The Box Garden

By Carol Shields

Until events run wildly out of hand, Charleen Forrest manages to cope with the uncertainties of a failed marriage, trying to live her own life and raise a son on her frugal income. She is not unaware of the hazards: "family, banktellers, ex-husband, landladies, bus drivers... men on the make who want her to lie back and accept (this is what you need, baby), friends who feel sorry for her." Her resourcefulness is a delight; her uncanny observations and surprising irony reveal a witty, wry edge that is apt to make you laugh out loud.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307364128

Carol Shields

Carol Shields’s novels include Unless; Larry’s Party, winner of The Women’s Prize; The Stone Diaries, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; The Republic of Love; Happenstance; and Mary Swann. Dressing Up for the Carnivaland Various Miracles, collections of short stories, were later published as The Collected Stories. Brought up in Chicago, Shields lived in Canada from 1957 until her death in 2003.

Reviews for The Box Garden

[1morechapter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’ve said it before and I know I’ll say it again, but I still plan on reading all of Carol Shields’ work. This is my fourth Shields’ novel, and while it wasn’t as good as the other three, The Stone Diaries, Unless, and Larry’s Party, it still ranks as a 4 star book. The three I had previously read were the last three she wrote, while The Box Garden was written in 1977 and was only her second novel.Charleen Forrest is a divorced poet with a son. Charleen has all the ordinary issues with her ex-husband and with her mother (who doesn’t?), but the way Shields writes about them are anything but ordinary.“My breakdown too; that’s the part I didn’t confess, the part I conceal even from myself except when I am absolutely alone in the middle of the night as I am now. The day Watson left, everything more or less fell apart for me, too. The world, which I was just beginning to perceive, was spoiled. Everything ruined, everthing scattered. Scattered like me, the way I’m scattered through this house.”When I read her books, it is as if she is peering into my mind and soul and speaking directly to me. She always goes to the heart of the matter. I regret her early death from cancer. I feel like the literary world missed out on some wonderful stories that she unfortunately had to leave unwritten. You know the question that’s always asked about which author you’d like to meet and have dinner with, alive or dead? Without a doubt, mine would be Carol Shields.“I suppose this is why I love novels, because novels are not just about what people do, but they’re about what people think.” — Carol Shields

[lara335 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A divorced woman goes back home to celebrate her mother's second wedding. Wry observations of family and relationships, and powerful characterisations - especially of the life-squelching elderly mother.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A small, wonderful story.