A collection of one star reviews of Dear Life by Alice Munro (McClelland and Stewart, 2012). Compiled by George K. Ilsley.
10) Alice Munro may have won the Nobel Prize, but has not mastered the art of the short
story.
9) A seemingly endless and pointless journey to nowhere. With no reward.
8) It’s as if this author thinks she can write about ordinary people and make us care. Why should I care about a shop girl who loses her job?
7) Nothing happens. People have affairs, start new jobs, siblings die. There was no point to any of it.
6) So tedious not even worth talking about. Waste of time. Not worth reading.
5) Every time I pick up Alice Munro I think, great, a whole new story about a woman in Canada.
4) It all boils down to this: You can’t love a book just because you feel guilty for not loving it.
3) Never even heard of this author until she won the Pulitzer. Needless to say, will not bother reading anything else by this extremely dull and uninspired writer.
2) The characters are boring and bland, like Canadians. Might be of interest to someone who wants to read about life long ago in a small town on the Plains of Canada.
1) Ambiguity really has no place in a compilation entitled “Dear Life.”