Rating: 
Summary: Everyday life, much like your own
Review: This is supposedly the life story of Daisy Stone Goodwill, a fictional character stretching on from her birth to her death, more then 80 years later. Daisy is a fictional character but this detail is forgotten as the story unfolds due to the richness of minor details describing her life.
I am not sure however that in the end, I really know Daisy. I mean, I do know all about her life, how many kids, where she lived and what she did but I am not sure I know what she really thought. Did she love her kids? Her husband? What did she think of them and of her function in their lives? Of her life?
In a way this story reminds me of the way we talk about other people. We give out all the information there is about other people and make out our own theories, but do we really know them? One of my favorite parts of the story therefore was the part where close people are trying to theorize why Daisy is in a bad mood. They each have a theory, which can tell you more about them and their place in the world, and somehow with all the theories you reach your own conclusions about Daisy. But you never get the real truth from Daisy herself (or maybe there isn't one truth?).
The book is not an easy read. The writing is special and beautiful and the writer moves through different writing styles. It is both the problem and the quality of this writing that it sometimes goes into excessive details. It is truly the writing that is the essence of this book and not necessarily the story itself.When I first started to read this book (I read it for quite a while. This is not a book I could read in "one sitting") I felt that I would never be able to go past the first chapter. It was so long and so very detailed! It took me a while to really get into this book and surprisingly I was more interested in Daisy's old age period. I wanted to know how she anticipated death or what she thought about the nearing end but I am not sure I got all the answers, just that she stayed loyal to herself and to her efforts, those that she had all her life, to be sweet and not to trouble anyone. .
Daisy is no great person - not in her eyes and not in the writer or readers eyes. This is why I found this story interesting. She is just like the reader, having an everyday life, very close to your own. Someone you can really identify with. The book brings on many philosophical questions and thoughts - such as are we all victims of the circumstances? How can we control our lives? When I think about Daisy's life I think that the one decision she really made for herself in whom she shaped her own destiny was when she decided to go to the trip to Canada.
However, was that really her choice? It seemed somehow like something very predictable. It is scary to think that this says something about our own life too... and how predictable they are.
Bottom line: this is not a book I will read again. Its power was mainly the beauty of the writing and the thoughts it evokes. However you are left with a sad feeling of waste - long life passes on without really leaving a mark.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious
Review: I read it because I had to for our book club, but if it weren't for that I would have stopped after 20 minutes. It's tedious. I did slog through the whole thing and it reminded me of having to sit next to someone very talkative and very boring for five hours on an unwelcome train trip. Ugh.
Rating:
Summary: What a terrible waste of time.
Review: Rarely have I found a book's characters to be so dull. Shields does absolutely nothing to maintain my interest. I feel no connection to any character. A perfect book for the book club crowd, but otherwise disposable. If you insist on reading it, get it from the library so you don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: A richly imaginative novel
Review: I couldn't get into this book for several chapters ~~ it just wouldn't hold my interest since it was so mauldin in the beginning. Once I got through Daisy's childhood, the reading became more diverse and more imaginative, very rich in detail of the inner life of a woman growing up in the early and mid Twentieth Century. It is a beautifully written novel ~~ and Daisy is a character richly drawn ~~ but the book just didn't capture my interest like other novels did. However, I don't regret picking this novel up to read. I've heard so much about it and was glad to know that there are still good books out there. It's a book to share with family and friends ~~ and perhaps good for a discussion around the suppertable. 12-29-03
Rating: 
Summary: A celebration of an "ordinary" life
Review: This is more feedback to a review that said Daisy's life was "not interesting." On the contrary, I found this book to be a celebration of a so-called "ordinary" life. The point is that everyone's life is unique and interesting. Of course, it also helps that Carol Shields' writing is so evocative and beautiful. In other, less capable hands, Daisy's story would have been boring. And, to continue the point, I was also struck (when I finished this book) that it doesn't have a "strong" plot in the conventional sense--yet it IS so compelling.
