"Working for a Living"

The next story in Alice Munro's short story collection is Working for a Living. I don't have a whole lot to say about this story because it was not my favorite. It did not stand out much to me and it was somewhat uneventful. So my review of this story will probably be pretty short today.

This story takes place in about the early 1910's to 1920's and it is about this girl's father and how hardship working. Well, it wasn't exactly terrible, they were just getting by and were able to get some extra money if they really needed it. But the story is essentially about this girl's father's work experience during his life. He grew up on a farm and helped his parents farm, but when he was in his mid 20's he decided to go into the fur business and started raising his own fox and such. But he joined a little to late, about when the demand for furs was going downhill. But he managed to keep it going a little longer with the help of his wife. And down the line he ended up working nights as a caretaker in a factory and doing security, and he also mended the farm that they were owning as well. And much later into his life he raised Turkeys and eventually wrote a novel in his old age.

But that was really about it. I guess it is a look at what families did to survive, and that this man wanted to do something unusual, and he did, and he did fairly well at if for a while. But I did not find this story very enjoyable, but some might like it. But for me, it is one that probably could have been left out of the collection. Don't get me wrong, Munro's writing style is still amazing and the detail and characters were fantastically written, but the plot itself was kind of boring to me, making it difficult to enjoy.

Happy reading everyone :)