Dressing Up for the Carnival

I kept putting off reading this book. I'd pull it out and look at it and then move on to something else. I used to not like short fiction very much but then I've been reading Alice Munroe and Gabrielle Roy and some other writers whose short stories I really enjoyed. So I thought it was time to pull this one out and read it. Well, except for a couple of stories, this book is not one that is going to go down as an exceptional find for short fiction. I know how well Carol Shields can write. I've read and really enjoyed many of her novels. But she's not going to be the writer that makes me change my mind permanently about short fiction.

The one story that I thought really stood well on its own is the second in the book "The Scarf". It's show more about a woman who is a writer who goes on a short book promotion tour and finds she has enough time to hunt through boutiques to find a scarf for her daughter. She looks and looks and finally finds the perfect one. Later she is having lunch with an old friend who is going through some tough times and she tells her the story of looking for the scarf but doesn't tell her it is for her daughter. The friend thinks she has bought the scarf for her. I thought the story was very thoughtfully developed and the ending is a surprise and yet something I could see happening to myself.

The other story I liked was Windows which is about a married couple who are artists. The government has decided to tax window area and they decide to board up all their windows so they don't have to pay the tax. This seriously affects them because they paint in their home and now they have no natural light. Then one day the wife decides to paint a mural on the wood covering the window. Before she knows it she is starting to paint a window on the piece of wood. But she can't get the look of the glass right so she goes to bed to sleep on it. Her husband, who has taken to painting during the night, starts to work on the mural so when she gets up in the morning the painting has changed and the glass looks better. Together they finish the painting which, when they are done, is a very lifelike window. show less

Shields was gifted when it came to expressing the subtle shades of meaning in what at first glance, appears to be simple stories. Each story is so understated and delicate, yet complex enough to leave you thinking about it long after the reading has finished

Very quiet stories about the habits of square people. I was bored at the beginning but it grew on me and I'm beginning to recognize the splintering of viewpoints as her signature (Mary Swann, A Celibate Season). Her turns of phrase are expert as always.

My favourite of these stories were Scarf and Weather, the latter I found quite amusing. I was reading this as a fill in while awaiting a library book and I struggled to engage with many of the stories. An overall disappointing read from this writer. I have actually since traded this book.

Each story is a little dive into her genius. I read this book about a year ago, and even though I can't remember each story individually, I recognized portions of one story while reading Unless just last month (which I found out later she included intentionally). Shields had an amazing ability to see the fascinating detail in ordinary people.

i listened to this on audio tape. maybe not the best way. these are not really stories in which anything happens. maybe more like reflections.