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A review by iriswindmeijer
Unless by Carol Shields
4.0
Shields' "Unless" impressed me. She describes the complexities of ordinary life with a very sharp eye, observant and detailed. I was impressed with her writing style. Shields' wisdom and reflection felt genuine, this is not l'art pour l'art, this is about the extraordinary events of ordinary life. But it is not just life what is passing by, it is also fiction involved in life. Fiction about her sequel, Shields wrote about the process of writing. But more importantly, Shields wrote about the invisible women that write.
Virginia Woolf once said "For most of history, Anonymous was a woman". But Shields challenged this idea, her women are not anonymous, but they are invisible. She talks about the world being split in two, the uncoded otherness. She is right, women are still invisible in the literary canon, with some exceptions. And this idea is still applicable, even though this novel is over ten years old. Unless we do something about it.
The final chapter felt like she really was rounding off the novel. It had a message; the importance to ask. Ask what happened, ask about someone's life. Maybe that is something we have forgotten over time, we do not ask, we conclude.
I really recommend reading this book.
Virginia Woolf once said "For most of history, Anonymous was a woman". But Shields challenged this idea, her women are not anonymous, but they are invisible. She talks about the world being split in two, the uncoded otherness. She is right, women are still invisible in the literary canon, with some exceptions. And this idea is still applicable, even though this novel is over ten years old. Unless we do something about it.
The final chapter felt like she really was rounding off the novel. It had a message; the importance to ask. Ask what happened, ask about someone's life. Maybe that is something we have forgotten over time, we do not ask, we conclude.
I really recommend reading this book.