Friend of my Youth
"Not my cup of tea" was perhaps the only opinion I had of this book. It started out so promising with the first two stories that I hoped it would continue in the same spirit. After that however the stories grew more monotonous and repetitive for me. I think it's more a matter of the audience. Being a child of immigrants who wasn't born in Canada either and grew up with a Euro-centric upbringing, I had a hard time with these stories because they began to bleed into each other and cause me to doze off as I read them. There were great ideas scattered here and there, but besides the first two stories I didn't really enjoy any of the others. I've heard great things about Alice Munro. She's highly recommended by many English teachers, especially here in Canada, but I never really considered reading her books because of the subject matter and the approach she takes. If it weren't for the school requirement I never really would've picked this book up. The stories are well-written but superficial when it comes to their audience. These aren't stories I'd consider going back to, ever.
