I pre-read this book as a possible book club choice. I could hardly get through it. It was so boring, confusing, gloomy, slow and just plain uninteresting. I am almost always baffled by Pulitzer Prize winning books and this is no exception. I am in awe of anyone who has written so many published books and is so well respected in the literary community. However, after I read the first of the 14 short stories, which I did not like because it was so depressing, I moved to the following stories. And one by one, I found each to be more confusing and depressing than the previous one. I could have cared less about any of the characters and thought the stories pointless. At first I felt it was just me, so I gave the book to two other book club members to review and they could not even make it past the 3rd or 4th short story. Needless to say, I appreciate anyone who writes anything, but like one of the other reviewers said, "I like to feel something." I felt nothing for the characters or the stories except perhaps frustrations at having spent time reading this Pulitzer Prize Book. I will never get those hours back and have nothing to show for it. I respect Alice Munro and her achievements, but in my humble opinion, this was a terrible book with which to end her career as a writer.