The Box Garden

by Carol Shields

The story of a woman dancing on the edge of a difficult life.

Ever since her husband left her—seemingly vanishing into thin air—Charleen Forrest has supported herself and her fifteen-year-old son on what she earns as an obscure poet and part-time gofer for an even more obscure scientific journal. But when her estranged mother remarries, prompting an unplanned reunion, Charleen finds herself moving out of her familiar existence.

A dazzling counterpoint to Shields’s debut novel, Small Ceremonies, imbued with her scathing wit and dead-on observations, The Box Garden is an unforgettable portrait of a woman who finds transformation—and happiness—where she least expects it.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Family, Literary Fiction, Ebooks, American, Novels

213 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Carol Ann Shields was an American-born Canadian author. She is best known for her successful 1993 novel The Stone Diaries, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Governor General's Award. Her novel Swann won the Best Novel Arthur Ellis Award in 1988.

Reviews

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, how I love Carol Shields’s writing: the glorious, delectable descriptions and narrative; dialogue so easy and authentic you don’t even think about the skill behind it; and most of all the knowingness of the author—she understands everybody beneath their facades and leaks out truth through behavior and self-deceptions. How effortlessly she moves a plot forward, slow-leaking facts that tie things together, never overwriting, practicing craft like an Olympian swimmer breathing in time to her strokes, knowing when to hold, breathe out, and inhale so fast that amateurs may never know the practice and artistry that directs every movement. She is, to my taste, sublime.

I only recently discovered Shields when a Goodreads friend reviewed her Pulitzer-winning The Stone Diaries which I read with incredulity that I had never heard of this writer. Maybe I’m just narrowly informed, but perhaps a lot of people are because a huge prize for a book by a female writer was just established under her name. Per the New York Times announcement:

Canadian novelist Susan Swan looked into the research about how female writers compared with male ones when it came to literary prizes and coverage. She was shocked by what she found.

“I thought it was going to be a happy progress report,” she said in an interview. “Instead it was a bad news day.”

Books written by women were less likely to be reviewed or win the most prominent book awards, Swan said. Some of those numbers have shifted in recent years. VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, a group that tracks the gender imbalance in major publications, reported gains for female writers at several of them in 2018, and writers such as Bernardine Evaristo, Margaret Atwood, Susan Choi and Sarah M. Broom took home several of the highest-profile book awards last year.

But Swan teamed up with a friend who works in book publishing, Janice Zawerbny, in an effort to continue to level the playing field. The result is a new annual prize, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, which starting in 2022 will award 150,000 Canadian dollars, about $113,000, for a work of fiction published in the previous year by a woman or nonbinary person.

I hope Carol Shields is smiling in spirit. I hope more readers will discover her, if only because of the money behind this prize. I hope . . . (well, the rest of that’s private).

Thank you, Ms. Shields for making me so happy with your writing.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charleen Forrest is a divorced woman and poet living in Vancouver with her fifteen-year-old son. She and her current romantic partner travel across Canada by train to Toronto for her seventy-year-old mother’s remarriage after many years of widowhood. She leaves her son in the care of a married couple who have been her friends for many years. While in Toronto, she plans to visit the mysterious Brother Adam, who has been corresponding with her about his botanical theories. He is trying to get her to use her influence with her publisher to get his book (about grasses) published. During this week-long trip, Charleen encounters more of her past than she (or the reader) expects.

It is mostly a low-key novel, with a flurry of action toward the end. It is a character-driven story that focuses on the ordinary events of everyday life, plus the stresses of travelling away from home. It is also a story of a fraught mother-daughter relationship, as Charleen has not seen her mother in five years and has a good bit of psychological baggage from her childhood and adolescence. It is a beautifully written story with authentic dialogue and psychological insight. It was only Carol Shields’s second novel, and it is easy to see why she became one of the best-known Canadian authors. I plan to (eventually) read her entire catalogue.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Features a phlegm-plugged stepdad-to-be; a 72 year old ex-priest, sandy and wrinkled, who listens and is thus seen as a kind of guru; a demanding mother, always on about cash and her husband, who wanders off; an ex-hippy: everyone here's an ex something.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this another 1/2 star if I could. I liked it, but not as much as "Small Ceremonies," which I guess you could call its 'companion' -- the two books are each told from the viewpoint of a sister. I wasn't at all sure of it in the very beginning, though I did think it was well-written from its start (Shields always has such a lovely, 'easy' style), but it picked up quickly, once the main character started interacting with her sister at the home of their difficult mother. Some surprises in the plot later on felt quite real, considering the characters.

