Where, you ask, is the Malvern Pudding...

weighted with its ancient stone? It has been set aside, as has my mother's cookery book. They will not be seen again in this story. While these are not the opening lines to The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields, they drip thick like honey through the rest of the story for me, containing almost the essence of the entire book.




The Stone Diaries was published in 1993 in Canada, Shields' second home, where it won the Governor General's Award. The book was later published in America in 1994, where it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995, giving her book the distinction of being the only one to receive both awards. Eight years later, Shields lost her battle with breast cancer at 68 years young.


Her novel, The Stone Diaries, is the fiction autobiography about a woman named Dairy Goodwill, beginning in much the same way that it ends: with death and loss. Daisy's mother dies during childbirth, a great surprise considering she thought she was merely struggling with a persistent bout of indigestion. Daisy struggles through her entire life to discover who she is only to get caught in the trap of daily minutia: lavishing hours of energy into maintaining a pristine home, reading the latest issue of Good Housekeeping in order to be the best wife and mother, preparing elaborate meals, and appearing perfectly polished and "fixed up" to announce dinner. She seemed to pass through life instead of living it.


From birth, Daisy was almost marked for loss or at least for a series of unfortunate events. Her mother dies, her father sends her away to live with a neighbor and her son. The neighbor dies, and at the age of eleven, Daisy finds herself moving to the United States and living with a father she doesn't know. After college (the only time in her life she seems to being fully living), she marries a man she doesn't truly love. But the marriage doesn't last long, as her drunk new husband falls out their hotel window on their honeymoon and dies instantly. Later, she fights cancer as well as other medical maladies that can come with old age, while her children are busy with their own lives. In the end, she dies as we all must.

For me, I had a hard time with this book. As you know already, I get attached to my characters, my friends, and knowing that she will die in the end made it hard for me to get attached. Sounds crazy I know. But I didn't really feel like I knew Daisy Stone Goodwill.



Perhaps it wasn't me.



Perhaps it was Daisy, unwilling or unable to show anyone who she really was. Hiding behind her Martha Stewart meals and her June Cleaver pearls. I can tell you a lot about what she does but not necessarily a lot about who she is. There is a lot of talk about stone. Daisy's maiden name is Stone, her father is a stone mason. They wear their emotions with stoic expression, never letting anyone close to the real self. Daisy is always the dutiful wife, the genteel woman, but it doesn't make her happy in the end. She feels like she is missing something.



I can see a little bit of Daisy in myself. Wanting to keep a clean home (despite the mess a one-year-old brings), to cook healthy meals for my family, to keep a garden. But lately, as my daughter gets older, I have found that my home can be clean and still be cluttered and healthy meals don't necessarily have to take an hour and a half to prepare.It is more important to make sure I spend time with my family. That my daughter sees my silly, carefree side as we play on the floor. That she know who I am.



The dishes can wait a little bit longer.



Up next, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize. I've got my fingers crossed that it's going to be a good one.



Until then, happy reading.