The Stone Diaries

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: Just because a book has won a Pulitzer (like this one) is no guarantee that I'll like it. In fact, I often steer clear of books that have won major awards; it seems that they rarely live up to the hype.
The Stone Diaries is an exception. THis book is worth reading just to experience Shields' prose style. Her voice is like no one else's: incredibly self-assured and intelligent without ever seeming pretentious. She uses words many writers have probably never even heard of (keep your dictionary handy) while managing to keep her work lively and readable.
This is "experimental" fiction (another thing I usually avoid, but again, The Stone Diaries is an exception). At first, the novel seems to have a conventional plot, but as you read, you'll find your expectations are constantly subverted-- one of the great pleasures of this book. In the end, you'll find the book has challenged more than your views about fiction. You may find yourself questioning much deeper beliefs, perhaps asking, along with the protagonist, Daisy Goodwill: "What is the story of a life?".
Like all great novels, this one deals in existential topics. What is life really about? Why are we here? What does an individual life --that seemingly random sequence of events-- really amount to? And, like the masterpiece it is, this book will disturb your mind with questions, without offering easy answers.
If you're looking for a quick read at the airport or the beauty salon, this is not the book for you. But if you appreciate exquisite writing that makes you ponder deeper truths, try the Stone Diaries.

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: Wow...
Review: Written as an autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett, whose mother's death at the moment of Daisy's birth makes for the most gripping opening scene I've ever read, The Stone Diaries is superb from beginning to end. Just read those 20 or so pages, and you'll be hooked for the rest of the book.
Carol Shields won the Pulitzer for this novel, a creative and highly original style of narrative that many others have tried unsuccessfully to duplicate. Stone Diaries wanders all the way through Daisy's rather extraordinary life, both her on-the-surface role as daughter, wife, and mother as well as her rich and vividly-described inner life. When you reluctantly come to the end, you'll probably sit back as I did, stare into space, and just sigh, "Wow..."

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.