The View From Castle Rock Book

Dull.
And disappointingly so.
If you went to college or have read any book reviews in the last 20 years, then you KNOW Alice Munro's work is one of the canons of modern literature (because all your big-brained English teachers say so)....these stories jut fall flat, never ripening into the colorful, fully fledged narratives that one might expect from someone who's won every lit prize known to man.
The stories in "Castle Rock" are based on Munro's own ancestors in Scotland and their journey to America, but instead of people who have depth and energy, we end up with lackluster, paper doll-like figures whose feelings are ever so subtly hinted at but never fleshed out.
I'd read the title story years ago in college or another collection -- can't remember which now -- and I had this on my shelves for years ever since looking forward to finally sitting down to read the entire collection, but I actually feel like I'm in college again -- reading "important" work by "important" writers and trying to figure out why they're considered this way.
I'll still read Munro's other work, but this felt like one of those late-career books published by one of the greats -- and not edited much -- because they knew her name on the dust jacket would sell.