Group Read - The Stone Diaries (March) - Spoiler Thread

Here's a thread for discussion of The Stone Diaries that includes potential spoilers.

I finished the book late Tuesday night, and I'm still processing my thoughts. One question that occurred to me as I read is what sort of appeal this book would have for male readers. It seems very much women's fiction to me, though much more substantial than chick lit.

I did stumble upon a factual error in the book. My father was in the room with me when I was reading one of the sections set in Bloomington, Indiana. He lived in Bloomington for a few years in the mid to late 50s. I had never heard of Lake Lemon and wasn't sure if it was a real or a fictional lake, so I asked him about it. He said that the lake used to be called something else and was renamed while he lived there in the 1950s. He couldn't remember what it used to be called so he checked Wikipedia. It's a man-made lake that was created in the mid 1950s by the damming of a creek. In the book, Daisy's father and his second wife sell their home in Bloomington and buy a house on Lake Lemon -- in 1947, about a decade before the lake existed!

Interesting! I am about a third? (page 120?) of the way through the book, I have a few books on the go right now. I have a few passages marked to discuss when I am finished. I especially loved the discovery of how 'books were just filled with people'. The language of the book is wonderful, but I do agree that it seems to be to be more geared towards a feminine audience.

I'm just under halfway through and am loving this book. So far, a 5-star read for me!

I finished the book this afternoon. Posted a rather quick bare-bones review over on my challenge thread.

I really liked this one. I found all the characters interesting - no one is a shining star of perfection - and I agree, while this story may appeal to some male readers, I wonder if Shields was gearing this one towards a predominantly female audience? She presents the male characters with insecurities and doubts that may prove uncomfortable for some readers. That being said, Barker, Cuyler and Mangus were solidly presented and there is a balance between the male and female characters so whether this is women's fiction is debatable.

I really loved the whole diary/memoir feel to this story. Yes, it did jump around a bit but overall, but I think that added to the mystery as the story unfolded. I also thought the pictures were a nice touch.

Will be back with some further comments after I have had a chance to digest it.

I'm very much enjoying the book, which I did not expect. Carol Shield's language is lovely!! I'm about 150 pages in. I would agree that the book was targeted at a female audience - I pity the young man in university who might have to read this as part of a Canada Lit course!;)

One thing that got me so far was how Mercy Stone Goodwill was described as such a fat, fat woman -and yet when you look at the picture of Mercy Stone Goodwill - I thought she merely looked sturdy. And I weigh 115 lbs - so I'm not looking at if from a big persons perspective.

One thing that has surprised me so far is the amount of sex in the book. Not that I mind -but it just surprised me.

Another think I find intriguiing -and I guess this is the point of the book - just who is Daisy -and it's so interesting we don't find a picture of her in the book - and I guess that's the idea. We really only see the reflection of Daisy from her interactions with other people - though she does narrate off and on.

Fascinating book!

I noticed the difference between the picture of Mercy and her description, too. I thought the pictures were a nice touch. Especially the picture of the Ladies Rhythm and Movement Club, since it was described in the book.

My edition of the book has a photograph of a young woman on the cover, and it's not the same as any of the pictures inside the book. I assume it's supposed to be Daisy.

I finished last night, and can't say enough good things about this book. My review is here.

I keep coming back to one passage that seems to sum up the whole book. It's on page 66 of my edition, in the chapter headed "Marriage, 1927." Daisy and her father are on the train heading from Canada to Indiana. Cuyler is talking non-stop, and Daisy is trying not to listen.

Her father was going on about the intricacy of stone carving, how the right chisel had to be selected, and how carefully it must be held, how too much pressure in the wrong place can split and ruin good material, how every piece of stone in the world has its own center with something imprisoned in it.

It seems like most of the individual stories in the book illustrate what happens when too much pressure is applied in the wrong place. Something that could have been beautiful is instead ruined.

>9 cbl_tn:: I agree - that is an excellent quote to sum up the novel.

I enjoyed the book, and planned to give it 4.5 stars -but the ending just seemed to fizzle out -so I gave it 4 stars. That said, I really enjoyed the the book!

>11 vancouverdeb: - Deb, what do you consider the ending? The last section, "Death," or are you including more? I thought the last section was very powerful, as Daisy's life is reduced to these snippets of conversation and artifacts of her past. To me, Shields seemed to be juxtaposing the surface of a life as seen by others with the depth of the interior life each individual has that can't be known to others.

Thanks for the link, cbl! I just finished the book today and loved it. My take:

A fictional autobiography, Carol Shields has created a memorable character in Daisy Goodwill, and placed her life from 1903 to the 1990s, living in Manitoba and Ontario, Indiana and Florida. The Canadian places were especially well written. The story is told in many different voices (sometimes even when the same): The long days of isolation, of silence, the torment of boredom – all these pressed down on me, on young Daisy Goodwill and emptied her out.

I found the writing in the beginning and near the end of this book particularly beautiful, especially in Chapter 1, of the love of the shy young man for his chosen wife. After I'd closed the book and began to think back on the story, the “Old Jew”, revealed in spurts throughout the book, turned out to be a most interesting character to my mind, from his participation at the birth, to his diagnosis of her “sorrow”.

