- Hardcover: 608 pages
- Publisher: Random House Canada; First Edition edition (July 13 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679313265
- ISBN-13: 978-0679313267
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.5 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 930 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #616,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“Segue is, as one would expect, a masterful and engaging piece of writing, and happily it works almost as well as a short story as it would have had circumstances permitted it to be the beginning of a longer, finished project…. With the arrival on the shelves of this handsomely designed and important collection, we her readers can experience once again the privilege of stepping into Carol Shields’s brilliantly rendered, many-faceted world with all its dramatic contrasts of private light and darkness.”
—The Globe and Mail
“A grand gift for a true Shields fan.”
—Toronto Star
“No writer in the English-speaking world has written more eloquent, witty and graceful sentences than Carol Shields…. If the purpose of fiction is to break up the frozen seas within us, as Kafka once said, spending a few days in the company of Shields’ stories allowed me to re-experience the poignancy of human life and, at the same time, its undeniable comedy, its sensuality and beauty.”
—Susan Swan in The National Post
Praise for Carol Shields's short stories:
"Carol Shields's short stories have given me happiness, not just pleasure. They're prismatic; they delight at first by the clear and simple elegance with which they are made, then there is something so bountiful and surprising, like beautiful broken lights."
—Alice Munro
"Every story in this collection is a small, glittering masterpiece."
—National Post
"A radiant gift, a brilliant archive."
—Winnipeg Free Press
"Wry, witty, wise and fiercely intelligent."
—Janette Turner Hospital
"These poignant stories revel in the ordinary, with a few side-trips to the sublime."
—Washington Post
"Intelligent, provocative and entertaining."
—The New York Review of Books
—The Globe and Mail
“A grand gift for a true Shields fan.”
—Toronto Star
“No writer in the English-speaking world has written more eloquent, witty and graceful sentences than Carol Shields…. If the purpose of fiction is to break up the frozen seas within us, as Kafka once said, spending a few days in the company of Shields’ stories allowed me to re-experience the poignancy of human life and, at the same time, its undeniable comedy, its sensuality and beauty.”
—Susan Swan in The National Post
Praise for Carol Shields's short stories:
"Carol Shields's short stories have given me happiness, not just pleasure. They're prismatic; they delight at first by the clear and simple elegance with which they are made, then there is something so bountiful and surprising, like beautiful broken lights."
—Alice Munro
"Every story in this collection is a small, glittering masterpiece."
—National Post
"A radiant gift, a brilliant archive."
—Winnipeg Free Press
"Wry, witty, wise and fiercely intelligent."
—Janette Turner Hospital
"These poignant stories revel in the ordinary, with a few side-trips to the sublime."
—Washington Post
"Intelligent, provocative and entertaining."
—The New York Review of Books
Book Description
Carol Shields, the Pulitzer Prize-winner author of the novels Unless, The Stone Diaries and Larry’s Party was also a renowned short story writer. Now readers can enjoy all three of Carol Shields’s short story collections – Various Miracles, The Orange Fish and Dressing Up for the Carnival – in one volume, along with the previously unpublished story, “Segue,” her last.
With an eye for the smallest of telling details – a woman applying her lipstick so “the shape of pale raspberry fits perfectly the face she knows by heart” – and a willingness to explore the most fundamental relationships and the wildest of coincidences, Shields illuminates the absurdities and miracles that grace all our lives. From a couple who experiences a world without weather, to the gentle humor of an elderly widow mowing her lawn while looking back on a life of passion, to a young woman abandoned by love and clinging to a “slender handrail of hope,” Shields’s enormous sympathy for her characters permeates her fiction.
Playful, charming, acutely observed and generous of spirit, this collection of stories will delight and enchant Carol Shields fans everywhere.
Excerpt from The Collected Stories of Carol Shields
Let me say it: I am an aging woman of despairing good cheer — just look into the imaginary camera lens and watch me as I make the Sunday morning transaction over the bread, then the flowers, my straw tote from our recent holiday in Jamaica, my smile, my upturned sixty-seven-year-old voice, a voice so crying-out and clad with familiarity that, in fact, I can’t hear it anymore myself, thank God; my ears are blocked. Lately everything to do with my essence has become transparent, neutral: Good morning, Jane Sexton smiles to one and all (such a friendly, down-to-earth woman). “What a perfect fall day.” “What glorious blooms!” “Why Mr. Henning, this bread is still warm! Can this be true?”
With an eye for the smallest of telling details – a woman applying her lipstick so “the shape of pale raspberry fits perfectly the face she knows by heart” – and a willingness to explore the most fundamental relationships and the wildest of coincidences, Shields illuminates the absurdities and miracles that grace all our lives. From a couple who experiences a world without weather, to the gentle humor of an elderly widow mowing her lawn while looking back on a life of passion, to a young woman abandoned by love and clinging to a “slender handrail of hope,” Shields’s enormous sympathy for her characters permeates her fiction.
Playful, charming, acutely observed and generous of spirit, this collection of stories will delight and enchant Carol Shields fans everywhere.
Excerpt from The Collected Stories of Carol Shields
Let me say it: I am an aging woman of despairing good cheer — just look into the imaginary camera lens and watch me as I make the Sunday morning transaction over the bread, then the flowers, my straw tote from our recent holiday in Jamaica, my smile, my upturned sixty-seven-year-old voice, a voice so crying-out and clad with familiarity that, in fact, I can’t hear it anymore myself, thank God; my ears are blocked. Lately everything to do with my essence has become transparent, neutral: Good morning, Jane Sexton smiles to one and all (such a friendly, down-to-earth woman). “What a perfect fall day.” “What glorious blooms!” “Why Mr. Henning, this bread is still warm! Can this be true?”
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!,
By Pip "ppsm1" (Abbotsford, British Columbia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Collected Stories of Carol Shields (Hardcover)
The only thing I read by Carol Shields before was the lovely little bio on Jane Austen. So I chose the Collected Short Stories to see what she is all about. I am fascinated. She has this straightforward voice yet likes to also play with your head. Extremely enthralling and delightful. I eat these stories up one after the other like they were fine confections. Never oversweet. Always just the right ingredients of wonder, humour and mystery along with the occassional dash of fantasy. Anyone who has not read Shields should start with this wonderful collection. Immediately!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!,
By Pip "ppsm1" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Collected Stories of Carol Shields (Hardcover)
The only thing I read by Carol Shields before was the lovely little bio on Jane Austen. So I chose the Collected Short Stories to see what she is all about. I am fascinated. She has this straightforward voice yet likes to also play with your head. Extremely enthralling and delightful. I eat these stories up one after the other like they were fine confections. Never oversweet. Always just the right ingredients of wonder, humour and mystery along with the occassional dash of fantasy. Anyone who has not read Shields should start with this wonderful collection. Immediately!
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