Unless: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

by Carol Shields (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The best of her novels...fearless, smart, funny, beautifully written." (New Orleans Times-Picayune )

"A luminous novel ...Shields writes with clarity, intelligence and generosity, finding meaning in most mundane details of home life." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel )

"All novelists worth their fictional salt can create fine characters; Carol Shields creates lives. " (New York Times Book Review )

"Nothing short of astonishing." (The New Yorker )

"Some hefty perceptions, fortunately shared with us in this fine novel." (Washington Post Book World )

"With a poet's precision, Shields dissects grief and makes coping with bad luck feel like domestic heroism." (People )

"A wonderful, powerful book, written in a style which combines simplicity and elegance. I found it deeply moving." (Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat )

"Luminous ... Shields is a consummate master of tone and acute psychological insight." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette )

"A novel of...assured intelligence and defiant vivacity." (San Francisco Chronicle )

"When Shields is good she is very good. There are nuggets of pure gold in Unless." (Newark Star Ledger )

"Nothing short of astonishing." (The New Yorker )

"All the trademark Shields delights are robustly present: idiosyncratic plotting; limber prose...deep compassion...tart commentary and irreverent wit." (Orlando Sentinel )

"A superb new novel...a graceful coda, an arabesque performed over an abyss." (Time magazine )

"Finely detailed, thoughtful and sometimes even humorous, this book is highly recommended for all fiction collections." (Library Journal )

"Often quietly heartbreaking...often, bitingly humorous." (Kirkus (starred review) )

"A brave, profound, and quirky novel with an undercurrent of the deeply amusing." (Anita Shreve, author of Sea Glass )

"Marvelously idiosyncratic, passionate and wise, Shields' tenth novel rollicks from beginning to end with sauciness and wit." (Book Magazine )

"A raw, subtle, inspiring novel about feminism, femininity, virtue, oppression and motherhood...I was inexpressibly moved by it." (Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph (London) )

"Her wisdom and generosity of spirit are visible at every turn." (London Times (Sunday) )

"Unless succeeds beautifully...Shields [is] an expert at illuminating the complicated dynamics of off-kilter families." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution )

"Closely observed moments create the kind of subtle textures and elegant prose that won Ms. Shields the Pulitzer Prize." (Richmond Times-Dispatch )

"Remarkably subtle and unsettling...one of those books that make you regret that reading is a solitary pleasure." (Christian Science Monitor )

"Truly, a miracle of language and perception." (The Oregonian (Portland) )

"A fine book, poignant, witty, rich in character, vivid in its sense of place...surprisingly suspenseful." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch )

"Shields's novels and short stories are intensely imagined, humanely generous, beautifully sustained and impeccably detailed." (Publishers Weekly )

"Entirely satisfying. Shields' voice, tender and moderated at all times, remains wise and very readable." (Houston Chronicle )

"A fitting farewell from an author revered for her graceful, insightful writing...sparkles with wry humor and elegant irony." (Hartford Courant )

"An engaging, memorable novel." (Cleveland Plain Dealer )

"A thing of beauty-lucidly written, artfully ordered, riddled with riddles and undergirded with dark layers of philosophical meditations." (Los Angeles Times )

"Relentlessly fine...imagined with style and vigor, melancholoy and wisdom." (San Diego Union-Tribune )

"A superb new novel...a graceful coda, an arabesque performed over an abyss." (Time Magazine )

"All novelists worth their fictional salt can create fine characters; Carol Shields creates lives. " (New York Times Book Review )

"A landmark book...yet another noteworthy addition to Shields's impressive body of work." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

Product Description

Forty-four-year-old Reta Winters, wife, mother, writer, and translator, is living a happy life until one of her three daughters drops out of university to sit on a downtown street corner silent and cross-legged with a begging bowl in her lap and a placard round her neck that says "Goodness."

