THE VIEW FROM CASTLE ROCK SHORT STORY REVIEW

THE VIEW FROM CASTLE ROCK SHORT STORY REVIEW - The short story, titled The View from Castle Rock, is also a collection.  In this review, my focus is the short story, not the book.  The Laidlaws emigrate from Scotland to Canada in 1818.  For the first time in their lives, family members board the ship:  Old James (father), Andrew (son), Agnes (son’s wife) their infant son (Young James) and siblings (Mary and James).  They depart on a sea passage:  Agnes gives birth to a girl, Walter documents the voyage in his journal, Young James becomes lost and after a frantic search, Mary finds him.  The ship full of emigrants reaches Nova Scotia; amazed by groves of trees, clear shining sky, fresh air and a profusion of sea birds.  The sailors fire shots at the birds, point out a whale ship side, passengers break out a fiddle and everyone dances with joy. Near the conclusion Walter has become a close companion to Nettie, a rich girl suffering from tuberculosis.  Mr. Carbert, her father, offers Walter a position in Montreal.  He refuses, since he means to work the land with his family.  The short story and collected book of stories, under the same name, follows Munro’s family history.