broadway and at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Roundabout Theatre, Playwright’s Horizons, and the American Place. She created the role of “Eve” in Arthur Miller’s first and only musical, Up from Paradise, which was directed by the author. She appeared with Vanessa Redgrave in the Broadway production of The Lady from the Sea and has acted in regional theaters across the country, including a performance in the original production of The 1940’s Radio Hour at Washington, DC’s Arena Stage.