A mostly melancholy book, but with lots of Carol Sheilds' unique insight, which I love. The concept of women being able to achieve "goodness but not greatness" was a major theme. This book made me think about women's roles, and mother-daughter relationships. ( )

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This novel tells the story of Reta Winters, a writer of light fiction, whose eldest daughter suddenly withdraws from life and university to sit on a street corner, wearing a sign saying "Goodness". This explores how Reta comes to terms with this retreat, and examines the reasons behind it.

This book is unlike anything I've read before. It covers quite raw emotions, as well as a funny look at society, so it is quite difficult to categorise. I definitely enjoyed reading it, although I'm not sure that "enjoy" is necessarily the right word, as this was so well-written that you were able to feel Reta's pain throughout, which made me want to carry on reading.

I think this is a book that will stay with me for quite a while, and it may need to be one that I revisit, as I'm not sure the whole thing has really sunk in... ( )

I thought this novel was not worth the read. It was slow. I found that there was way too much talk about Reta's novels. The novel should have been more about her family. Especialy more about Reta's daughter Norah.At the begining of the novel I was wondering why there was a numbered list of all these books. I thought that was a bad start for the novel.I really don't understand why Reta wrote a letter to someone that was recently deceased. ( )

A very deeply felt feminist book, in a way I haven't encountered lately. Not harsh, or angry; a sort of soft muted almost passive protest, yet one that came through very clearly, in those unsent letters Reta wrote. All those passive abstract words, adverbs and prepositions: goodness, unless, thereof, despite... "whatever" didn't quite stike the right note, though.A little too distanced from Norah, who I instinctively wanted to be the center of the book. But really it was about Reta, and I can accept that, her trauma of disconnect from her daughter. ( )