The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

I buckled down this weekend and finished up The Stone Diaries. This one was for a reading group and discussion starts today, so whew, just in time! Carol Shields won the Pulitzer for this in 1995. It's a fairly short book, just over 300 pages. I read it quickly, the writing flows well. It's written in a mix of perspectives, which at times jarred me out of the story, but overall works well. Each chapter of the book is about a time in her life- Birth, Childhood, Marriage, etc. There are large chunks of time you only hear about later.

Here's the summary:

This fictionalized autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett, captured in Daisy's vivacious yet reflective voice, has been winning over readers since its publication in 1995, when it won the Pulitzer Prize. After a youth marked by sudden death and loss, Daisy escapes into conventionality as a middle-class wife and mother. Years later she becomes a successful garden columnist and experiences the kind of awakening that thousands of her contemporaries in mid-century yearned for but missed in alcoholism, marital infidelity and bridge clubs. The events of Daisy's life, however, are less compelling than her rich, vividly described inner life--from her memories of her adoptive mother to her awareness of impending death. Shields' sensuous prose and her deft characterizations make this, her sixth novel, her most successful yet.

Sounds great, huh? Once again, I was not in love with it. It's oddly compelling. I wanted to keep reading, but I can't say that I loved Daisy, or even really liked her. I was indifferent. I liked the way little facts about the rest of the characters would pop up with no real explanation (why did Alice move to England, anyway?) I'm not sorry I read the book, it was quick, and hey, it won a Pulitzer, but it won't ever be a favorite. Discussion starts today on it, perhaps I'll have a big revelation and suddenly love it.