Carol Shields is a wonderful writer whose prose is hauntingly simple. Unless was shortlisted for both the Booker and the Orange prizes.

It is the story of an ordinary woman whose outlook is affected by her daughter's seemingly inexplicable behaviour, yet who remains essentially sane if a bit fraught. Reta is so ordinary that it acts as a reminder that it can be extraordinary for each of us to just try and live life. A writer of "light fiction", Reta starts to wonder whether the ongoing male domination of life in the Western world is to blame for her daughter's personality change. She explores this theme in a variety of different written forms including a series of sarcastic, increasingly emotional, yet witty, letters. These outbursts are tucked away within the narrative, which tells an everyday tale of family life, centred around the everyday stress of worry for a wayward child.

This is a second copy bought for bookcrossing; I've organised a bookray for it as it seems to be on plenty of wishlists (and is well worth reading). PM me with your shipping preferences if you'd like to join and I'll add you to the list.

Book ray
rascalapache, Norwich, Norfolk, UK - arrived 13 October 2005
Xanthe-pup, Cardiff, Wales - arrived 07 November 2005
bookmaniac70, Sofia, Bulgaria - arrived 14 December 2005
Ikopiko, Hesel, Niedersachsen, Germany - arrived 31 December 2005
wolfprincess, Newton Falls, Ohio, USA - arrived 23 June 2006
Sherria, Westport, Connecticut, USA - arrived 15 October 2006
Miss-Owl, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (international) - arrived 23 February 2007
Book ray complete!


Please could you all do four things for me:

1. Make a quick journal entry when you receive the book.
2. Read and send on within four weeks - or make a journal entry to let us know how you're getting on if you need longer.
3. Make a journal entry when you've finished.
4. Feel free to use the cheapest method of shipping available.

And, enjoy the book!

I've packaged this up ready to send to rascalapache - I'll pop out to the Post Office later today. Happy reading, everyone.

Received from Nell-Lu this morning. Thank you, I look forward to reading it.

A beautifully written meditation on the trials and tribulations of a Canadian author and her family. I look forward to reading more of this author. Cheers Nell-Lu. On its way to Xanthe-pup today.

Received today. Haven't read any Carol Shields for ages, so I'm looking forward to this.

The start of this book struck me as quite down-beat and introspective, and I waited for it to get lighter - but it never did. This seems to me to be a novel about creeping sadness - the kind we have all experienced at one time or another, however momentarily. The sense that it is just all too much, that the world is pressing down on us and it is all hopeless - yet still we carry on.

Reta Winters' daughter suddenly decides to remove herself from her family and from 'normal' life, without offering any explanation. Reta tries to find a reason for this, and many of the answers she comes up with reflect her own life more than that of her daughter. The entire novel is unusually centered on Reta, with the other characters, including her daughter, being very incidental.

At times this book left me feeling weary - but it also highlighted just how self-perpetuating these thoughts and feelings are. An excellent book, true to life and very thought provoking.

Thanks for sharing this, Nell-Lu. It will be on its way to bookmaniac70 this weekend.

Posted to bookmaniac70 today.

The book arrived in Sofia. I`m finishing a book from another ring and then will start reading this oen.Thanks for sending!

Started reading.

If we look at this novel through the eyes of Reta,then everything comes to its place. It`s a book of self-reflection,quite centered around the main character. Personally to me the emphasis on male world oppression sounded a bit exaggerated but then I reminded myself that this was how Reta was feeling. A very well written chronicle of hard times and crisis.Reta Winters keeps herself suprisingly sane. Only her letters reveal the extend to which she is worried.I think she blames the world for hurting her daughter.She tries to make a reason of it.Luckily,Norah returns slowly to her family and her wounds begin to heal.I liked the surprise when I learnt where did Norah get her burnings from. It was a powerful turn.

This book reasserted my good opinion of Carol Shields. Thank you for sharing!

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to Ikopiko.

Thanks for this ring. It reached me the last day of 2005 !

And thanks for the nice postcard !!!

10.05.2006
My first book from the autor. Can now travel home. Thanks for this bookring !

RELEASE NOTES:

This book will travel to wolfprincess today.

the book arrived today. I have a couple in front of this one and will start it after I read them.

I have had quite a few books to read before this one and I just got to it but for some reason I just could not get into it like i wanted to. I just feel that I am not in the reading stadge feel for this type of book right now. I am sorry but I will try and read this one some other time to see if it was just my feel why I could not read it. When I get teh next persons address i will get the book in the mail on my normal post office run day.

Arrived safe and sound. Will read and review shortly. Thanks for passing it on wolfprincess!

Carol Shields' writing always seems to catch me up emotionally and this book was no different. I felt Reta's emotions as she examined her life and the world around her in the light of her daughter's withdrawl from society. I experienced her heart break, her frustration, her anger and her hope. Carol Shields allows me to live inside her characters for a brief time and because of this her books have a powerful effect on me.

Unless was a story of ordinary people with ordinary lives told in an extraordinary voice. Thank you for sharing it with me Nell-Lu, and thanks to wolfprincess for passing it on to me. I have miss-owl's address and will send it on to her tomorrow. Hopefully it will be there by the time she returns from her European vacation. :)

Good gracious! Yes, I'm definitely back from my European vacation... this book has taken its sweet leisurely ol' time!

It's good to see I'm the last in the ray 'cause I'm in the midst of a bookflood at the moment. My local post office somehow blocked up during the entire month of January (my school holidays - critical reading time) & I'm still steadily working through five bookrings as a result.

Have heard wonderful things about Carold Shields & am looking forward to discovering them for myself. Thanks to Sherria for sending & to Nell-Lu for your generosity!

This was my first introduction to Carol Shields and I was really impressed with her ability to express the ineffable (and for me, fleeting) introspections that dot our mental landscapes. I agree with others in finding the gender divide issue a little over-exaggerated or overdidactic, but then again it was Reta's perspective and who knows? Perhaps I am so brainwashed I just can't see it myself :)

Carol Shields quite amazed me in the way she brought Reta to life. In the intricacy of her thoughts and doubts, her professional quibbles and her personal quavers, I really felt like she existed. I didn't always agree with her or like her, but she was nevertheless always fleshly and real.

I'll bring this to the next Sydney meetup I go too - it seems like the kind of quality reading that would get taken home. Thank you once again to Nell-Lu for sharing!

I was originally going to reserve this book for a Sydney meetup, but it's been a while since I've attended (I keep picking up more books than I take, and then they just pile up on Mount Toobie!). I've decided to send this book on a little ring in the meantime.

Participants to date:
* davemurray101 (Australia)
* Withoutwings (US)
* Nikel27 (Germany)
* tootshelling (Germany)
* bearyfriend (Singapore)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed off to davemurray101 - finally!

Thanks for your patience in getting this ring started... work has been horrendous & I just haven't been able to get to a post office in time lately.

Happy reading!

Recieved in the mail today. Thanks Miss Owl - can't wait to read it. Pming withoutwings to find out where to send it next.

Just finished Unless. It was okay. Generally novels with the main characters as Novel writers are very irritating. However its portrayal of family life was great and portrayed the problem of post traumatic stress in a realistic manner. Also liked the out of context letters to writers and editors paying a few people out. Not sure if it justified a place in the 1001 books, but a good read all the same. PMed withoutwings and will send on as soon as I get the address.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

In the post. On its way to withoutwings.

I recieved the book. I have a couple rings ahead of it but I will read it and get it out as quickly as possible.