SOURCE: Charles, Ron. “My Troubles Are Bigger than Your Troubles.” Christian Science Monitor 94, no. 16 (9 May 2002): 15-16.

In the following review, Charles describes Unless as a mischievous monologue that is remarkably subtle and unsettling.

You wouldn't expect it from her, but Carol Shields has written a naughty book. Put your yellow highlighter down: There's no sex, but the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Stone Diaries is doing something indecorous here—ribbing our notions of grief, even snickering at what inspires us.

Her latest novel, a mischievous monologue called Unless, begins with lamentations. Reta Winters once had it all: a loving partner who's a successful doctor, three smart daughters, a beautiful house outside Toronto, and a stimulating career as a translator. She had heard of sadness and pain, of course, but she confesses, “I never understood what they meant.”

Until now. “Happiness is not what I thought,” she concludes. “Happiness...