Not so much as two miles away, there were houses in rows, with streetlights and running water. There is an echo there which redirects her eye from Peggy to the ever-admiring men, the internalized view of what matters, of the ways in which women are expected to behave. “Train” has among its gifts equal degrees of specificity and mystery; one of the pleasures is how this balance of detail and mystery allows for readers to experience the stories differently. These observations are pulled from “Voices”, but could have slipped into this earlier pair of stories too: “She sounded as if she had grown up in some strange family who always talked that way. In exchange for some food, he promises to complete some repairs and then be on his way. Mr. Lougheed seems to be struggling with himself; one of the elements of this story is Lougheed’s attempt, late in life to open himself in general to experience; another one of the elements of his struggle appears to be his being attracted to a young man. Here were the streets leading into one another, the lights evenly spaced, a human design that had taken root and was working. The narrator recalls not living up to her standards--resisting them, in fact. Am I reading this wrong? Free UK p&p over £15. The narrator tells us that, as she came of age, the faces and voices of these men appeared in her fantasies and directed their attention at her before reminding us that these men are long gone. I think this is a great story. Boys and girls. –what ‘s with all the paper stacked to the rafters in her kitchen? One wonders about the exact nature of the “flu” that she had caught. What is so wonderful about Munro is that even though this is a short story, history, motive and personal growth are layered into each of the five main characters. Belle is “so grateful” for her “release”. Later, at the end of the story, the vision returns again (as it has throughout his life), when, after Belle’s death, and after his chance encounter with the fiancée he had jilted, Jackson makes his final withdrawal to Kapuskasing. You roused your body, readied your knees, to enter a different block of air. Log in here for access. The narrator recalls going into the poolroom years later, when she is in high school, on a dare from other girls. They didn’t. Problem with reading Munro’s stories is that they take me out of commission for the rest of the day. It’s not my favorite of her stories, although, as usual, the more I think about it, the more I revisit it, the more it reveals and the more clearly I can see just how involved I’ve become in these lives. Like “Pride” this story closely follows a man, only here the man remains the focus throughout the entire story. Free download or read online Dear Life pdf (ePUB) book. So that’s what stuck out to me, the absence of sex and not to mention, the story starts with Jackson running away from his fiancee. Compare the treatment of women by men in "Train," "Amundsen," "Haven," and "Corrie." Welcome to the English Reading Circle of the Biblioteca del Instituto Internacional.