Small Ceremonies

by Carol Shields

What is the matter with me, I wonder. Why am I always the one who watches?Judith Gill lives with her husband, son, and daughter in a nice house in the suburbs of Ontario. She has carved out a niche as a respected biographer. Her universe is shaped and bounded by the lives around her, from her family to the subjects of her books. She finds herself in the background of her life, but she hungers to tell stories of her own. In this witty, nuanced novel about art, life, love, and fiction, Carol Shields reveals Judith to readers and to herself—a woman with bold emotions, powerful instincts, and a knack for observing the small ceremonies that give our lives meaning.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Literary Fiction, Novels, Family, Romance, Canadian Literature

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

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

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read nearly all this author's books many years ago, before I joined Goodreads. I have them all on my shelf and decided to do some rereading from the past. Small Ceremonies was, I believe, her debut book so it seemed sensible to start with it.

I think what I like best about Carol Shields is her absolutely perfect prose. It does not matter what she was writing about, the way she said it is always a joy to read. Small Ceremonies is, in a way, a book about nothing much, but that nothing becomes something due to her skilful writing

Of course the whole book is character driven and it is easy to become attached to Judith, the narrator, and her family, husband Martin, son Richard and daughter Meredith. I love the moment when Martin achieves his moment of brilliance in tapestry!

This was a real pleasure to read again. Of course it had aged - in the 1970s people wrote letters to their friends and smoked cigarettes in other peoples' houses - but it was all rather reassuring and sweet. A little bubble of history from the not so distant past. Now to find the time for more rereads.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The impulses of others are seldom understandable; they seem to spring out of irrational material, out of the dark soil of the subconscious. But I have respect for impulses and for the mystery they suggest.”

Living in Ontario, Canada, protagonist Judith Gill is a biographer who aspires to write fiction. She is the wife of academic Martin Gill, a professor of Milton studies, and the mother of two teens. The primary storyline revolves around her interactions with an author (and former teacher) Rudyard “Furlong” Eberhardt, who has written a best-seller but has used material of questionable provenance. Judith is aware of where the material originated and had, at one time, attempted to use it herself.

“I’m going to have it out with Furlong. He’s going to have to do some explaining. Or else. Or else what? Endlessly, silently, I debate the point. What power do I have over Furlong? Who am I, the far from perfect Judith Gill, to judge him, and how do I hope to chastise him for his dishonesty? I only want him to know that I know what he did. Why? What’s the point? Why not let it pass? Because what he’s done may be too small a crime to punish, but at the same time it’s too large to let go unacknowledged.”

Shields is adept at the exploring a person’s inner life. Major theme in this novel is that we can never truly know another person. This theme plays out in Judith’s relationship with her husband as well as her former teacher. The novel conveys underlying tensions between characters, particularly the differences between the private person and the public persona. It highlights the miscommunications between individuals that take place regularly.

As a character-driven novel, it is not flashy or filled with action. Instead, it is a deep character study of people who seem very real. Shields is a keen observer of human nature. I found myself constantly nodding and saying, “wow, that’s so true.” This book was published in 1976 and is the author’s debut. Recommended to those who enjoy quiet novels with deeply drawn characters and enough of a plot to maintain interest.

[Chrissie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book started off terribly promising - looking at the art of writing biographies versus novels, i.e. what it takes from an author to write a book of these two different genres. The main characters are authors and teachers of literature. In the beginning the lines had me thinking.

Halfway through, the book fizzled for me. The characters no longer rang true. Their behavior did not make sense to me. All the empty talk and socializing quite simply left me cold. The characters kept secrets from each other! Such behavior is very foreign to me. I find such behavior totally incomprehensible.

The message relayed about how authors take real life events and then fictionalize them became disappointingly banal.

There could have been an interesting discussion of the differences between Canadian, American and British cultures. This is not explored in the novel.

