SOURCE: "In Praise of Accidents," in The New Republic, Vol. 202, No. 3930, May 14, 1990, pp. 50-3.

Salter is an American poet and critic. In the following review, she praises Munro's portrayal of imperfect women in several of the stories from Friend of My Youth, but questions the author's range.

Choosing a favorite among Alice Munro's stories is no easy task, but for me one of them would be "Accident," from The Moons of Jupiter, her collection published in 1983. Frances is a music teacher at the high school where her married lover, Ted, teaches science. They are groping stark naked in Ted's supply room when the school secretary (who, like most people in the Ontario town of Hanratty, knows about the affair but has politely, up until now, kept that knowledge from the lovers themselves) bangs on the door to tell Ted that his son, Bobby, has died in a car...