Reading Response Posting #4

What impressed me most with the writing style of the book is that it is not a bleak as the topic suggests. There is a moment of intensity when Reta has just rushed off to the hospital in Toronto to see Nora, bring her daughters with her and leaving her inebriated editor and withdrawn mother-in-aw to fend for themselves for dinner. With the simple phrase '"Tell me about yourself, Lois"' (Unless 293) the reserved and shelled older woman tells this editor the story of her life, from the time of infancy till present, all in less than three pages. This biography is completely peppered with strange and wonderful stories you didn't expect from this silent woman. That is what Shield's does so well in the novel, drawing out her characters and bringing their little stories to life.

Shield's character Reta coupled with other characters who jaunt in and out of the picture create wonderful chances for Reta to be humorous. I have said it, perhaps too many times, that Reta's profession, or perhaps hobby if you were to ask her, gives her a unique perspective on things. The stinginess of the journalist paired with his desire for bigger and better things creates a humorous contrast highlighted by Reta's silent thoughts. The mulch delivery man who has crooked knees, two jobs, and a blindingly optimistic attitude is also both a fascination and annoyance to Reta. She is silent and swift in her flashes of humour and one often wonders if it begins to be Shield's that takes over and narrates.

Shield's is a woman writer writing about a woman writer who is contemplating writing about a woman who writes. How can one not inject much of their own personality into such a character? Shield's must realize this for she pokes fun at herself when Reta is considering making the woman in her story a writer. Reta says "I am too aware of being incestuous waters, a woman writer who is writing about a woman writer who is writing' (Unless 208) and yet this is exactly what Shields did, almost pushing the recurring mirror reflection farther by adding another writer to the mix. Shield's humour is well known from her other works, but where can one draw the line between author and character? Especially when they are so similar in both tone and occupation. Maybe the reader is not meant to, for one bleeding into the other could simply be the exhibition of a fine, full character.