The audiobook narration by Justis Bolding was well done - the speed good and the different intonations for different characters easy to recognize.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shields’s debut has ended up being my surprise favorite of her books. A flawless novella, it brings its many elements to a satisfying conclusion and previews the author’s enduring themes in 180 pages. Judith is working on a third biography, of Susanna Moodie, and remembering the recent sabbatical year that she and her husband, a Milton scholar, spent with their two children in Birmingham. High tea is a compensating ritual she imported from a dismal England. She also brought back an idea for a novel. Meanwhile family friend Furlong Eberhardt, author of a string of twee, triumphantly Canadian novels, is casting around for plots.

What ensues is something of a sly academic comedy à la David Lodge, laced with Shields’s quiet wisdom on marriage, parenting, the writer’s vocation, and the difficulty of ever fully understanding another life. Specific links to her later work include a wonderful dinner party scene with people talking over each other and a craft project.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a precious gem of a book! Judith, Martin, Ruthie, Roger cut like exquisite core little masterpieces. Rarely do I overrate a book, and this would be a 4 star for almost everyone but I HAD to give it the 5th for the enjoyment it gave to me.

And on top of the superlative normal and real individuals you have microfilm, card catalogs and library locations in every other chapter. And Martin is not perfect, nor is he an obtuse bully, nor a reclusive near mute. No, an actual significant Dad and rare weaver on top of it.

I've only read other reviews after I finished this small one because a GR friend had rated it a 5. And I note the dated and bored references now in some of the other reviews. Not I. Never bored and dated only in non-tech lifestyle detail. Authentic identities as she has complied here- they never seem dated. Judith is so much every woman, mother, wife.

Shields has also captured the essence of "sick Mom" and "party thrower" Wife in this one. The nuance and minutia of emotion and whirl, as no one I've ever read of our particular era and generation (Boomers and just before that epoch as Judith and Martin are coming to age in the late '50's). Judith doesn't even use a caterer or angst to match the correct wines to the trending appetizer!

Canadian "Midwest" sensibility prime in this one. Coupled with precise nuance to how Academic association existed before the big P word of elitist hubris gobbled the standard of "learned" gatherings and has held it hostage for at least the last 2 decades.

And if that is not enough, Judith having had a difficult and excluded from any high emotion or deep considerations childhood, parented by non-nurturers, and given no "self-identity" time in her teens or young adult life at all, gives her past history not even 2 pages. Mentioning with kindness any positive aspects she can remember or the best traits of her progenitors with nary a ridicule or entitled blame. As the tale unfolds she is looking present and forward now, to her own fortifications of character within her life's tasks and within her writing. Proceeding to succeed and excel or fail or invent completely on her own young adult and mature adult capacities.

She doesn't whine, blame, or criticize lacks to sources other than her own choices and directions. Owning and taking full responsibility as an individual woman of conscience. OMG, is there a sixth star? That is priceless.

Carol Shields gets the long, mostly content marriage fairly well too.

Highly recommend this read for those who need a strongly retro breath of fresh air from mean, loose and snarky divas. Also for writers who are both ORGANIZED and have IMAGINATION. Lots of times those two don't meld for maximum invention.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a quiet novel with very little plot. But every chapter, paragraph, and sentence is so skillfully crafted that the craftsmanship, alone, held me rapt.

Though it's pretentious of me to say, I see this as the sort of novel novelists would appreciate.

A lovely book.

[Lulufrances · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worthwhile yet intensely slow read, very much literary fiction indeed, writing itself features heavily in the plot.
We glimpse the day to day in Judith Gill‘s (and her academia family’s) life, not action-packed, yet also not entirely plot-less and there is a nice rhythm to the style. Pensive and very much of times passed (set and published in the 70s).

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's tough to reconcile the realities of life sometimes.