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: This was an interesting book. The writing was in depth and well written. This is a story of Daisy from the time of birth to her death. The thing I liked about this book was it was written not only from Daisy's perception, but from the people around her's perception. How she touched each of their lives, what kind of an impact she made on the world, and how the circumstances of her life impacted her. It makes me think of when I die, the things I'll have wished for, the impact I may have had, and if I'm really ready to die. The author does a fascinating job of weaving the characters in and out of Daisy's life.
The thing that made this a 3 star only was it didn't "engage" me, I like being entertained, and this book was thought provoking, well written but not entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Pulitzer Prize?
Review: Personally, I'm not sure how this book won a Pulitzer Prize, it makes me curious as to the qualifications for this award, who's giving out these awards and the quality of the books that wear it. The protagonist in this novel is also an omnipotent narrator which makes for an intriguing storytelling when used consistently but the early mix of first person and third person gets muddied in the middle. There's a documentarian quality to the novel which I thoroughly enjoyed but there's a serious lack of extrapolation in the characters that Shields has created. There was a certain kind of mediocrity in these peoples' lives disguised and dressed up to be moderately individualistic. This book was a disappointment. I prefer characters that are more flawed, more complex, and not so polished with a moralistic rag. "The Stone Diaries" offered up some of these elements but it was as though Shields didn't want to trouble the reader with chewable characterization but instead how these characters "suffer" through their tedious "lives."
Rating:
Summary: Quiet Poetry
Review: It's sad when it takes the death of an author to bring her work to my attention. Carol Shields recent passing, and the accolades by some of my favorite authors about her writing inspired me to select one book of hers to read. Fortunately, I picked the Stone Diaries, and simply could not put it down until the last memorable word. Shields picks the most unlikely person to feature in a fictional book, Daisy Stone, whose life is mundane if not predictable. After an incredible birth and beginning, we travel with her through different years of her life, somewhat seemingly picked randomly. As we read each chapter, and witness the unveiling of her life, we begin to appreciate and realize that Daisy's life isn't extraordinary, but plain and common. What is extraordinary is that Shields chooses to give a character like Daisy this incredible voice. Underrepresented in literature, women like these exist, they exist yesterday and will exist tomorrow. Sure, they have moments of brightness in their lives, in which we see in Daisy, but it never goes over the top. What amazed me about this book was Shields extremely fluid writing style allows you to flow through this story as if it were unfolding before your very eyes. She allows different characters to pick up the story line, and share their viewpoints. Sometimes we hear Daisy, sometimes we hear a third person narrator. Sometimes we aren't even privy to who is speaking. Shields takes amazing leaps in her writing, trusting her reader to make those connections. I'm saddened by the loss of Carol Shields, but gladdened to know that she's left gifts of literature to discover. In the meantime, if you want a broad, amazing story, pick up Stone Diaries.
Rating:
Summary: One of Canada's Best Authors
Review: This book spans the life of Daisy Goodwill, from her birth in Manitoba to her journey with her father to Indiana, throughout her years as a wife, mother, and widow. The novel opens dramatically with her birth in 1905, continuing with her childhood in 1916, her first marriage in 1927, then to raising her children in 1947, and to her career as a columnist from 1955-1964, and then to retirement in 1977. The family tree, photos, and letters add to the realism and the book feels biographical. Daisy is an ordinary woman, but she has a story worth telling. Her story is about the human condition and life's meanings. Shields writes with wit, intelligent, and great insight, weaving Daisy's simple life into a great tale about women and life's deeper meanings. You are left wanting more when the novel is done. Shields has captured the life of a woman who seems so complicated, and yet when read against the culture she lived in and with the insight we are given, she is complicated beyond being able to completely be sure we've got her character down.
Rating:
Summary: Unique and interesting story
Review: What a unique format - an fictionalized autobiography all the way down to "family" photos included! That part really impressed me. The story was interesting and grabbed me from the start - I like the way the author broke the book up into parts of life, i.e. "Birth", "Marriage", etc and the reader was able to figure out what happened to the missing years in between based on what was happening to Daisy in the current chapter. I would recommend this book and am looking forward to reading some of Ms. Shields' other books.
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