A review by thebacklistborrower
Unless by Carol Shields

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

You won’t see many of my favourite books on Bookstagram because I just don’t know how to write reviews of them. How do I tell others that this book changed my life without sounding trite? So all my favourite books -- Tamora Pierce, In the Slender Margin, Unless -- all are missing from this feed. Until today! I’ve already spoken about my experience uncovering the women’s rage in Unless, but never a review. 

Unless is the story of Reta Winters, a writer of “women’s fiction”, who seemed to live a perfect life, until her daughter Norah quits college to live on a Toronto street corner with only a sign that says “Goodness”. The book is Reta’s internal monologue as she deals with the trials of her life, as a woman, as a writer, as a woman writer of women’s fiction, and struggling to figure out what to do about Norah.

Page by page, this book had feelings and scenes that I have never read in a book before. I copied out full pages of quotes of Norah’s reflections on sexism, and male privilege, and her own rage at the world that denigrates her and her work. What I found most interesting was the ongoing thread of figuring out what happened to Norah. All of Reta’s friends and family had their own theories, projected from their own insecurities, and the reader is invited to consider the same-- what would make you give up your life?

Secondly, Reta’s denigration as a “woman writer writing about a woman who writes” was not taken lightly. While she stays silent, the book is full of internal monologue that shouts “SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” at a misogynist male reviewer she meets for coffee, sarcastic, mean comments that she only wishes to speak aloud, and looks that any woman knows how to make but few men know how to see. I saw myself in this book, and I think many women would. 

I think this was the second book I read this year. It has not been surpassed by any other book, and I don’t expect it to be. If you’re looking for a sharp, interesting, feminist read, you won’t go wrong with Unless.