by Carol Shields
Pretty much the first thing that will strike any attentive reader about this novel is that the author is doing something odd with the narrative voice. It seems to be Daisy Goodwill Flett narrating her life, but then again how could it be, since she is narrating things she could not have known? And t...
This book grew on me--at first appearing distant in how it treated its subject, Daisy Goodwill Flett, but ultimately moving and singular. The chapters in the table of contents tip you off you'll be reading about a life entire: Birth - 1905; Childhood - 1916; Marriage - 1927; Love - 1937; Motherhood ...
I was just as baffled as poor Daisy.
I expected this to be dull, and embraced it with the gratitude the reader feels when the book turns out not to be dull at all. There were many elements I liked, beginning with the rare first-person omniscient point of view, making this a ‘fictitious autobiography.’ Usually you have to be dead (as in...
Ho hum. I have heard of this book and seen lots of references and so it was put on my list. Overall there was some good, some bad but nothing really striking. I think the best part is that the protagonist was born in 1905 and so we get to see (as a reader) a bunch of historical change throughout ...
A great tale, very originally told. Shields made some very creative choices with the narrative here and it makes this a very touching novel. The book takes you quite simply but beautifully from the birth to death of Daisy Goodwill. Through her fantastic writing Shields takes an ordinary life and mak...
This beautifully written book defies classification. Is it the story of an ordinary woman living through extraordinary events, or an extraordinary woman living through ordinary events? Daisy Goodwill reflects on her birth (Manitoba, 1905) and her death (Florida, 199?) and everything in between. Some...
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