I started reading Munro in my 20s with Who Do You Think You Are? and loved her depictions of a full, jumbled internal life. back then, she wrote about me and most stories held the me part in sympathy (or was that just my perception / bias). now that we are both older, she still writes for the me I am now (or will become in 10-20 years), and I still love her for that. but she hasn't given up entirely on writing younger characters... and in that framing I see myself, often times unflattering. could it be that she always had that aspect but I never saw it because, in my youth, I didn't think it applied to me - and thought it never would.
I should go back to that first book and see how this 45 year old reacts...
in this particular collection, I most enjoyed 'Dolly' in that it implied that petty jealousies and irrational impulses belong not only to the youth, but all of us. I like that. I like to think that there's still room for surprise, for possession, when we are older, no matter our comfortable groove.