Rating: 
Summary: Stone Diaries
Review: This is a beautifully written book. It is the story of a woman over a period of more than seventy years. This story of an
ordinary life was very interesting. In addition, I found that I cared about the people in the story. It is not at all sugary sweet .
Rating: 
Summary: One of My Favourites
Review: This book a masterpiece, as it is successful on every level. On an emotional level, the character of Daisy Goodwill is so real and easy for readers to relate to that you will find yourself wishing you could meet her. Shields' skill as a writer is seen in the way she gives an in-depth look into Daisy's personality and plight, but enough mystery is left that you are left always wanting more. Shields builds on the story gradually, and weaves the historical aspects of the novel to build on the plot. This novel is refreshingly different and no doubt destined to be a classic.
Rating:
Summary: An Autobiography of Everywoman
Review: I made a huge mistake when I was reading this novel. I dismissed it because of the simple vernacular Shields employed. After all, it is a diary about a very ordinary woman who tells her story in a very structured manner: Birth, Marriage, Love, Sorrow etc..Daisy Goodwill lived a life demarcated by these significant events. Given a chance to tell her story, most women would adopt this familiar structure. The punchline that Shields is able to deliver so unobtrusively is that in hindsight, all these women, like the wonderful Daisy, will wonder whether she had existed at all, to have touched earth, and transform it beyond her very mortal and very chronologically ordered life. Half-way through this novel, I started to recognise Shields' cunning brilliance. She has created this intricate fictional biography that includes photos of the fictional characters (some she lifted from her real family, with permission). Despite these details, Daisy seems to have disappeared from the narrative, even though she is officially the narrator. Much of what we know about Daisy are from newspaper clippings (announcements of marriage, deaths), letters of correspondence or perspectives given by her children and close friends, but Daisy, she never truly fades as we wondered whether she existed at all. Daisy is an intangible woman who is trying to make herself real by telling her story but is defeated at the end. Shields' brilliance as a writer is that she is able to occlude the narrator from us while we are reading her life story. All through it, I had assumed that Daisy Goodwill's autobiography was called Stone Diaries because her mother was called Mercy Stone. There is a section in the novel that tells the building of a monument, a memorial built in grief for a beloved, that is made up of stones, but without any cement. It is created to rest upon itself and to hold itself together without adhesion. This is a monument of Daisy's life - built from fragments but with structural and emotional gaps in the narrative. We are never really privy of Daisy's inner life, this character does not adhere to our memories as she never really comes to life. I read this novel when my grandmother fell into a deep depression. She went to bed and relinquished herself to sorrow. She reminded me of Daisy's section on sorrow. I realised then that I didn't really know my grandmother and that the source of her sadness will only be speculation to us. Finally, I wondered whether she felt like Daisy and so many women of her generation (and even mine) - that she has disappeared from her own life, her own story. Perhaps that is why she is grieving. I recommend this novel because it is a fantastic study in writing. We often get fooled by aesthetic. That is, to write a critically acclaimed novel, one must have an epic scope and a mastery of poetry. Misconceptions! Shields is a fine example of how to say something profound by articulating it with simplicity. She is a philosopher-writer, an everywoman, and my admiration of her writing grows with every novel.
Rating:
Summary: An ordinary woman's extraordinary life
Review: In many ways, Daisy Goodwill Flett lived an ordinary life. She went to school, had two great girlfriends, got married, raised a family, retired to Florida as a widower, and died after a long illness at a convalescence home. Many things occurred during Daisy's life which make you realize that every life contains extraordinary chapters that are not shared with the outside world. In Daisy's case, her own children never knew that she had been married prior to marrying their father, and that her husband died by falling drunk off a balcony during their honeymoon. The first chapter of this book is narrated by Daisy. The rest are narrated in the third person, and chronicle events rather than feelings. This was intentional; the author focused on life's events rather than feelings. By doing so, we never get a clear sense of Daisy's personality. This sense of disconnection from Daisy's thoughts is furthered by the absence of a photograph of Daisy, even while there are photos of Daisy's children, friends, husbands and grandchildren. So who is Daisy? Daisy is defined by what happens to her, rather than what she is like as a person...as we all are. Daisy's mother died in childbirth. Daisy's father built a monument as tribute to her mother. Daisy's husband died on their honeymoon. Daisy became Ms. Green Thumb, the author of a newspaper column on gardening. We are told who Daisy is through a collection of letters, diary entries, and opinions by others, but not by Daisy herself. Only on her deathbed do we get a true sense of what Daisy thinks. The author seems to be saying that once we are forced to stop and sit still, and quit occupying our time with the mundane details of daily life, we finally allow ourselves to contemplate our own selves. Near Daisy's death we finally learn how Daisy has ached her whole life for a family, how akward she felt with even her second husband, the supposed love of her life. This was an extremely creative literary effort by the author. It really made me consider how much time we waste, and how little we know about the ones we truly love. We truly define ourselves and others by actions, rather than personalities, ideas, or feelings. The sense of disconnection between Daisy and the reader, however, would not induce me to read this novel again. It is what people believe and feel that makes them interesting characters. Like her children, readers never really know Daisy.