But the main character is Loneliness. The loneliness, so palpably wafting from these pages, expressed (or sometimes not specifically remarked upon) by Daisy, and felt, before her time, by her own mother and the neighbor lady, even her own jolly childhood friends with their life experiences. In one of her interviews, Ms. Shields mentioned “women who are erased from their lives”. That phrase succinctly captures this story. One woman's life, of her longings, suppressed or sought after, of trying to make a life working around disappointments - the author's skill at showing that life had me engrossed in this book from the moment I opened it.

Moving right along, and along, and along. The way she's done all her life. Numbly. Without thinking. And. That life “thus far” has meant accepting the doses of disabling information that have come her way, every drop, and stirring them with the spoon of her longing – she's done this for so many years it's become second nature.

This book really resonated with me. Although I found some parts uncomfortable, the writing and the story drew me in. It is a very worthwhile book. I gave it 4 stars.

I agree with your take, katiekrug/12, about the Death chapter. I thought she did a good job with that piece. My favorites, though, were the chapter before that and the very first chapter.

5,6,7: I hadn't noticed that there were pictures in the book until I turned the page before and there they were! And then, as you say, the wedding picture was so different from the description that I had to go looking for information. Nothing specific about that one pic, but here's an interview talking about the pictures in the book:
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_S/stone_diaries2.asp

Thanks for the link to the interview! It's nice to know a little more about the photos. It's interesting that the interview has a 2011 copyright date, and that the author biography says she lives in Winnipeg. I'm pretty sure she's dead.

Yes, died in 2003 of breast cancer.

Feel away from LT for a few days due to a hectic schedule but happy to see posting here in the group discussion thread!

I admit I don't have a favorite section of the book. I wasn't captivated by the ending but was held entranced by Shields' ability to present a fascinating image through her descriptive and accessible prose. I love epistolary novels so I really enjoyed the correspondence found in Childhood and Work and the various announcements in Marriage.

If I had to choose one chapter that resonated with me the most, it would be Illness and Decline where Daisy's frustration with her declining health and her environment, her right with age to speak her mind while still feeling the pull of the ingrained social graces to suffer intrusions on her time and dare I say patience?

I don't think we were ever allowed to see the 'true' Daisy. We saw glimpses of the true Daisy but most is wrapped up and safely tucked away from preying eyes.

That is my take on this great story.

Before I forget.... just in case I haven't mentioned this already, I really did think the photos were the real people of the story. I only learned the truth after I had finished the book. What a nice touch to help readers connect with the fictional characters!

katiekrug/12: And you were right.

My plan as I set out to write that book was to filter all of the voices through Daisy's consciousness. Every narrative is either what she hears people saying or what she imagines people are saying, so in a sense it's not a great choir of voices. It's her interpretation of her own life. We're just a bundle of impressions of other people, after all. This made for tricky writing, actually. I had to keep reminding myself that everything came through her.

From an interview here: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/factfict/ff9901.htm

I can't stop thinking about this book. In my mind right now are the commonality of some of their experiences, and yet, each experiences them in aloneness.

- This quote regarding Mercy could definitely apply to Daisy as well: She was, you might say, a woman who recognized the value of half a loaf.

- And this one, though written of Daisy, at the diminution of her belongings to the space of a hospital drawer, also reminds me of her father-in-law, packing little to take with him on his return to Orkney, and then leaving even that bundle behind: How is it possible, so much shrinkage?

-These last ten years had been a period of disintegration; he saw that now. He had imagined himself to be a man intent on making something, while all the while he was participating in a destructive and sorrowful narrowing of his energy. Regarding the end-of-life of Cuyler Goodwill, it could also apply to Daisy.

And in the end you experience death alone.

The more I think about it, the more I am touched by this book.

Wow, such great comments from everyone. This seems to have been a perfect book for a group read!
#20 - countrylife, I also find myself still thinking about the book. I am going to re-read it at some point soon and see what else I can discover in its pages :-)

I have been missing from this conversation for a while as life kept me busy. I finished this book a few weeks ago and it has been on my mind since.

I see two 'main characters' in this book. One is loneliness, and one is the tug of war between how temporary life is and our attempts to make something permanent. Daisy's mother being described as 'elephantine' and yet dying in childbirth. The attempt to build the stone monolith, only to have it decay. The very short period of time in which you feel strong connection to your children and short marriages. The collection of flowers which were not well enough preserved to be sold. Her husband's death, and father in laws long long life. And her metaphorical transformation into stone in the last chapter. It seems to me that part of the loneliness were the attempts at hanging on to the past. Some clung to the past, while others tried to escape.

I know there were many who did not enjoy the ending, so I am glad to see that I am not the only one who did enjoy it.

I also loved Daisy's view of Canada (While on the way up in the train)
" A cool clean place, that is how she thinks of it, with a king and queen and Mounties wearing read jackets and people drinking tea and speaking to one another in polite tones...It seemed to her that June day, as the train slid at last over the Michigan state line and entered Canada, that she had arrived at a healing Kingdom".

Both she and her father in law fled back to the past in hopes of finding happiness.

Interesting, Bcteagirl. It's neat to hear different readers' perspectives. I especially liked your insight regarding the temporal nature of life depicted in this book. Your note about children/connection made me think of this line: She has three grown children, it's true, but she wonders if these three will look back on her with anything other than tender forbearance.