Unless: A Novel (P.S.)
&#8220;A landmark book...yet another noteworthy addition to Shields&#8217;s impressive body of work.&#8221; (Publishers Weekly (starred review))&#8220;A brave, profound, and quirky novel with an undercurrent of the deeply amusing.&#8221; (Anita Shreve, author of Sea Glass)&#8220;A wonderful, powerful book, written in a style which combines simplicity and elegance. I found it deeply moving.&#8221; (Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat)&#8220;Finely detailed, thoughtful and sometimes even humorous, this book is highly recommended for all fiction collections.&#8221; (Library Journal)&#8220;Often quietly heartbreaking...often, bitingly humorous.&#8221; (Kirkus (starred review))&#8220;Marvelously idiosyncratic, passionate and wise, Shields&#8217; tenth novel rollicks from beginning to end with sauciness and wit.&#8221; (Book Magazine)&#8220;All novelists worth their fictional salt can create fine characters; Carol Shields creates lives. &#8221; (New York Times Book Review)&#8220;Nothing short of astonishing.&#8221; (The New Yorker)&#8220;A thing of beauty&#151;lucidly written, artfully ordered, riddled with riddles and undergirded with dark layers of philosophical meditations.&#8221; (Los Angeles Times)&#8220;With a poet&#8217;s precision, Shields dissects grief and makes coping with bad luck feel like domestic heroism.&#8221; (People)&#8220;A superb new novel...a graceful coda, an arabesque performed over an abyss.&#8221; (Time Magazine)&#8220;Some hefty perceptions, fortunately shared with us in this fine novel.&#8221; (Washington Post Book World)&#8220;The best of her novels...fearless, smart, funny, beautifully written.&#8221; (New Orleans Times-Picayune)&#8220;A fine book, poignant, witty, rich in character, vivid in its sense of place...surprisingly suspenseful.&#8221; (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)&#8220;Remarkably subtle and unsettling...one of those books that make you regret that reading is a solitary pleasure.&#8221; (Christian Science Monitor)&#8220;Luminous ... Shields is a consummate master of tone and acute psychological insight.&#8221; (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)&#8220;A luminous novel ...Shields writes with clarity, intelligence and generosity, finding meaning in most mundane details of home life.&#8221; (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)&#8220;A novel of...assured intelligence and defiant vivacity.&#8221; (San Francisco Chronicle)&#8220;When Shields is good she is very good. There are nuggets of pure gold in Unless.&#8221; (Newark Star Ledger)&#8220;An engaging, memorable novel.&#8221; (Cleveland Plain Dealer)&#8220;Relentlessly fine...imagined with style and vigor, melancholoy and wisdom.&#8221; (San Diego Union-Tribune)&#8220;Closely observed moments create the kind of subtle textures and elegant prose that won Ms. Shields the Pulitzer Prize.&#8221; (Richmond Times-Dispatch)&#8220;Unless succeeds beautifully...Shields [is] an expert at illuminating the complicated dynamics of off-kilter families.&#8221; (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)&#8220;A fitting farewell from an author revered for her graceful, insightful writing...sparkles with wry humor and elegant irony.&#8221; (Hartford Courant)&#8220;Truly, a miracle of language and perception.&#8221; (The Oregonian (Portland))&#8220;All the trademark Shields delights are robustly present: idiosyncratic plotting; limber prose...deep compassion...tart commentary and irreverent wit.&#8221; (Orlando Sentinel)&#8220;Entirely satisfying&#8230; Shields&#8217; voice, tender and moderated at all times, remains wise and very readable.&#8221; (Houston Chronicle)&#8220;Shields&#8217;s novels and short stories are intensely imagined, humanely generous, beautifully sustained and impeccably detailed.&#8221; (Publishers Weekly)&#8220;A raw, subtle, inspiring novel about feminism, femininity, virtue, oppression and motherhood...I was inexpressibly moved by it.&#8221; (Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph (London))&#8220;Her wisdom and generosity of spirit are visible at every turn.&#8221; (London Times (Sunday))