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Unless
December 2021: Books about Books
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Unless by Carol Shields - 5 stars
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I read this some time ago and found it very moving when I did.
I love your review and now want to read the book.
Booknblues wrote: "I read this some time ago and found it very moving when I did."So glad you enjoyed it too!
Holly R W wrote: "I love your review and now want to read the book."It's really wonderful. I hope you get a chance to read it.
I don’t think I’ve read this one yet, but I adore Carol Shields’ writing - she has to be one of my all time favourite authors
KateNZ wrote: "I don’t think I’ve read this one yet, but I adore Carol Shields’ writing - she has to be one of my all time favourite authors"I just discovered her last year when I read The Stone Diaries. What a wonderful writer. I wish she was still around. :-(
“Norah had dropped out of university, she had parted from her boyfriend, she was pursuing a path to spiritual goodness, which the family couldn’t quite understand, she was detaching herself from the rest of us, sleeping in a hostel, and yes, begging money at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor in downtown Toronto – but everyone held out hopes that she would return to being the Norah we knew and loved.”
Protagonist Reta Winters is a translator and novelist with three teenage daughters. She is in a happy long-term relationship with the father of her children, though they never married. She has written one novel and started a sequel. Life has been going well for Reta when her eldest daughter, Norah, suddenly and significantly changes her behavior. She starts sitting near a busy intersection in Toronto, holding up a sign that reads “Goodness.” We follow Reta’s inner dialogue as she tries to figure out what has happened to derail her daughter’s life. As Reta puts it:
“I am going through some bleak days…. I, too, am hungry for the comfort of the ‘entire universe,’ but I don’t know how to assemble it and neither does [Norah]. I sense something incomplete about the whole arrangement, like a bronze casting that’s split open in the foundry, an artifact destined by some invisible flaw to break apart.”
This book is quiet but poignant. It is filled with beautifully crafted prose. Shields drives the narrative forward through Reta’s inner dialogue, as she tries to make sense of what has happened, while also carrying out the routines of daily living and writing her novel. The interactions of the characters provide an insightful look at the process of publishing, writing, translating, and editing. These scenes are often witty and humorous. By the end, I felt I knew Reta and would love to spend time with her.
Sometimes an author comes along that feels like she is speaking directly to me. Carol Shields is such an author. I plan to read all of her work. I simply love her writing and this book will be in my top ten books of the year.