Reviews

A great book that was likely very ahead of it's time in 1995. It was kind of strange that there were photos included - as it made me think it was a true story, but it was not. Really really enjoyed it!

team_worm's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

There were parts of this novel that moved me — particularly the epistolary gardening section — and the prose was in places extraordinary, but on the whole I think I missed the point.

lelia_t's review against another edition

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4.0

I read this about 25 years ago and it left only the vaguest impression. I thought the vagueness was because I was young - and that might have been part of it - but now I see that it’s also because this book is vague. It’s about Daisy Goodwill Flett’s life, but we never quite know who’s narrating despite occasional first-person moments. We follow Daisy and then veer off along the rabbit trail of another character's life and motivations, and then meet up with Daisy again. Most, but not all, major life events - birth, marriage, death - happen offstage. We often get multiple characters’ viewpoints about a single event and much of the narrative is made up of the judgements and opinions others have about Daisy.
Yet the book is deeply engaging. I loved reading it again. And I suppose the question the book explores is the one that’s asked towards the end: “What is the story of a life? A chronicle of fact or a skillfully wrought impression?” By the end we realize Daisy is all of it - the varying impressions others have of her, the work she did, the skills she gathered, the books she read, the meals she cooked, the clubs she belonged to, her moods and silences, laughter and happiness, the things unsaid or misunderstood. It’s just that very little of it leaves a clear, indelible mark, and all is subject to interpretation by others.

rj42's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The Stone Diaries pulls off a feat that may well be unique in contemporary literature - to take a single life and follow that individual through the decades, looking at their relationships, the influence they had on their world and their internal dialogues. Shields’ genius is to zoom in and out of Daisy, her central character - one moment we are considering her gardening columns or her recipes, the next we are considering the death of one of the people closest to her. There is never too much detail but also never too little. It captures the tiny heartbreaks of life with breathtaking clarity; Shields can write a sentence with just the same punch as a peer like John Updike, but her perspectives are very different to his. Only a sub-plot about Daisy’s father in law, which stretched credulity, slightly punctures the realism of this incredible achievement, but that is a minor quibble.

angelamichelle's review against another edition

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5.0

I’ve read this at least twice before, first right when it came out in 1995. This has always been in my mind as the kind of book I want to write. One that honestly looks at the life of a commonplace woman.

Before the chapter “Marriage” loomed largest in my mind. The very first chapter is just a flawless gem. The whole thing like a poem. This time, the last chapter stood out to me most.

alexlaurelhoffman's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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