Reviews

Julieta: Three Stories That Inspired the Movie by Alice Munro

imacintyre's review

challenging hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

withonestone's review

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

maplelog's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

justcallme_d's review

1.0

Maybe I was expecting too much from this or maybe reading the full collection would have made more sense, but this was a big disappointment. It was not captivating nor heart-wrenching at all.
Frankly, I found the stories boring. It was difficult to connect with and feel for the characters because these snapshots of life did not have any depth to them in my opinion.
The writing style was not for me either, I did not love the perpetual change of tenses.

In the first story, Juliet meets her boyfriend through a traumatic event that is forgotten quite quickly. Also, that was my least favourite story, very dull.

In the second story, we follow her going to visit her parents with her baby daughter. The parents seemed eclectic at first, but turns out they're only open-minded on the surface. Nothing really happens, I mean she has an argument with a minister about religion but it's over super fast so...

In the last story, she is now estranged from her daughter and she struggles with it over the years but at the end still nothing interesting really happens. She just goes with the flow really...

Some spoilery thoughts:
- the adultery part was so cliché, and truthfully I hated everything about it. The reason of "boys will be boys" is NOT valid and should not be left without repercussion. Moreover, Eric (the cheater) did not seem regretful or understanding towards his partner who was clearly struggling with forgiving him.

Here are a few quotes that rubbed me the wrong way:

When she was away [...] Eric had simply returned to his old habits.

She did understand that a few rolls in the hay with an old girlfriend [...] were nowhere near as threatening as a hot embrace with some woman newly met

He was not surprised that she should object, make a fuss, even weep (though a women like Christa [the woman he cheated with] would never have done that), but that she should really be damaged, that she should consider herself bereft of all that had sustained her- and for something that had happened 12 years ago - this he could not understand

WHAT A MAN.

lealoread's review

3.0

I recommend reading the book first before watching the film Julieta. Pedro Almodóvar brings to life the character Juliet from the pages to the big screen.

catdad77a45's review

4.0

Although I know Munro is highly regarded (Nobel Prize winner, and all that), I only seem to read her when someone does a film adaptation of her work. My only previous experience of her was 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain', after seeing Sarah Polley's fine movie version, "Away From Her'. Now. impelled by Pedro Almodovar's adaptation, I wanted to see what the original three stories looked like, as obviously the director's vision, set in Spain, must have been wildly different. But no, aside from some judicious edits, and some divergent emphases, the movie is fairly faithful to Munro's original. It's a quick and quirky story, and my only complaints are some abrupt and awkward temporal shifts, and that a grown son for Eric is suddenly introduced in the third story - where has he been up till then (... since he would have been about 8 or 9 during the course of the second story, and is not mentioned at all)?