First of all, Munro is a great writer through and through. Her prose, the way she sets a scene, the way she creates realistic dialogue and interesting characters, is incredibly skilled. However, I felt as though Munro writes a certain female character that I found dislikable. A lot of the stories center around desperate and somewhat disloyal female characters. For example, In "To Reach Japan", Greta (married) lusts over some man she meets at a party. In Gravel (an overall great story), the mother cheats on/leaves her husband for some man and is doing god knows what with him when her child drowns. It's just a weird vibe that I think draws from Munro's real life male centered-ness. It made it hard to enjoy the book quite as much. Still, Gravel, Train, Voices, and Dear Life are standouts in this collection for me.