Review of The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields was written in the 1990s and tracks a female character’s life over the course of the closing century. The result is partly Daisy’s autobiography and partly her biography, as the narrators often change and we gain differing insights into her character, sometimes even through letters. It begs the questions: can any of us really know who we are – and can biographers ever be truly objective?
Many key moments in her life (courtship, education, childbirth etc) are ignored and instead, we have a series of snapshots that build up a hazy picture of Daisy, who becomes the tragic widow, Mrs X (no spoilers!) and then Grandma X, as her personality is subsumed into the roles expected of her. Daisy is the subject of the book, yet also somehow on the periphery. The circumstances of her birth lead to a loneliness, a lack of identity that she never escapes.
There are plenty of lighter moments, often involving her best friends, who are too ladylike to curse, so exclaim things like “HE double toothpicks!” (Get it?)
If you like fast-moving, plot-driven books, this probably isn’t for you. If you enjoy character observation and descriptive writing, maybe give it a try.
Unfortunately, the heat prevented us from meeting up, but I was able to glean responses by phone. From the 8 of us, we had three very positive responses, another didn’t finish it and the rest liked it to varying degrees but felt it was a bit too “wordy” and the switching of narrators and locations was confusing.
Our next meeting will be on July 29th at 2 p.m. when we will be discussing Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore, set in 1917 in Cornwall to where DH Lawrence has fled to sit out the war with his German wife and to escape the furore following the banning of his book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.