Away From Her

by: Alice Munro

Published by: Vintage Books

Reviewed by Andrea Sisco

Away From Her is actually Alice Munro’s short story, The Bear Came Over The Mountain. The title change is because the story was made into a feature film. I would suspect that the attention the film brought to the story resulted in Vintage Books publishing a slim volume of 76 pages.

Grant is a retired professor who, while he loves his wife, Fiona, has spent his life balancing marriage with love affairs. Fiona is 70 and begins to exhibit memory loss. As she slowly recedes into the fog of Alzheimer’s, the past and present are thrust upon Grant with unrelenting confusion, guilt and sadness.

When Grant is finally forced to place Fiona in the Meadowlake facility he is not prepared, after a mandatory thirty-day separation to help her settle in, to find that his wife is truly gone to him. Somehow he thought he’d have time—days, weeks, perhaps months, before she left him for good. But when he arrives at Meadowlake, Fiona has embraced life there and has made new friends. The most important friend is Aubrey. And when Aubrey leaves the facility, Fiona’s health rapidly deteriorates. If Grant is to save his wife from the ‘second’ floor of Meadowlake, he will have to be selfless and do what he thinks is best for Fiona. But will it matter?

Munro’s prose is sparse, concise and straightforward. But the simple and beautiful words reach out to you and grab your attention and demand to be felt. It’s not just a story about Alzheimer’s disease; it’s a deep and rich love story. And the combination of the Alzheimer’s and love will leave you breathless. This is a volume I will keep and read again and again, savoring each word and most likely receiving different messages with each read.

Armchair Interviews says: A must read for everyone who has been touched by the insidiousness of Alzheimer’s and for those who haven’t.