Family Furnishings: Selected Stories, 1995 – 2014
by Alice Munro
Knopf (2014)
784 pp
When I heard that a collection of Munro’s stories was going to be released this month, I was hoping beyond hope that it would be a “selected and new” collection, meaning that at least one of the stories was something we’d never seen before. That’s not the case, but Family Furnishings (2014) is a great collection of Munro’s last twenty years of writing, a nice follow up to 1996’s Selected Stories. If you’re looking to get to know Alice Munro, this is an excellent introduction and contains many of my favorites.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here too much — only a few dozen times is all — but Alice Munro is in my group of top two writers, alongside William Trevor. These two have changed me a great deal, and this collection will I hope help others come to know Alice Munro’s work.
Interestingly, there is still no Munro collection that contains one of my favorite Munro stories, “Axis,” which was published in The New Yorker in January 2011. Does that mean there another book in the works? Probably not. And, given the wealth on display here and in her collections it feels greedy to want more from someone who has given so much, and who has given us so much that grants so much wealth on a first read or during revisits.
This collection comes with a foreword by Jane Smiley, and I think her opening statement is exceptional:
In 1971, Alice Munro published her second book, Lives of Girls and Women. Sometimes, I read the title as an assertion of the importance of the lives of girls and women, and sometimes I read the title as a self-effacing acknowledgment, or even a warning — these are only the lives of girls and women — don’t bother to read about them if you don’t care. And in this paradox resides the literary career of a great writer who is simultaneously strange and down-to-earth, daring and straightforward.
Since Betsy and I are going through Munro’s work story-by-story chronologically, I am not going to put a traditional review here. I want you to know what stories are in this collection, and I’ve linked to the ones that have already been reviewed on this site. We’ll be covering these, individually, in a while — I’m currently working on my final posts for Munro’s third collection, Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You.
Here are the contents of Family Furnishings.
- From The Love of a Good Woman (1998)
- The Love of a Good Woman
- Jakarta
- The Children Stay
- My Mother’s Dream
- From Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001)
- Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship Marriage
- Family Furnishings
- Post and Beam
- The Bear Came Over the Mountain
- From The View from Castle Rock (2006)
- The View from Castle Rock
- Working for a Living
- Hired Girl
- Home
- From Runaway (2004)
- Runaway
- Soon
- Passion
- From Too Much Happiness (2009)
- Dimensions
- Wood
- Child’s Play
- Too Much Happiness
- From Dear Life (2012)
Yes, I was also hoping we might see something previously unpublished in FAMILY FURNISHINGS, but alas, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that Alice Munro is truly finished with writing. Though it is strange that “Axis” is absent both here and in DEAR LIFE. I think that’s the only story she’s published that hasn’t ended up in a collection.
I’m curious about the selection process for a book like this, a “greatest hits” package, as it were. Does Munro decide what gets included herself, or do editors/publishers have input too? I find some of these selections interesting. I guess it speaks to Munro’s amazing consistency that it feels like a great shame that some stories had to be left out. I really love “What Do You Want to Know For?” in THE VIEW FROM CASTLE ROCK, and I don’t think I would have chosen “Wood” or “Child’s Play” from TOO MUCH HAPPINESS. I think “Save the Reaper” is one of her best stories, so I would have gone for that one over “Jakarta” or “The Children Stay”. I understand that it wouldn’t be practical to print all three of the Juliet stories in RUNAWAY, but I do think they should be read together, so I question the decision to only include one. And I feel like I should read “To Reach Japan” again. It was prominently featured as the first story in DEAR LIFE, and it’s here too. I thought it was a very minor work.
I’m not sure how these selections are put together (or even if there is some consistent method), Archer. It seems that when the author puts them together, there’s often some kind of acknowledgment of that. I believe John Updike was involved in his, for example, and he put together a foreword for his selected stories.
I do agree that it’s a shame some had to be left out, as is the nature of these kinds of “selected” collections. My own idea is that one should pick up the original collections. Indeed, I gave my copy of Family Furnishings away because I don’t need it (though I did so without reviewing the stories to see if she’s revised them — I felt that might be out of my personal scope for this review anyway). I did like “To Reach Japan,” though :-) . I also think it might have been chosen because it hearkens back to Munro’s earliest works which also featured many women traveling by train from or to Vancouver.
Hey Archer – I think Alice left the magnificent “Save the Reaper” off this collection because it’s in her “My Best Stories” book. There are of course some duplicate choices for both books, but these are reserved for her A+ stories like “Runaway”, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”, etc. Also, I’m proud that Alice and I agree on her top three stories from “Runaway” – “Soon” is her best from the trilogy because the ending is so perfectly devastating, and “Passion” is way underrated as a spot-on look into depression and suicide…..and Archer, I agree that her picks from “Too Much Happiness” were a little off. The third best story is easily “Wenlock Edge”. It’s Alice’s most risqué story and it is so original!…..so Archer, what’s your favourite on “Too Much Happiness”?……and lastly, of the four personal stories in her last book, I wouldn’t have chosen “Dear Life”….I like “The Eye” because Alice shares the dynamics she had with her mother, and I absolutely love “Voices” in which Alice first sees guys in a romantic way.
Thanks Archer for getting this neat discussion started!
Hi Greg. It’s indeed interesting to see what are considered A+ stories. “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” seems to be her consensus later-career masterwork, perhaps in some part due to the fact that it was adapted into a successful film. “Runaway” is up there too, and I’m glad that the excellent “Family Furnishings” has entered the canon (surely Munro herself must rate that one highly to use the title for this book).
My favorite story in TOO MUCH HAPPINESS is probably “Wenlock Edge”. I agree with you, it’s quite risque and unlike anything else she’s written. From that collection, I would have chosen the title story, “Dimensions”, “Wenlock Edge” and “Free Radicals” (the latter three being among Munro’s most dark and twisted works). Of the four personal stories in DEAR LIFE, my favorite is the title one. It seems to me the most fleshed out and deeply felt. The other three are fascinating, but feel almost like vignettes. Munro said herself that she’s partial to “Amundsen” from that collection. I believe it’s the last story she’s published in TNY (or anywhere else), though I personally wouldn’t have selected it. My choices would have been “Corrie”, “Pride” and “In Sight of the Lake”, all of which do interesting things with tone and narration.
Hi Archer. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I re-read the title story in DEAR LIFE and you are right – It is the most complete of Alice’s four personal stories. I especially liked how she described the way her Dad changed careers in mid-life with great dignity……also, I can understand why she chose “The Children Stay”. The final conversations the wife has with her husband are unforgettable, and the ending devastatingly shows how these things usually end up. The story is so universal!…………and I agree with you on “Corrie”. It works on so many levels and of course the big surprise at the end is worthy of the admiration of a star Hollywood screenwriter! My favourite line in it is, “There is always one morning when you realize that the birds have all gone.”