The final book from Pulitzer Prize-winner Carol Shields, Unless is a candid and deeply moving novel from one of the twentieth century's most accomplished and beloved authors.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060874406
• ISBN-13: 978-0060874407
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,906 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wise, and Witty -- A Nuanced Literary Treat, February 12, 2008

By	B. Case "InquiringMind" (Redondo Beach, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Carol Shields' last novel, "Unless," is a refreshing intellectual and literary treat. I enjoyed this novel so much I read it twice in quick succession. The novel is a fitting capstone to an illustrious literary career.

There are three stories intertwined in this short novel. First, there is the story of Reta Winters, the mother, a woman whose 18-year-old daughter has inexplicably and suddenly dropped out of life to sit mute on a Toronto street corner panhandling with a sign around her neck reading, "GOODNESS." Second, it is the story of Reta Winters, the author, a woman in the process of writing a comic novel called "My Thyme is Up" and also assisting her feminist mentor, Danielle Westerman, translate her childhood memoirs. Finally, it is the story of Reta Winters, the feminist, a woman quietly raging against the marginalization of women in all walks of life, but especially in the world of literary publishing.

Much of the novel focuses on the nature of goodness. Reta wonders if her daughter's homelessness is some kind of protest against female powerlessness. Perhaps her daughter has suddenly become aware that she must settle for goodness, since greatness still appears to be a realm reserved for men only.

Reta is a 44-year old Canadian writer and translator living in rural Orangetown, Ontario. Reta is a writer in the process of creating a novel...so there is this fascinating infinite digression about a woman writer writing a novel about another woman writer writing a novel. Winters has much to say about the process of writing that is both humorous and insightful, but mostly she rants brilliantly about the marginalization of woman authors.

Reta is a charming, social, busy woman with many friends and responsibilities. She is an intellectual, a feminist, and a social activist. She and her common-law husband, Tom, have three daughters. Until her eldest daughter suddenly takes up living as a homeless person on the streets of Toronto, Reta has been living a life of extraordinary familial happiness. As the book opens, Reta's world is shattered by the loss of her daughter to the streets of Toronto. Her heart is broken--she is grieving, and desperate to understand her daughter's behavior. The novel takes place over the course of a year as Reta copes with her loss and ultimately comes to understand the motivation behind her daughter's actions.

The novel is chock full of feminist rage and humor. The homeless daughter plot holds the piece together, but it is insignificant against the weight of the whole. In my estimation, the whole hangs together mainly through the irresistible wellspring of interior musings from Reta's mind. What keeps you reading is finding out as much as you can about this very real, and most intriguing protagonist.

"Unless" is overflowing with life--a work brimming with ambiguity and nuance. This book is so alive, I swear...one has just to pick it up to feel the heartbeat within.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Never really captured me, June 18, 2008

By	S. Bartholomew (Southern California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unless was the first book I read on my Kindle, so maybe that has influenced my feelings about it. I'm not sure. I love the Kindle, but was possibly getting used to reading without the actual feel of a book. Anyway, as others have mentioned, Unless is th story of Reta Winters. her college-aged daughter who has always been a well-adjusted kid, suddenly drops out of school to spend her days begging on a Toronto street corner with a sign around her neck that reads "Goodness." Reta is a succesful author and translator with 2 other daughters and a husband who is a doctor and trilobite-ophile (is that a word?)

Shields writes well enough, but I felt that there was so much more that could be mined from this story. I understand that the idea was to show the effect of her daughters situation on Reta, it just wasn't compelling enough for me to get that interested. Her daughter is on a street corner, but here's Reta having tea with her friends. And here's Reta trying to write the sequel to her novel. And here's Reta meeting with her new editor. It seemed odd to me that her reaction to her daughters situation was not more deeply felt.

This book wouldn't necessarily stop me from checking out some of Shields' other work, but I was left feeling like something had been missed when I was done reading Unless.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is up?, April 2, 2008

By	Eileen Barton "Questioning Reader" (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't understand. How can there only be one review for either paperback edition of this luminously wonderful novel? I am thinking of buying copies for all my friends on the condition that they write their own Amazon reviews as well as sharing the novel with at least one other person. It is that good!