Book reviews

Unless
Carol Shields Book Review

Read a book review online (click here to search reviews)
Books Movies  
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Mystery/Thriller Literature Romance Biography History
Carol Shields Books
New book search
Carol Shields Message Board
Get more information about this book
Plot Summary of Unless
""Unless" is the story of a successful novelist who is caught up by the dropout of her 20-year-old daughter from society. Her firstborn now sits on a street corner in Toronto, bearing a sign "Goodness",and begs for a living.
Shields prefaces each chapter with one-word headings: "So," "As", "Not Yet" and "Unless".
Shields tries to bring together her family once again: her character, Reta Winters, is a novelist trying to write her third light fiction in which the main female character metamorhposes into a strong independent person . "

Betty-Jeanne Korson, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Unless
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - present (2000-2010)
Life of a profession: - writer
Family, loving relations Yes
Special relationship with - daughter
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over - vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Job/Profession/Status story Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - writer
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - student
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 (a fair amount)
City? Yes
City: - dangerous
Small town? Yes

Style
Unusual Style: - a lot of play on words
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Unless
Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
Accidental Happiness by Jean Reynolds Page
Postcards from Berlin by Margaret Leroy
The Job by Eric T. Whitfield
Naive Super by Erlend Loe


Click here for more information about this book


Carol Shields Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Jessica Marler  

SCHOLARS:
Melissa Rachiele  


Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
Three ways to search for Literature books!

1) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot or subplot below!

Animal story

Crime & Police story

Ethnic/regional/gender life

Exploring into the wild

Family, caring for ill

Family, loving relations

Family, struggle with

Internal struggle/realization?

Job/Profession/Status story

Kids growing up/acting up?

Political/social activism

Poverty, surviving

Pregnancy/Child rearing

Religion theme?

Romance/Romance Problems

Sports Story?

War/Revolt/Disaster on civilians



or 2) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
3) Even more search options available with a Detailed Booksearch (click here)

Use our site!
Feedback
About us
Bribe your congressman!
Rudy Giuliani



Most recent discussions:

General Book Talk
Book writing discussion
Off-topic message board
.
Iris Johanson 1:27:13 PM
Sue Grafton 1:23:14 PM
Chinua Achebe 11:46:27 AM
Terry Goodkind 10:19:00 AM
Lynn and Gilbert Morris 10:28:16 PM
Charlotte Vale Allen 10:01:03 PM
Charlotte Vale Allen 9:59:10 PM
Mary Downing Hahn 7:18:08 PM
Suzanne Weyn 5:37:37 PM
Suzanne Collins 3:45:18 PM
Charlaine Harris 3:37:46 PM
Deric Longden 2:26:59 PM
V.C. Andrews 2:24:44 PM
J.D. Robb 2:18:51 PM
Margaret Peterson Haddix 12:17:33 PM
Anne Schraff 12:01:20 PM
Lilian Jackson Braun 9:27:35 AM
Barbara Michaels 8:54:55 PM
Scott O'Dell 6:00:22 PM
David Pelzer 3:00:02 PM

More message boards