[Shawn Mooney (Shawn Breathes Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Shields' later stuff, especially the stories, but this, her debut novel, was awful. I enjoyed the lively, whimsical prose - to the point of tearing up nostalgically in the first few pages - but this tale of a reticent biographer and her circle grappling with lofty matters of literary inspiration, plagiarism, and Canadian identity came across more like a nerdy episode of The Brady Bunch than a serious work of fiction, comical or otherwise.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel that succeeds brilliantly on three levels. The first is that it manages to tell a simple story about a genteel-sort of mid-life crisis, and tell it with a wonderful light touch that gives lie to anyone who believes that one can't tell a thoughtful, compelling tale of suburban Canadian life.

The second level of success comes with the usual Carol Shields touch of making ordinary people sound extraordinarily authentic. The final level of success comes with the novel being a brilliantly accidental historical artifact. It's set in an early 1970s era that is completely real yet never in-your-face. An era of wall-to-wall carpeting, cigarettes, family room televisions, and people still writing letters to each other -- an era so near, yet so far from our current state of being.

"Small Ceremonies" is a true winner, and another high quality Carol Shields novel.

[Moses Kilolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty fast read. However, though the subject of the book is of great interest to me, I found that the ending didn't match up to the build up of the rest of the story. Something seemed not quite right with it, the way it was handled, like some quick 'orchestration' for an attempt at satisfaction. Or maybe I just like to for my heart to be torn apart and put back into place by the depth of the story's implications... But the characters, mostly the Gill family, are quite well drawn, and those around them very well placed. Shields' attention to the particulars of the writerly life is quite moving, at times even funny and encouraging.

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so lovely and charming. I loved the main character's voice--both thoughtful and wry. Reading this was like reading the Beverly Cleary books I loved growing up--clearly not of the times because it's a little too old-fashioned, but such a wonderful, comforting world to be part of for a little while. The fact that it involved manuscripts and plagiarism galore just added another layer of fun. I'm usually more stingy with my stars but this book gets all of them.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 and 1/2 stars

Wonderfully written. The perfect novel for any writer who is also a mother with family and friends. Also deals with the nature of fiction and the struggle of where writers get their ideas from, and how those ideas change and can become unrecognizable from what they started off as.

[Saara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book hasn't exactly aged well (outdated terms and language), in the almost 50 years since it was written. At the same time, people haven't intrinsically changed, and this story could have been written yesterday.

"Stones Diaries" is by far a better book. Ms. Shields had time to hone her craft, by the time she wrote it. This one is more meandering, losing its' thread, not sure of a point.

[Abigail Ceremuga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introspective and enlightening, a look into one year of a woman's life.

[Michał · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunday night. And the thought strikes me that I ought to be happier than I am.

[H. Daley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable but left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so glad I picked this book up and decided to read it. I had tried two other books (later books) by Carol Shields, and I wasn’t thrilled with them at all. I found this book up at a library sale and bought it with the intention of releasing it on Bookcrossing. But there I was, between books, so I thought I would give her work one more try. I am so glad I did.

This is a marvelous book. A stay-up-past-bedtime-to-keep-reading book. Carol Shields has a verdant vocabulary and she uses it to perfection. So many times I stopped, mid paragraph to think, “now THIS is writing, this is real writing”--makes me very aware of my own limitations.

The main character, Judith, is a successful writer of biographies and a failed writer of novels. She is a keen observer of those around her. However, as much as she is able to uncover the secrets and wring the life juices out of the dry facts of a biographical subject’s history, she is as stymied as the rest of us when it come to truly knowing those closest to her. We are reminded of how much of ourselves we withhold and how much we make-up, about both ourselves and others. Shields takes us through a year in Judith’s life, a year full of her juicy observations and honest introspection. It’s a year of discovery and surprises. This is a curl-up-and-read, don’t-bother-me-until-I-am done, kind of book

