The View from Castle Rock, Alice Munro
The View from Castle Rock, Alice Munro
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The View from Castle Rock

Author: Alice Munro

Narrator: Kimberly Farr

Abridged: 6 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/07/2006


Synopsis

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.

About The Author

Alice Munro grew up in Wingham, Ontario, and attended the University of Western Ontario. She has published thirteen collections of stories as well as a novel, Lives of Girls and Women, and two volumes of Selected Stories. 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 Giller Prizes, the Rea Award for the Short Story, the Lannan Literary Award, England’s W. H. Smith Literary Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Man Booker International Prize. In 2013 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her story “The Bear Came Over the mountain” was filmed by Sarah Polley as Away from Her, and “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage” as Hateship Loveship. She lives in Port Hope, Canada, on Lake Ontario.Kimberly Farr has appeared on Broadway, 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. She has also acted in regional theaters from Los Angeles to New Haven, Connecticut, including the original production of The 1940's Radio Hour at Washington, DC's Arena Stage.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rocío (Entre Libros) on July 19, 2022

Novela camuflada en relatos......more

Goodreads review by diario_de_um_leitor_pjv on October 17, 2023

Um conjunto de contos que resultam da busca da escritora pelas sua raízes familiares que emergem da Escócia rural. Um conjunto de textos simples que numa narrativa cuidada que confirmou que Alice Munro é escritora a ler atentamente.......more

Goodreads review by George on November 30, 2022

My interest in this book was stronger in the first half, but petered out a little. The closing stories are personal, and sweet, and offer a glimpse into the mind and world of Alice Munro (which is certainly a priceless gift), but they do not measure up to the compression and depth in her best work o......more

Goodreads review by Marica on May 20, 2020

Alice Munro scrive un libro sulle origini della sua famiglia e sulla sua giovinezza, evitando di coinvolgere i congiunti viventi, cosa condivisibile. Mi è capitato di leggere scritti autobiografici di qualche autore, mi sono chiesta cosa li spingesse a farlo. Doris Lessing dice di averlo fatto per d......more

Goodreads review by Berit on December 31, 2018

Alice Munro follows her ancestors from Scotland, the old country, to North America. The stories she tells are partly true, partly made up. Munro has studied old documents, both in Scotland, and in Canada. From the persons she found in them, she has cut out the paper-doll figures she wanted her ances......more


Quotes

Praise for The View From Castle Rock

“Break[s] every rule ever taught in a writing seminar, setting up a master class along the sidelines . . . Yet it shows, as usual, how to draw gasps from other writers by defying the laws of gravitas as effortlessly as Michael Jordan defied those of gravity.” —Pico Iyer, Newsweek Magazine

“Sublime . . . Late in her career, and late in life, Alice Munro seems unencumbered by the laurels heaped upon her. She continues to charge forward, shining a light on what is most fearsome and true.” —Jennifer Haigh, Chicago Tribune

“In her astonishing new collection, Munro delves into the past . . . Result: a far-ranging, richly symphonic suite of stories that outshines even Munro’s earlier masterworks.”
—Michael Upchruch, The Seattle Times

“Munro is the illusionist whose trick can never be exposed. And that is because there is no smoke, there are no mirrors. Munro really does know magic: how to summon the spirits and the emotions that animate our lives.” —Geraldine Brooks, the front page of The Washington Post Book World


Awards

  • Man Booker International Prize
  • Nobel Prize