Rating:
Summary: The Main Character Disappears from her own Life Story
Review: From the moment that I stepped inside the world in this book, I could understand why it received the Pulitzer prize. I stepped right into Mercy Goodwell's kitchen and couldn't wait for her Malvern pudding to be done so that I could try it. I wanted to be one of the tourists looking at the tower that newly wed Cuyley Goodwill built to memorialize his wife. I wanted to touch the intricately and lovingly carved pictures and words on the stones of the tower. THE STONE DIARIES is the story of the life of Daisy Goodwill. The first chapter is told in first-person in Daisy's own words. But the rest of the story (although told in third-person) seems to be written by her as well. Every person in the life of Daisy Goodwell is three-dimensional; you can almost reach out and touch them. Daisy, however, is the very person that she dreads becoming -- a person remembered for what happened TO her rather than WHO she is. The explanation would go something like this: "Daisy Goodwell? You remember her. Don't you? She's the one who's mother didn't know she was pregnant and died in childbirth. And her first husband was tragically killed on their honeymoon." Upon finishing the book, you feel that you know ABOUT Daisy, but you really don't seem to know HER. The author has been so kind as to supply black and white photographs of all the other characters in the book. But where's Daisy? Is she the person on the front cover? You can tell from the table of contents that this is going to be the story of the life -- from birth to death -- of Daisy Goodwell. Carol Shields shows her genius, however, by making the main character disappear from her own life story! And that Is the plot: the life of Daisy Goodwell and her absence therein. I read this book over the course of one day. It was extremely satisfying. I look forward to reading more books by this author.
Rating: 
Summary: Unmitigated Boredom
Review: I am sorry to report that I found this Pulitzer Prize-winning book to be hours and hours of unmitigated boredom. I cannot imagine what the Prize committee was thinking. It was every bit as bad at "The Hours," another prize-winning book not worth the time to read.
Rating:
Summary: This just didn't capture my attention
Review: I was not very interested in the story until about halfway through. For a few chapters it was funny, then it lost my interest again quickly. It jumps around and seems to be written from many different points of view. Could have been much more captivating.
Rating:
Summary: A look at what many lives are about.
Review: If read as a typical novel telling the story of the life of Daisy Goodwill from the perspective of all of the interesting things that happened to her, the reader is bound to be disappointed; after all, Daisy was pretty disappointed too. But that is the point; Daisy's life happens to her rather than she creating it. In telling us Daisy's story, Shields has told us much about ourselves and makes a strong argument for changing how we live. No, this isn't written as a conventional novel and can't be read as one. Much of the time it is not even clear who is talking and the picture of Daisy's life we get is unclear as though seen through gauze with a few holes in it. Personally, I thought the experiment worked but even more, I loved the trip even if it was very disturbing.
Rating: 
Summary: A real yawner...
Review: I think I'll pass on any more "pulitzer" books if this is indicative of what they value. Well-written, but extremely hard to follow, which I don't mind if it's interesting reading. But, sadly, it wasn't and I only got half way through the book (with great difficulty) before giving up. Luckily I borrowed it from the library, so no money lost!
Rating:
Summary: At least I finished it.
Review: A book has to be really terrible for me not to finish it and I did get through it...barely. The writing was creative, but the story was just too nowhere and just strange for me. I didn't care about any of the characters...even Daisy. Not enough story, but a creative telling nonetheless.
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