Carol Shields | The Chapel

Alright…so, I have been introduced to and entered into the lives of the Nadeau librarian, Rose ; Sarah, the feminist writer; Morton, Mary Swann’s biographer; and Frederic, the retired journalist and publisher who publishes Swann’s only book. I related with Sarah’s meticulous and thoughtful writing of letters. I suffered for Rose whose dedication goes unnoticed and suffers so quietly on her own. I admired Frederic’s love for his wife, Hilde, and fell in love with Hilde’s independence within the relationship. I hurt for Morton who falls in love with illusions. I have spent so much time with these characters that they are real to me. And now…I find myself at the symposium where all four lives will collide. The final chapter is written in the format of a movie script. Just last night, I was given the setting and today I’m on to the script. Intrigued…

From what I’ve read of others, this is Carol Shield’s weak point with this novel. I am just happy that Mary Swann’s life will be honoured to some extent because, although completely absent from this book, her poetry has created a consistent link with the four characters’ motivations.

Blood pronounces my name
Blisters the day with shame
Spends what little I own,
Robbing the hour, rubbing the bone.

I am delighting in this book and feel consistently impressed by Carol Shields, her writing and her way of living life. She contributed so much to our world by celebrating the common person, particularly shedding light on the every day thoughts and efforts of ordinary women.

Go for long walks,
indulge in hot baths,
question your assumptions,
be kind to yourself,
live for the moment,
loosen up,
scream,
curse the world,
count your blessings,
just let go,
just be.
Carol Shields

Swann by Carol Shields

I’m engrossed in the novel, Swann by Carol Shields and because I am, it is moving slowly. I am eating up and treasuring every single word, especially where the character development is involved. In fact, the characters are so real to me that one day I found myself doing an internet search for the poet, Mary Swann. She is so elusive and Shields writes Mary’s life as an isolated woman in rural Canada, so believably. Mary Swann is someone the reader wants to know, especially as bits and pieces of her memory disappear…a journal…a dictionary…a photograph. For me these become symbols of her tragic and brutal ending. What motivates Mary to write? Where does she find the words? Poignant. Nostalgic. I absolutely celebrate the act of turning on my reading light, pulling up the covers and spending time with a good book!

Maggie Kawalerczak reviews Swann here…I think she is ‘bang on’ with this particular review. I chuckled as I read, In fact, if I may generalize, there is certain “Canadianness” to the material. This, I believe to be an accurate assessment of this ‘mystery’. I am consistently drawn to Canadian content and respond to regional settings (landscapes I know so well), the sorts of characters that reside in these settings and that particular style/expression of Canadian authors and their words. What is that particularity? The same goes for Canadian film, doesn’t it?

Mary Swann, herself, is an enigma. I am captivated by this book!

There was a patter of rain on the roof late last night after I had turned in. It has rained every night since coming to the cottage, but contrary to what one might think, it has become a welcome and calming sound…the rain and wind. By morning the sea breezes have dried the generous circle of deck and I step out, with arms wide open, thinking that yet again, I am queen for the day!

I pull the three homemade quilts up close to my chest. I fluff and organize against the wooden headboard, my four pillows, their covers neatly edged with stitchery of one kind or another. The sheets and pillows both feel like cool soft butter.

There is a warm light emitted from the lamp at my bedside and I read until I finish A Box Garden by Carol Shields. Charleen is not the best of protagonists for me. Carol Shields was a master of character-writing, but I fall in love with Charleen’s mother. There is nothing better for women-readers than a Shields novel, even when less-widely read. Given my present setting, the feeling of this place and the fact that I was holding in my hands a yellowed second hand book…and read it in one evening, just contributes to how well I will remember and love the book. Sometimes what makes a book glorious is as much the experience of the book-reading as the story itself.

I love Brother Adam of the Priory…the one who writes the letters to Charleen. I like that he writes to her and I like that he sends her the box garden. I don’t like him so much for who he has been or becomes, but because of his love for grass growing, the great and wondrous expanse of green and what it does for the spirit. Grass is used also in Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. I remember and continue to treasure those chapters. Shield’s book brings that back for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlYAhSffEDM

The Chapel

…a place where MAGIC happens!

Tag Archives: Carol Shields

The Symposium: Swann

Swann by Carol Shields

The Box Garden by Carol Shields