[Varsha Ravi]

There is such an understated elegance, a balletic grace to Shields writing. Her uncanny ability to dissect the minutiae of everyday life, find magic in the mundane, her observations glittering like finely cut diamonds. Charleen Forrest is a deeply endearing character. A single mother raising a young son, living within her meagre means as an editor for The National Botanical Journal on the west coast of Canada.

She’s forced into a family reunion of sorts when her seventy-year-old mother decides to remarry. Charleen, accompanied by Eugene, the man she has been seeing for two years head to Toronto to attend the wedding. In the background, there’s also the enigmatic Brother Adam, a man of few words with an ardent passion for silence and grass that Charleen’s never met but has been exchanging letters with since his first submission to the Journal. There isn’t much plot, so to speak, and the little of the premise I’ve provided here might seem quite banal. And yet, you couldn’t be further off. It is so compelling, a sequence of seemingly ordinary events that somehow innately capture the intricacies of family and human existence.

Shields’s mastery lies in her exploration of everyday triumphs and pitfalls in a manner that is anything but pedestrian. There’s a quiet acerbic wit to her characterization and examination of relationships that asserts itself seamlessly in the narrative. This might seem oddly specific, but the dialogue is some of the most realistic and best I’ve encountered. I loved this book and it’s not even one of her more celebrated works. I’ve already ordered a matching edition of Small Ceremonies, her first and a companion novel to The Box Garden. I’m keen to get to The Stone Diaries, her Pulitzer Prize winning work, Larry’s Party and others. I just might’ve inadvertently stumbled upon a new favourite author.

4.5/5

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The companion novel to Small Ceremonies is narrated by Judith’s sister Charleen, a poet and single mother who lives in Vancouver and produces the National Botanical Journal. I imagined the sisters representing two facets of Shields, who had previously published poetry and a Moodie biography. Charleen is preparing to travel to Toronto for their 70-year-old mother’s wedding to Louis, an ex-priest. Via flashbacks and excruciating scenes at the family home, we learn how literally and emotionally stingy their mother has always been. If Charleen’s boyfriend Eugene’s motto is to always assume the best of people, her mother’s modus operandi is to assume she’s been hard done by.

The title comes from the time when a faithful Journal correspondent, the mysterious Brother Adam, sent Charleen some grass seed to grow in a window box – a symbol of thriving in spite of restrictive circumstances. I thought the plot went off in a silly direction, but loved the wedding reception. Specific links to Shields’s later work include a botanical hobby, a long train journey, and a final scene delivered entirely in dialogue.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first encountered Carol Shields with her novel Unless, which remains on my 5 star list. Her writing immediately drew me in, and like Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout, she has a gift for creating stories that examine and celebrate ordinary life. The Box Garden is an earlier novel, and I loved sinking into the language and culture of a different era. This is a story that delves into the complexities of relationships -- especially that of family -- and the ways in which we all try to make sense of our pasts. A graceful read.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was somewhat disappointed by this book--found it oddly passionless. But I did read it through to the end.

I found myself just wanting to shake Charleen sometimes. But her son is adorable and I figure mothers of teenagers are allowed to be wacky at times.

Note: I read this in 2006 and then later found out the author was terminally ill. It took me a while to get over my guilt at not liking the book of a dying woman, but I did. Her Stone Diaries does remain one of my favorite book memories.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m always impressed with short novels full of amazing, thought provoking paragraphs that make you stop and reflect on the author’s skillful ability to create a beautifully written, spare and perceptive story. Not as wonderful as The Stone Diaries (which I loved) and somewhat dated because it was written in 1977. I still enjoyed The Box Garden. It was a tender and sometimes heartbreaking short story about a flawed relationship between a mother and her daughters.

[Judith Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Carol Shields is one of my favourite writers. I thought the women's relationship with their mother was particularly well done, especially the scene where Charleen's partner is stunned by the way her mother speaks to her.

[Old Man JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charleen is a thirty-eight year old divorced woman with a son who is just barely getting by on her small salary, child support payments and any money she earns by occasionally having poems published. She leaves her son with a couple of her friends while she goes to visit her mother for a few days. Her mother is planning on marrying a seventy-two year old sickly former priest. However, while she is on her visit she finds out that her son and the wife of the couple she left him with are missing. An excellent story by the great Carol Shields with a cast of dysfunctional character told in her usual slightly humorous but beautiful prose.

