Personal Reflection

"Lives of Girls and Women" helped me come to terms with my own coming-of-age. I identified strongly with Del, with her pride, ambition, and restlessness. Reading about how she was embarassed of her mother, I felt a sigh of relief because I had always felt terribly guilty about being embarassed of my own parents as a child. I had always seen it as a personal failure, not necessarily as a right of passage. Similarly, Munro's dead-on descriptions of the absurd longings of adolescent girls for gawky pubescent boys also brought painful but ultimately cathartic bursts of recognition.

Because the novel resonated so well with me, it made me reconsider some of my ideas about literature. I tend to be rather elitist when it comes to art, preferring the "classic" (read: at least a few hundred years old) over the "popular". The novel was a humbling reminder that homely themes such as growing up in a rural area can reveal just as much about human nature as heavier themes such as existential crises.

My appreciation of Canada has also deepened through reading "Lives". I used to think of Canada as rather bland, without much history, but this window into rural Canada a few decades ago has made me appreciate the humdrum of what I see as Canadian life - without hunger or terror but nonetheless "deep caves paved with kitchen linoleum". I had not read much Canadian literature before, but reading this book has inspired me to explore other Canadian novels.

To be honest, I did not become a more critical reader through this ISU. I loved the story so much that I raced through the book, indulging in the story without pausing to consider the significance or purpsoe of each passage. However, I do feel that I've become a more honest writer by subconsciously absorbing Munro's style. In addition, I sincerely wanted to pinpoint what makes Munro's writing so good. My writing style is still not completely myself, but it is closer to my voice than much of what I've written before.

In sum, I've gained much through exploring this novel. I've made peace with some of my own experiences, become more open-minded about literature and Canada, and become more honest in my writing. I'm so glad to have met "Lives"; it's a book that I will be sure to pass on to my daughters and granddaughters.