This year, Buried in Print, a marvelous blog I have followed for over ten years,is doing a read through of the short stories of Carol Shields. I hope to participate fully in this event.
The more I read in the stories of Carol Shields the more grateful I am to Buried in Print for turning me on to her work. There are sixty some stories in the collection,it is my hope to read and post on them all in 2024.
"Others", one of the longer stories in the collection, is the 22nd story by Carol Shields I have so far read. Begins with a recently married couple in vacation in France. At the request of a stranger they cash his personal check for $50. He sends them the amount to their address back in Canada and around Christmas for the next twenty years he sends then a brief letter saying how he and his wife are doing.
Shields traces the peeks and vallies of the couple marriage. He becomes a doctor, they have children.
"Others" is a miniature masterpiece.
The Carol Shields Literary Trust has lots of data on her life and work.
1 comment:
This is one of my favourites. I imagine how long it must have taken her to come up with the individual messages. Some of them are nearly heart-stopping. A miniature masterpiece, as you've said.
One passage I flagged is this one: "They know after all this time about love—that it’s a dim and unreliable and little more than a reflection on the wall. It is also capricious, idiotic, sentimental, imperfect and inconsistent, and most often seems to be the exclusive preserve of others."
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