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Title: Unless: A Novel by Carol Shields ISBN: 0007141076 Publisher: Fourth Estate Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.58
Rating: 4
Summary: Shields' most personal and powerful book
Comment: Maybe the title of the review is a little strong since I have only read 2 of her other books. However, I liked Larry's party but it seemed distinctly light compared to Stone Diaries. Unless is another order of writing. It is certainly the most intense book I've read recently and maybe part of that is because I have heard Ms. Shields is very sick. I found the narrator very compelling in the way she told her story and the way she would "bump" into Norah's fix at odd times. Maybe the same way one "bumps" into their terminal diagnosis? I liked the way she spoke about her family and how clear her priorities were, the slights of daily life to herself as a woman. It was interesting that once Norah started staying on the corner, Reta started noticing or maybe became more sensitive to the daily slights to women permeating the culture. The impression that I got was that she thought that these had something to do with Norah's stance on the corner. When it turns out they don't, we are still left with a powerful indictment of our society, one that the mother of 3 girls can't help but feel strongly about. When women complain about this they are called shrill and sneered at.
This is more than a feminist tract, much more. The writing is beautiful and precise. I found it extremely moving.
I hope Shields is with us a lot longer.
Rating: 5
Summary: Full of the brooding intimacy of female contemplation
Comment: Women novelists dominate a genre in fiction that attract mostly female readers. These writers specialise in stories about ordinary lives. Burrowing deep into the psyche of people who live normal unexceptional lives, these stories typically explore the interiors of our human existence for dark troubled spots that lie just beneath the surface, waiting to explode and when they do, the fallout is undoubtedly damaging though seldom sensational. Anita Brookner is one such writer. Carol Shields is another. If you're male and don't consider yourself the sensitive type, chances are that you're not going to enjoy such books. Unless you read for the pleasure of language and derive adequate compensation from oodles of tremulously and articulately written prose.
"Unless", Carol Shields' latest and possibly last novel, is as the titled preposition suggests. It's one long drawn out pause, during which our heroine Reta Winters strikes a pose as she ponders over the myriad details of her life and in the process questions their significance. She ruminates over her accidental career transition from translator of memoirs to light fiction novelist, the routine itinerary of her book tours, her regular morning coffee gathering with fellow feminists and friends, visits to the neighbourhood library, her complacent yet unconscious relationship with her husband Tom and three teenage daughters, Norah, Christine and Natalie, etc.
Reta's bout of self examination is sparked off by Norah's sudden abandonment of home and college to sit by the roadside begging with a signboard that says "goodness" hung around her neck. Was she somehow responsible for Norah's inexplicable act of surrender ? Did she cause Norah to despair at such a tender age of ever leading a life of significance ? As Reta's internal dialogue runs its course and the story draws to a close, she learns a few things about herself and about the possibilities of life. Despite her new male editor's pushiness, she shows she can still after all stand her ground and maintain creative control over the second light fiction novel she is writing. On the other hand, Reta's self absorption makes her blind to the loneliness of her mother-in-law whom she thinks is congenitally silent until she learns that the old lady opened up to a complete stranger one evening when the family was away from home.
The mystery behind Norah's sudden turn is revealed in the last chapter. I won't say what it is so as not to spoil it for readers. While sufficiently explanatory, it is also not entirely satisfying. It lets Reta off the hook somewhat but it did bring her self awareness if nothing else.
"Unless" has been highly praised by critics. It was shortlisted for the Booker and appears on the Orange Prize longlist. While by no means a spectacular piece of work, Shields' trademark qualities are stamped all over it. Beautifully articulate and well written, "Unless" will appeal to readers who love the brooding intimacy of female contemplation.
Rating: 5
Summary: AN EXPRESSIVE VOICE READS REMARKABLE PROSE
Comment: Two big time winners are paired in this audio book - author Carol Shields took home the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for "The Stone Diaries," and actor Joan Allen has been thrice nominated for an Academy Award and twice named for a Tony.
Allen, a Broadway and film veteran, delivers a consummate reading of this story of one family's tragedy set amidst life on the cusp of the 21st century. Listeners will be rapt - seduced by Allen's voice and luxuriating in the author's remarkable prose.
Enjoying the fruits of success as a writer and translator, Reta Winters has every reason to believe she has it all - a devoted husband, three outstanding daughters, and a covey of good friends. Her world is tilted when her oldest child leaves college, and deserts family and boyfriend to take up residence on a street corner with a sign reading "Goodness."
Understandably anguished Reta tries to fathom what might have caused her daughter to take such action. It is in this search that listeners will find a sometimes disturbing, at other times heartening view of life as it is today.
- Gail Cooke
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Title: Life of Pi by Yann Martel ISBN: 0151008116 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan ISBN: 0385503954 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 12 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Three Junes by Julia Glass ISBN: 0375422412 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 2002 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor ISBN: 0670031542 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 26 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer ISBN: 0375412824 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 09 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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