Short-a-Day: Alice Munro's "Axis"
Originally published in The New Yorker, Jan. 31, 2011. Personal enjoyment rating (out of 100): 91.One of the many nice things about Alice Munro as a writer, beside her effortless ability to sculpt recognizable characters, is that she welcomes surprise. "Axis" is only a seven page story, and yet in that span, she covers fifty years in the life of Avie, detours to explore the relationship between Avie's friend, Grace, …