Unless

A Novel

By: Carol Shields

Narrated by: Joan Allen

For all of her days, Reta Winters has enjoyed the useful monotony of happiness: a loving family, good friends, growing success as a writer of light fiction, novels 'for summertime.' This placid existence cracks open one fearful day when her beloved oldest daughter, Norah, drops out of life to sit on a gritty street corner, silent but for the sign around her neck that reads 'GOODNESS.' Reta's search for what drove her daughter to such a desperate statement turns into an unflinching and surprisingly funny meditation on where we find meaning and hope.

Warmth, passion and wisdom come together in Carol Shields' remarkably supple prose. Unless, a harrowing but ultimately consoling story of one family's anguish and healing, proves her mastery of extraordinary fictions about ordinary life.

Very enjoyable

This was a very gentle book with an underlying sadness over the choices of the oldest daughter. The unfailing love of her parents and sisters allows her to return in the end.

Production issues

Decidedly, I am a fan of Carol Shields. This novel even has a bonus layer, a view into the protagonist's life as a writer and her process which I found illuminating.

But unfortunately I can only give three stars because of production issues. While Shields' precise and descriptive grasp of the moment and development of images never fail to deliver, the narration in "Unless" is uneven, starting out crisp and clear at each chapter's beginning and then fading away as the section progresses. I found myself having to constantly adjust the volume on long commutes. Additionally the narrator's voice seemed occluded, as though she'd swallowed a frog.

And then there is the issue of the background music which I thought was intrusive. I sometimes fall asleep during a listen - no, not while driving, although I did take a wrong exit once - and the too-loud piano interludes kept jolting me awake and ruining my nap!

So, to conclude, excellent book, mediocre listen.

Too many stories within the book

Story was confusing, changing focus without context. Reader spoke too fast and not clearly. I actually has to reduce speed to 90%. Not Shields best.

Really bad

Very disjointed and hard to follow. The prior sentence is all I wanted to say. I’m being required to write 15 words here.

Eh

I wasn’t expecting this to be almost entirely just the internal monologue of a boomer mom freaked out because her daughter decided to live on the street. It would have been more interesting if there was more interaction between her and the daughter.
I decided I didn’t want to finish it so I skipped ahead to the end because I wanted to know why the daughter chose to live on the street. I won’t post a spoiler but I will say the reason had me scratching my head. I feel like I fundamentally missed the point of this book.