[Amardip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved The Stone Diaries and had low expectations for this book as it is Carol Shields' first novel, is very short, and I didn't think it could possibly come close. This novel is very Seinfeldian in that it is about "nothing" and yet it is suprisingly a page-turner. Not a lot happens in this novel and the plot "twists" are somewhat predictable but Carol Shields has such a gift for illuminating the ordinary, and using exquisite language to do so, that all else is forgiven. The main character is so well-developed that I would've liked to befriend her. I found the subtle humour and irony refreshing. The novel was published in 1976 and was meant to be contemporary but reading it almost 40 years later it has a retro feel and reminded me of a time when people wrote letters and used typewriters and doctors made house calls. Not for the action-hero buff but highly recommend to those who enjoy character-driven novels.

[Bibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read. Having read a lot of mediocre fiction lately, it was a treat to just relax, lean back and let Shields do all the work of conveying the machinations of her heroine's mind. The heroine is biographer Judith Gill, happily married to a sweet yet hot professor, with two precocious and refreshingly well-behaved kids. She yearns to write fiction, doesn't quite have the knack for it, is tempted to plagiarize someone's work, wrestles with her conscience, all the while observing the people around her and their seemingly incomprehensible actions. The bit players are very well drawn and provide comic relief (Furlong Eberhardt and his dark secret cracked me up).

This is a modest novel. It doesn't draw attention to itself or try to be great or epic. It's very low key, but so, so intelligent, witty and funny I was surprised I hadn't come across it before.

[Jeanette Mathern]

May be the best First Novel i've ever read! In a paragraph she can draw a character precisely and simultaneously define the relationship to the narrator. Her descriptions are concrete and succinct. The style of her sentences is fluid--loose, long to staccato. Same with paragraphs.
But that isn't it.
It's her people. They're genuine. Her observations are accurate and fair. She is truthful but not ever unkind. Shields is clearly, as she says of her narrator in this book, an Observer. And she observes well.
The plot of this slender book is modest. A year in the life. But the drama and difficulty of living with others, of work, of parenting, of loving one's spouse as well as one's Self sustain it.
What a lovely read!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another page-turner for me. I loved the elegant way that she wrote a novel about a woman seeking to write a novel, and being let in on the complexity of both/either undertakings. I enjoyed the interplay of the many characters with mystery and constancy of faithfulness being important features of the lives recorded. I was also fascinated by Shields' playing out the process of biography writing and the role that Susanna Moodie, the subject of the biographer-protagonist, had in the story. Do we ever really know those people closest to us? The novel was full of intimate discovery and wonderment. I'm encouraged to go on reading Carol Shields.

[Mary Beth Umholtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this. It is slow and sleepy and domestic. I loved the time period and the fact that this book is older—before cell phones and scary modern living. Sigh. The plot is very minimal. Mostly it’s domestic life and the coming together of people—which I always love, in both books and movies.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a real live douchebag scene!

[Ape · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very glad this is not the first of Shields' books that I have read. I started with the fantastic, The Stone Diaries. Had I started with this, I may not have rushed to try anything else. Oh, it's not bad, it's certainly well-written. But it's underwhelming and perhaps a tad dated. One of these "clever" books delving deep into the lives and characters of ordinary folk where nothing much really happens, but we can try and feel profound. It was strange reading it, as the narrator, Judith, comes across as this middle-aged, middle-class bore, a bit bland, and with a great interest in other people's lives (she is a biographer) but not much about herself. She felt decades older than me. It's set/written in the 70s, so I suppose she is, but at the same time, she's supposedly the same age as I am now.

She is a stay at home mother to two teenage children, who writes biographies, and is married to an English literature academic. She tells her story through the everyday occurances and reflections on moments in her past. Tells us about the year the family spent living in the UK, staying in another academic's flat there, and how she read all of that guy's private notebooks - his unpublished novels. An idea of which she pinches to write her own novel, which she gives to a writer-friend to look over but decides to abandon. Imagine her horror when she realises said writer-friend has then pinched the idea off her and turned it into a very successful book! Worse, the Birmingham academic comes over to visit and says he's getting a novel published, based on their lives as told through the letters of their young son to his daughter. So many levels of betrayals of trust and plagarism!!

