The Stone Diaries

I guess I expected more out of a Pulitzer Prize winner. It didn't take my breath away (as did [b:Tinkers|8841028|tinkers|Paul Harding|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|13715812]); The Stone Diaries wasn't awful, but I didn't find it "distinguished."

One feature of this book is the narrator's voice. The life of Daisy Goodwill Flett is told primarily in the third person, but in a few instances, Daisy sneaks in a first-person comment and we find that it's Daisy herself who is telling the story. One (very good) chapter is told completely in correspondence to Daisy--we never see her letters, only those addressed to her. Oddly, for an autobiographical account, we are left to reconstruct events without hearing from the narrator, and I found the section very compelling.

In keeping with the title, some characters have an affinity for rocks (one is a stonecutter; another builds a miniature pyramid). Other people are interested in plants. The "rock" folks are "dense, heavy" (page 135), but one-dimensional. The "plant" people grow, blossom, and then die. Pretty blunt symbolism. Which is Daisy? Well, her name and interests tag her as a "plant" person but her personality is "rock."

The book includes Daisy's family tree and photographs of various family members. (In an interview, Carol Shields noted that the photos of Daisy's grandchildren are of her own children.) One problem with family trees is that they show only "official" relatives. The family tree format does Daisy a disservice by excluding her virtual sisters, her friends Fraidy and Beans. These chums are Daisy's only peers in the story. Daisy seemed the most "herself" with these two...or perhaps I'm bringing my own friendships into the equation!

I guess I expected more out of a Pulitzer Prize winner. It didn't take my breath away (as did [b:Tinkers|8841028|tinkers|Paul Harding|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|13715812]); The Stone Diaries wasn't awful, but I didn't find it "distinguished."

One feature of this book is the narrator's voice. The life of Daisy Goodwill Flett is told primarily in the third person, but in a few instances, Daisy sneaks in a first-person comment and we find that it's Daisy herself who is telling the story. One (very good) chapter is told completely in correspondence to Daisy--we never see her letters, only those addressed to her. Oddly, for an autobiographical account, we are left to reconstruct events without hearing from the narrator, and I found the section very compelling.

In keeping with the title, some characters have an affinity for rocks (one is a stonecutter; another builds a miniature pyramid). Other people are interested in plants. The "rock" folks are "dense, heavy" (page 135), but one-dimensional. The "plant" people grow, blossom, and then die. Pretty blunt symbolism. Which is Daisy? Well, her name and interests tag her as a "plant" person but her personality is "rock."

The book includes Daisy's family tree and photographs of various family members. (In an interview, Carol Shields noted that the photos of Daisy's grandchildren are of her own children.) One problem with family trees is that they show only "official" relatives. The family tree format does Daisy a disservice by excluding her virtual sisters, her friends Fraidy and Beans. These chums are Daisy's only peers in the story. Daisy seemed the most "herself" with these two...or perhaps I'm bringing my own friendships into the equation!