A Fairly Conventional Woman

by Carol Shields

Brenda, traveling alone for the first time, is in a strange city grappling with an array of emotions and toying with the idea of an affair.

Later published as a joint edition with Happenstance (a standalone of the husband's story, which was published first) as Happenstance: Two Novels in One About a Marriage in Transition.

Genres: Canada, Fiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

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

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first heard of Happenstance: Two Novels in One About a Marriage in Transition, I thought it sounded gimmicky and that I'd never read it. Later, I decided to read all of Shields to see how she grew as an author, especially after liking her first novel, Small Ceremonies.

So, about a week or so ago, I read the original Happenstance (no subtitle), which is the husband's story of what happens to him during this time he and his wife are apart. This book is the wife's story of that same time, of her being away on a trip for the first time alone. Perhaps if I'd read these two the other way around (I followed the publication dates), I would feel about the husband's story the way I feel about the wife's -- that, yes, it does feel gimmicky, and that it was just ok.

If not for the 'task' I'd set myself, I would've abandoned this fairly early on and, for what it's worth, because I didn't, I did get to read the best writing, which comes near the end. I realize it's a novel of its time; and I basically liked the extended metaphor of quilt-making for writing; and though the longish boring speeches of some minor characters hold some humor, that doesn't mean they're not still boring.

Speaking of being of its time, I shouldn't even get started on the title, which I dislike, and the cover, which I despise. It's not even accurate -- the rose should be yellow and, a much worse error, the key should read "Court Arms," not the opposite. The hotel name is written a bunch of times in the text: did the illustrator not even skim the book?! ('Mistakes' like this have bothered me since I was a kid.) The cover may have influenced me before I'd even opened the book.

Sorry, book. You're not horrible; it's just what 2 stars means according to GR: it was ok.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Nearly 2.5) Brenda is in Philadelphia for a quilting conference. Quilting, once just a hobby, is now part of a modern art movement and she earns prizes and hundreds of dollars for her pieces. The hotel is overbooked, overlapping with an International Society of Metallurgists gathering, and both she and Barry from Vancouver, an attractive metallurgist in a pinstriped suit whom she meets in the elevator, are driven from their shared rooms by roommates bringing back one-night stands. This doesn’t add anything to the picture of a marriage in Jack’s story (the original Happenstance) and I only skimmed it this time. It’s a wonder I kept reading Shields after this, but I’m so glad I did!

“Aside from quiltmaking, pleasantness was her one talent. … She had come to this awkward age, forty, at an awkward time in history – too soon to be one of the new women, whatever that meant, and too late to be an old-style woman.”

[Jann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a gentle story of Brenda, a woman who is going for 5 days to Philadelphia for a Craft Convention. She has been happily married for many years and has a young daughter and a teenage son. Her husband Jack, daughter Laurie and son Rob are all loved but they are still exasperating from time to time. A series of unforeseen events throw Brenda into the life of Barry Ollershaw whom she feels drawn to. He seems to respond to her in the same way and life and destiny seem to be weaving a tender little trap for them. Now this may have been quite a titillating theme for the average reader of 1986 and although I enjoyed reading it, it didn't make me love it. All in all A Fairly Conventional Woman was a Fairly Conventional Book.