Family Furnishings: Selected Stories 1995-2014

by Alice Munro
Family Furnishings: Selected Stories 1995-2014 cover
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  • ID: 3098
  • Added: 2025-10-16
  • Updated: 2025-10-16
  • Reviews: 4
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quillandquire.com · Unknown · 2025-10-20
brilliant 4.50

Family Furnishings offers a collection of Alice Munro's stories from 1995 to 2014, showcasing her deep exploration of dark themes and her unflinching portrayal of human experiences. The stories are complex, often brutal, and filled with sharp insights, making this a significant addition to her oeuvre.

Family Furnishings: Selected Stories, 1995–2014 is a compilation of Alice Munro's later works, highlighting her unique ability to delve into the darker aspects of human life. The stories are not just character studies but sharp visions of brutality, tragedy, and disappointment. Munro's writing is nonchalant about death, violence, and madness, making her narratives both visceral and agonizing. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Munro spares no one, and her stories often grapple with the betrayals inherent in being a writer. This collection is a testament to her brilliance and her unyielding honesty.

Quick quotes

    Munro has grown nonchalant about death, violence, and madness. You can’t always tell, beginning one of these stories, which characters will make it to the end with their faculties intact — or even with their life.

    Unlike many of her male contemporaries, who have been praised for their toughness while being utterly sentimental about their own masculinity, late Munro spares no one and nothing.

    It’s something close to tragic that she plans to sin no more.

raintaxi.com · Unknown · 2025-10-20
excellent 4.50

Alice Munro's 'Family Furnishings: Selected Stories 1995-2014' showcases her mastery of storytelling, focusing on rural Canadian life and intricate character dynamics. The collection highlights Munro's ability to weave complex narratives with unexpected twists, making her characters' lives more intriguing than typical murder mysteries. Her stories often feature women navigating societal expectations and personal struggles, with themes of escape and self-discovery.

Alice Munro's 'Family Furnishings: Selected Stories 1995-2014' is a compelling collection that delves into the intricacies of rural Canadian life. Munro's stories are characterized by their detailed settings and complex character dynamics, often featuring women who grapple with societal expectations and personal struggles. The collection includes Munro's classic 'The Love of a Good Woman,' which exemplifies her skill in transforming everyday events into compelling narratives with unexpected twists. Another standout story, 'Runaway,' showcases Munro's ability to create tense and modern tales, with a teenage bride escaping a stifling marriage. Munro's writing is praised for its clean forensic agility, allowing her to portray characters' unappetizing actions with precision. The stories often explore themes of escape, self-discovery, and the metamorphosis of personal strengths and weaknesses. Overall, the collection offers a rich tapestry of human experiences, making it a must-read for fans of literary fiction.

Quick quotes

    Munro begins: “For the last couple of decades, there has been a museum in Walley, dedicated to preserving photos and butter churns and horse harnesses.

    This particular story “is, in fact, a murder mystery transformed into an everyday event, and therefore much more interesting, since the actions and motives of the characters remain unknown to some and consciously hidden by others.

    Munro’s label of “Canadian Gothic” is well earned — if you’ve viewed enough Gothic novel covers, you will know that they often feature a woman fleeing a house.

goodreads.com · Unknown · 2025-10-20
brilliant 4.50

Alice Munro's 'Family Furnishings' is a collection of short stories that beautifully capture the complexities of human relationships and daily life. The stories are rich in detail and character development, making them feel much longer than their actual length. Many of the pieces are outstanding, with only a few falling short of brilliance.

Alice Munro's 'Family Furnishings: Selected Stories, 1995-2014' is a remarkable collection that showcases her mastery of the short story form. Each story is packed with intricate details and deep character development, making them feel expansive and immersive despite their brevity. The collection spans a range of themes, from the intricacies of love and marriage to the nuances of family dynamics and personal growth. Many of the stories are truly exceptional, with Munro's ability to evoke deep emotions and insights into human nature shining through. Even the less impressive stories hold their own when compared to the brilliance of the others. One standout story is 'The Children Stay,' which beautifully and tragically explores the aftermath of a marriage's end, resonating deeply with readers. Overall, this collection is a testament to Munro's skill and her ability to capture the essence of life in just a few pages.

Quick quotes

    Alice Munro has been a wonderful discovery for me. I can’t recommend her two selected volumes — this one and an earlier collection called A Wilderness Station

    enough. Please read her.

    Each of these short stories contains so much detail and character development they read like a 300-page book. How Munro packs so much punch into 20 or 30 pages I’ll never know, but she does.

    My absolute favourite was The Children Stay a remarkably touching story about the end of a marriage, and a woman’s decision to leave her husband and children.

bookreporter.com · Unknown · 2015-09-15
brilliant 4.50

Family Furnishings showcases Alice Munro's psychological acuity, elegant prose, and ability to capture complex human interactions. The collection features 24 stories with themes of thwarted desires, violence, and emotional depth, set primarily in southwestern Ontario. Munro's mastery of place and character makes each story memorable, with some standouts like 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain' and 'Dimensions'.

Family Furnishings is a collection of 24 stories by Alice Munro, showcasing her psychological insight, elegant prose, and ability to capture the emotional temperature of complex human interactions. The stories often feature women protagonists who face thwarted desires, whether by choice or circumstance. The collection includes themes of violence, sex, and deep emotional reflection, such as in 'The Love of a Good Woman' and 'Child's Play'. Munro's stories are rooted in the landscape of southwestern Ontario, a setting she describes with economy and assurance. Notable stories include 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain', which inspired the film Away from Her, and 'Dimensions', which explores a mother's reconciliation with a tragic loss. The reviewer suggests reading the stories one at a time to fully appreciate Munro's talent. Munro's ability to make each story stand out in memory is a testament to her skill as a writer.

Quick quotes

    This hefty volume showcases all of the qualities that have endeared Munro to so many readers: psychological acuity, unstudied but elegant prose, and an ability to record meticulously the emotional temperature of the most complex and daunting human interactions.

    And don't be misled by the warmly smiling woman who looks out from the back cover of this book. Munro's stories are anything but the literary fiction equivalent of the cozy mystery.

    A final thought: Ordinarily, I don't dispense advice about how one should go about reading a particular book, but it seems essential here.

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