The Power Of Ordinary Things

Several weeks ago I picked up my old copy of Collected Stories, a volume of Carol Shields’ short stories which includes her final work, Segue. I recall buying the book a bit tearfully after the author’s death in 2003, pre-ordered from a Glasgow bookshop.

Shields’ work gains depth on each reading. Her characters’ turns of phrase, which could be mistaken for trivia, stay with me. I found myself mulling over a fictional conversation about a dining table while standing in a line at the bank, and the finer points of an amicable sibling relationship.

The most talked about and (perhaps consequently) most important aspect of Shields entire body of work, represented nicely in this collection, is her handling of ordinary lives. The middle class, families who are basically happy, cheerful friendships, small talk; none of these are controversial, but Shields manages to make them resonate in the reader’s mind.

The relationships between women, in particular what is communicated, and how, also characterize the stories of this collection. Taking the Train, for example, is a short story of a middle-aged woman who visits a friend whose husband has died a year previously. The teenage daughter communicates through actions and reactions, while the bereaved woman and her friend talk around the subject of the dead husband, and in doing so draw a picture of their lives which extends their sadness and worry. The three women occupy the house for an evening, adhering to routine and the longstanding codes of their relationships, yet leave a vivid image of human pain.

I was disappointed with Segue. Shields final work, published posthumously, lacks depth and originality. I disappointingly spot literary techniques that have popped up in other novels to better effect. Though I’m sure the final edit of Segue was done with great care, it doesn’t carry the weight or show the polished expertise of Shields’ previous work.

Contact the author here: miriam@morningquickie.com