[Amanda Labossière-Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

“For me kindness is an alien quality; and like a difficult French verb I must learn it slowly, painfully, and probably imperfectly. It does not swim freely in my bloodstream - I have to inject it artificially at the risk of all sorts of unknown factors. It does not wake with me in the mornings; every day I have to coax it anew into existence, breathe on it to keep it alive, practice it to keep it in good working order.” Page 104-105

[Stephen]

Tbc

[Pamfrommd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd better write a review now while I can still remember something about this book. It's fading fast.
The book is about a divorced Canadian woman, with a teenager, and a reunion of sorts with her sister and mother. It's a domestic family story, especially about the two sisters. But I predict that in the future I'll only remember the mother character. A tender book, with a few surprises. I always like Carol Shields' writing and characters.

[Barbara Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carol Shields is one of those rare writers who can make a very ordinary undramatic sequence of events into something extraordinary. She writes with a sly wit about the human situation but is never less than sympathetic towards the scrapes her characters get themselves into. 'The Box Garden' is a supreme example of her style. If someone had never come across her before, this is the book I would recommend them to start with.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a kind of companion novel to Small Ceremonies. Small Ceremonies focused on Judith and this was more focused on her sister, Charleen. The novel is a good 25 years old now and feels a bit conventional and dated but Shields captures the intricacies of family relationships and the quirkiness of some of her characters is spot-on. Still, this one got a little silly toward the end so I couldn't quite muster 4 stars.

[Chrystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been re-reading Carol Shields' novels over the past few years and have been mostly disappointed. Except for this one, which is as good as I remembered. Maybe her best.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written , too bad the ideas are way too outdated. I just..I couldn't appreciate it the way I have other books by Shields.

[Mai Laakso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yhdysvaltalais-kandalaisen Carol Shieldsin (1935-2003) Ruohonvihreää kertoi nelikymppisen Charleenin elämästä Kanadassa 1970-luvulla. Kirjasta nousi esille paljon eroavuuksia verrattuna nykyajan elämään 50 vuotta myöhemmin.

Charleen matkasi junalla miesystävänsä kanssa Torontoon äitinsä häihin. Matkalla nähtiin jopa intiaanien hökkelikyliä, joten pisteet Chieldsille, alkuperäisasukkaat on huomioitu. Miesystävä halusi lentää ja olla yötä hotellissa, mutta Charleen oli tottunut kituuttamaan yksinhuoltajana vähillä tuloilla, ja mitä äitikin olisi sanonut semmoisesta rahan tuhlaamisesta. Hänen äitinsä kun oli kituuttamisen maailmanmestari. Kaikki tehtiin itse ja mitään ei tuhlattu.

1970-luku näyttäytyy kirjan kuvioissa omalta maailmaltaan. Carol Shields on ollut taitava kuvaamaan jokapäiväistä elämää ja sen pieniäkin vivahteita sydämellisellä tavalla. Hän kuvasi esim. vaatteita ja kampaajalla käyntiä, kukkia ja nurmikkoa hyvin hellyttävästi. Tarinasta nousi esille mitä musiikkia kuunneltiin tuohon aikaan ja mitä ohjelmia katsottiin televisiosta. Yksi ikävimmistä jutuista kirjan sivuilla oli tietysti tupakanpoltto sisätiloissa. Onneksi se on vähentynyt, eikä nykylapset joudu hengittämään tupakansavun levittämiä myrkkyjä sisäilmasta.

Loppujen lopuksi kaikki meni hyvin ja morsiuspari vihittiin. Tietysti tässä tarinassa tapahtui jotakin järisyttävääkin, mutta sehän kuuluu hyvään tarinnankerrontaan. Carol Shieldsille annan jälleen täydet pisteet, sillä Ruohonvihreää teosta oli kerrassaan ihana lukea.

[Qyllie Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carol Shields second book published in 1977. I read The Stone Diaries, 1993, and Swann: A Mystery, 1987, before The Box Garden. Maybe it had been better to read them in the order of publication to slowly ease into her writing. Yes, she did evolve and grow in her writing.

The Box Garden was easy to read and follow even with some more hazy concepts. This is one of few books for me that included a "me-too" experience. That happens so seldom so when it does it leaves you with a strange feeling. When someone can write and clearly define something so complex that you have experienced is amazing. The book is about relationships and a family, weaved in the main story of a wedding.

Page 122. "And from her weakness flows not gentleness but a tidal wave of judgement. No wonder she has no friends. Over the years those few people who have approached her in friendship have been swept aside as prying and nosey, their gestures of help constructed as malicious arrogance. Underpinning all her beliefs is the idea that people "should keep to themselves. ""

Page 124. " Our father too had been a man without ancestors: to go back three generations was to find nothing but darkness; as the "Pome People" might say, our family tree was no more than a blackened stump."