There are small intrigues and incidents in the tale. Why does her husband hoard balls of wool in the bottom drawer of his desk? And what about her son Richard and his British penpal, Anita? Oh, my heart did break for him a little when she effectively dumped him without a word.

It bimbles along and then stops in a similar kind of place to where it starts - just an excerpt of a life, make as much or as little of it as you wish. All right, but it does make me wonder if I do want to read anymore of her work.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel starts off kind of mundane with the main character, Judith, a Canadian biographer, describing her family life-- husband, two kids. But Shields has a relatable and comfortable writing voice that kept me wanting to read on. The narrator seems sort of peevish at times, but it gives a more realistic impression of her personality. This book was written in 1976, so I appreciated the lack of references to the internet, cell phones and other technology. Kind of refreshing to be reminded of how life used to be. For example, Judith visits a library and there's a description of the card catalog that "snakes back and forth in a room of its own". It's set in a place and time that are not really integral to the story, but these aspects affect the mood. The story builds in intensity until near the end when Judith gets to meet someone she's been curious about and also confronts someone she believes stole a story idea. There are layers to these moments of realization that add perspective and interesting insight. Overall a very satisfying read.

[Deane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Carol Shields' "calm" writing...there is no real tension or angst; just a day to day lifestsyle. My favourite story of hers is "Larry's Party" which I read twice.
In "Small Ceremonies" Judith Gill, a biographer relates her life month by month for a year....she is content most of the time except when she tries to write fiction. She has friends, two children and a husband who already has his PhD and is trying to be published again ....the 'publish or perish' syndrome...and not getting too much support from Judith.
Her life while living in England for a year plays a large part in their lives especially to the young son, Richard who corresponds weekly with the daughter of her landlord. His disappointment when England goes through a 3-week postal strike and he doesn't get the weekly letter...how he handles each day brings out the kindness and understanding of his mother, Judith.
A delightful read....

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol Shields has created the memorable Judith Gill, an observer and a biographer. Her husband, Martin, is an English professor who teaches about Milton. Judith discovers a drawer of wool in his study and wonders if he has gone crazy. Along with their two teenage children they let an apartment in London for a time. Judith, ever the researcher, snoops through their landlords’ belongings to discover who these strangers are. This leads to repercussions once they return home to their home in Toronto.
Furlong Eberhardt, a friend of Judith becomes a literary success but she can’t bring herself to read his book although her daughter is captivated by it. Meanwhile her son builds an attachment to the unmet teenage daughter of their English landlords through airmail.
This is superbly written and the characters all have a purpose in this depiction of the irony of Judith’s life.
This is Canadian writing at its best!

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My wife recommended Carol Shields's debut novel to me. I had read three of her subsequent novels; I liked Unless and Larry's Party more than the Pulitzer Prize-winning Stone Diaries. This one presages the strengths of her later novels, with its perceptive treatment of the narrator's inner life and keen observations about the characters' relationships. It follows a Canadian family month by month over the course of nine undramatic months: the narrator is a mother, homemaker, and author of biographies of Canadian women; her husband is a Milton scholar; and they have a 16-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son. Despite its strengths, I still prefer Unless and Larry's Party.

[Imogen Siantonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a small beautiful book, every sentence is eqisite. The story tells the story of an intellectual family in Canada told from the story of the matriarch Judith. This seems to be a happy family who had a shared experience of living in England for a year and having high tea together though the first sentence Judith admits though she should be happier. This poignant beginning starts an addictive book.
One exceptional sentence when Judith is ill her daughter goes an extra two miles to get bread. Judith's reaction is she could weep.
This moving book does not really go anyway and there is nothing really resolved but it's just a really beautiful look at domestic life.
.