I read this book for our monthly book club. I do not normally enjoy short stories but tried to keep an open mind. There have been many times when I have loved a book club selection that I normally would never have chosen on my own. This was not one of those times.
I gave it two stars because the author is obviously intelligent and has good use of language. However, the stories were pointless. Pointless stories about sad, lonely people who I could not bring myself to care about. All the characters seemed to walk through their stories with muted emotions.
If you want to sit and analyze each story you can find symbolism or \\\"hidden\\\" themes and meanings. Who cares? By the time I was done with each story I could not have cared less about the characters. Much less care what each vague ending could mean or lead to.
When I read a book I want to FEEL something...anything. Scared, sad, angry, happy. Anything. This book left me with nothing.

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.

I suspect that it takes a reader of a certain age and/or maturity to totally appreciate the works of Alice Munro. Her stories are slow paced, thoughtful comments on life and are not to be rushed through. Take one story at a time. Read it as if you are examining a painting, color by color, stroke by stroke; step away a bit to take in the whole of the story, just as you would a painting. Each reader will focus on something different according to his/her own life experiences. Those who put down Munro\\\'s book Dear Life after reading only one story or who rush through it (mostly to meet a book club deadline!) are missing out on the delight of discovering the peace of the moment, the quirks of the characters described, that moment in time when one action or comment can change the life of a character forever!

I was looking forward to reading Dear Life, as I'd been curious about Alice Munro for years. I was very disappointed. I tried reading several stories and they totally lost my interest before I could even finish them. I did push myself though a few of them, but didn't find them to be worth the effort. They are meandering, plodding and just plain dull.

Stories were depressing.

Clean, precise prose style - Munro does not waste a word. Some members found her ambiguous endings frustrating; others liked them.