Page 127. " Death is so much simpler; the rituals are firmer, shapelier; social custom will never be able to alter or diminish the effect of death; one need never be confused about the proper respons."

Three stars.

[Anne Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book a lot while i was reading it, but one month latyer I cannot recall that much that stands out. I liked the story of a family trying to heal itself after years of distance; and she writes very well. ofcourse the interest is kept alive as you are trying to find out about the box garden and who is the 'mad monk' ....
The story revolves around a woman whose elderly (and estranged) mother is getting married at 80 and all the family is invited. This prompts many memories - especially when her 2 grown up and married/divorced daugherters (also parents) sit guiltily over hot chocolate when everyone is in bed, talking about their childhood memories of their mother asnd them. Several characters cme in to disturb the 'calm' in a certainly beneficial way as it jolts everyone out of what they assume is permanent.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to re-read this book. I read it directly following the completion of another, well-written, thought provoking, historical, deep read. I should have waited a day to let my palette cleanse itself! Anyway, having said that, I loved the characterizations in this book. I was able to picture them which is big for me. I adored the interaction of the grandson with the grandmother. He was able to be straight up with her, but respectful, cutting his hair as she wished for her wedding. Most other people were understandably afraid to kind of take her on. She could kill with speech alone, going on and on and on...

It's a great book. I'm about to read more of this author and looking forward to it.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raced through this - I started off being all analytical and noticing how tell-y this book is, but I shrugged off my ideas of 'should' and just thoroughly enjoyed it. Some beautiful characterisation, and some plot I saw coming but in a way that just made me feel all the more protective of the main character, who really didn't. A real feel of the people in this, who were allowed to remain as they were, for me to make my own mind up. A thorough and exacting descriptive knack is what the author has. These people feel so real. There's a companion novel to this which I'm absolutely going after next.

My copy was an old one from a free library, that had originally come free in a Waterstones mag in the 90s... imagine.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prose! The writing in this book is gorgeous and so much happens in relatively few carefully chosen words. I love it. I loved the story too, although she kind of lost me at the action-packed climax (cost half a star). I liked the pace of “poet takes train to Toronto for her mom’s wedding, accompanied by the boyfriend she likes well enough, and here are the details of her mom’s standoffishness, and the fiancé they’re all meeting for the first time. Oh and maybe she will meet her pen pal.” Sounds mundane, yes, but I like that kind of story — it didn’t need more action than that!

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than Shields' "The Stone Diaries" and other longer novels of hers that I've read. I thought I'd give her another chance when I got this at a used book sale at the bank, mostly because I needed a backing for paper on which I had to write information for someone. I was surprised at how quickly I began to care about these unlikely characters. This might make an interesting graphic novel.

[Inka Partanen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nautin hurjasti Shieldsin verkkaisesta, havainnoivasta kerrontatavasta. Tämä ei nyt silti ollut ihan parasta häneltä. Alkupuoli vaati kärsivällisyyttä, koska varsinainen juoni eteni niin hitaasti, olkoonkin että rakastin heti käytännössä kaikkia tyyppejä kirjassa. Henkilökuvaus ja -ymmärrys olikin parasta ja terävintä antia, eikä yleensä minua ärsyttävä persoonallisuuksien räikeys häirinnyt nyt ollenkaan, luultavasti koska kirjoittaja on niin taitava.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book, published in 1977, the year of my high school graduation, in 2022 was a better-than expected experience. Better than it would have been if I had read it in 1977 at the age of 18, since the story is about a woman who returns home and reflects on her past. I enjoyed Carol Shield’s writing as much as ever—which is to say, I enjoyed it immensely.

[Sarahjoy Maddeaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading a couple of bad novels, it was so nice to read this seemingly simple but profound book. The author crafted her characters so well, so many different types of people, with some beautiful descriptions to slow the pace of the book. It was a brief but satisfying window into a significant moment in these people's lives.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's one of those "family gets together in childhood home and relationships surface" sort of books that I always avoid. Except this one is realistic, rich and engaging. This is Charleen's story. I am looking forward to Small Ceremonies about her sister Judith.

[Rebekka Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I save Carol Shield books for when I know I need a great book, the kind you have to know how it all turns out. I appreciate seeing the world from a viewpoint so different from my own, and being challenged to reevaluate what true kindness is.